Literature Study

2.1 Understanding the concept-Quality of Living

2.11 Literature-Quality of Living Definitions

Quality of living (QOL) is a broad multi-dimensional concept defined in numerous ways and in numerous fields of study. The concept of QOL may be simpler to perceive than to comprehend. Many widely varied issues can be constructed and addressed under this but to mark a boundary for the term and to define it comprehensively is a task.

The literature confirms that there is no universally accepted definitions for The Quality of living. However, all the definitions profoundly revolve around in shoving the light on people’s well-being, development, dignity or satisfaction. Also Quality of living is synonymously referred in the literature through the terms like satisfaction, general well-being, and human development. As mentioned in the work by Rajadurai Masilamani, the Quality of living is observed to be defined in three ways.(S, Rajadurai masilamani, 2007)

1.Global or generic definition on Quality of living, which addresses in showcasing the broader understanding of quality of living where it is predominantly evaluated keeping the satisfaction of any factors in mind. (Ex: Quality of living: subjective measure of one’s happiness/well-being).

Global definition: of, relating to, or involving the entire world: worldwide a global system of communication global economic problems global warfare — see also global village, global warming.

(https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBF_enIN832IN832&sxsrf=ALeKk02_1zKKctF6C4FvxCV488JfLyg-9g%3A1604629025770&ei=IbKkX8HILpvC3LUPvKm80AM&q=what+does+global+definition+mean&oq=what+does+globa+definition+mean&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQAxgAMgYIABAHEB4yCAgAEAgQBxAeOgQIABBHOggIABAHEAoQHjoKCAAQCBAHEAoQHlCtcFjue2CehQFoAHACeACAAXWIAeIEkgEDMi40mAEAoAEBqgzLXd)

Generic definition: Relating to or characteristic of a whole group or class.

( https://www.google.com/search?q=what+does+generic+definition+mean&source=lmns&bih=657&biw=1396&rlz=1C1CHBF_enIN832IN832&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj_j47G7ezsAhXogGMGHTRxCrcQ_AUoAHoECAEQAA)

2. The definitions which break the concept into series of component parts and dimensions called as extended definitions. Here the components of understanding the Quality of living is addressed and is made to hold the responsibility to orient the discussion based on the key value of what is quality addressed and how is quality perceived to what is the bigger agenda of evaluating the quality with the living. These definitions create the environment to relate and conceive the concept with local relations and bridge the relation to its impact in many other levels.

3.The definitions that focuses on only one or two of the component parts recognised and validated from the former types of definitions.(Ex: Dignity)

2.2 Evolving a coherent relation between the quality of living and its perceptions in the focus group

2.2.1 Focus Group Considered

The study addresses the living conditions, issues and the experiences in the life of the people who had just survived poverty through the support of the government (many schemes and concessions) and other support groups, entitling now in the lower income status. From them, many who are willing to engage themselves with some income based work and other interests push themselves to an urban location but are far from pursuing it in ease because of the living costs the cities put up, thus end up with survival near the city. This population relocation driven by the economic needs and demands have led to settling in peri-urban areas (areas in the periphery of the urban) (Aijaza, R.) (2019) (ISSUE NO. 285) which brings in a diverse exchange and crossover of culture, lifestyle

and many more multitude of factors that differentiates the people within themselves yet is held together, due to their only moto of moving forward in any way possible because of the ill-experiences and tragedy the poverty has taught them. The in-migration of the people to such a context has predominantly impacted the land-use and the occupational patterns.

2.2.2 Perspectives on the Focus group

From their perspective after having gone through a riot of survival and officially who seemed to be away of poverty decided by the statistics, leaves this class of people into a vulnerable phase ,shaking their life once again but now even without those factors which were available to help them in moving forward. From their experiences, the impact of ill-being and bad quality of life is much more than the material poverty. It is endowed in multiple layers of interlocking dimensions which combine to create an environment that deprives any power, choices of freedom but that has gone away now. To survive this trap, they now have become the urban-slaves. The psychological experience of multiple deprivations is intense and painful.(Narayan et al, 2000, Voices of the Poor: Crying Out for Change)

2.3 Identifying the Ground Factors that influence in perceiving the quality of living amongst the people.

With much of references and readings on various Quality of life indices invented and adopted, from different field of study, it is well evident to state that in the due course with the initiation of the study, and the complex nature in handling the study, the focus shifted in obtaining the empirical relations with the indices framed and has lost similarly to how the identification of poverty left these lives ignored, these studies have lost to locate the rock bottom reasons for identified factors to have become significant indices to measure. In this study the QOL factors are just considered as tool in measuring the ‘state of situation’ of the focus group,

determined by both the personal needs and the needs offered to them by the public body.

Here I discuss on those factors which have contributed to develop any well workable index of measure and elaborate the complex of structure that these factors behold beyond the usual radar of focus the studies might involve.

2.3.1 ON LIVELIHOOD:

Refers to the means of securing the necessities of life.

Structuring the survival needs:

While every struggle of living is in meeting those needs of ultimate survival, it is also on those things that play a significant role in motivating and aspiring the people’s behaviour realised from the Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs.

This involves the physiological needs which become the utmost elements needed for survival. This involves food, water and shelter and until when these are not met fundamentally, all the other needs become secondary.

Adding an opinion of thought that these needs has to be owned and earned by the people as it is impossible for any body of work to guarantee this for anyone’s living. Thus a resiliency of survival has to be evolved and equipped by every fellow to ensure his fundamental needs are earned by his actions.

Random laundry scene on the open ground

To this focus group, the livelihoods are very seasonal, inaccessible for they are trapped in by the economy and its growth in the society finding no responsibility in ensuring a shared dignity and social justice in survival of the people in all status of life.

2.3.2 On the politics behind the people being pushed to dwell in certain locational context

The life situation will vary according to the location since the external conditions and the individual capacity to operate over the external conditions are dynamic.

Availability and accessibility of the infrastructural features and amenities have both direct and indirect impact over many of the personal necessities in order to be accessed.

The place of dwelling of the focus group are isolated, risky, underserviced and stigmatized. This is completely due to the power play of the civic body and the influential negligence in partially attempting to the concerns raised by the people.

The capital inflow to a location primarily depends on the level of economic policies, political climate, infrastructure and the people of the location to be considered as resource for many other betterment which can be contributed and utilised for a large betterment.

2.3.3 On Social relations

Security is the notion of feeling safe by your own people that you feel is a part of your clan

The relational nature of survival needs is also central to the social inclusion and exclusion. The social relations play important role in aspiring and sowing hope when the focus group is identified to hold the positive aspiration in their living and at once exclude their role of existence when they are trapped and hence experience the negative aspiration.

The concept of social exclusion implies that there is a downward spiral in which labour market marginality leads to poverty and social isolation, which in turn reinforce the risk of long-term unemployment thus making the livelihood scarce. (Gallie, Duncan,2003)

It is all about collective emotion sharing with not only the primary social relations, but with the friends and the ability to extend the

secondary relations through the exposure attained and connecting the people who could utilise the potential and support the economic aspects of their living. Unemployment increases the risk of securing the elements of the livelihood which in turn creates the lack of social relation and dignity from the society.

2.3.4 Impact of security

Security is the notion of feeling safe and the involvement of measures which are to be taken to be safe or guarded from certain threat. It is one of the necessities that involves both physical and psychological aspects of security.

The physical security of the focus group is to ensure the feeling of being protected from any situation that could put the physical aspects of living and livelihood to risk. Often a perceived lack of physical safety may affect subjective well-being more than the real impact of any threat. (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Quality_of_life_indicators_).

The spatial security amongst the focus group is of the most prior concern pertaining to their act of encroaching the land due to their other concerns of survival. Also within the context of settlements, there is a very strong relationship between spaces and social life which can reflect the social structure that exists in the inhabitants of these settlements. The loss of this fabric of element would intimidatingly impact the quality of living experienced. (Hanson, Julienne, and Bill Hillier. 1987. “The Architecture of Community: Some New Proposals on the Social Consequences of Architectural and Planning Decisions.”)

Theoretically, a community will always have the potential and strength to respond to any form of pressure from outside to stay with the community. The community resilience in a settlement’s environment will be very dependent on the conditions of comfort and satisfaction inhabited to the living environment (Jordhus-Lier, David. 2015.) Thus, it is a very important layer of concern when addressing the intangible aspects of Quality of living and the

underlying concerns.

The concept of psychological security defined according to Maslow (1942) as the presentiment that may arise from dangers or risks in the physiology or the psychology of the individual, as well as the sense of powerfulness and powerlessness of the individual in dealing with dangers or risks, mainly related to the sense of certainty and controllability.

The pertinent fear of such security includes factors of equality protection, livelihood security, and social relation which predominantly will reduce the sense of belonging amongst the people. Nurturing the dependency of the user group is never a solution when self-building has proved to establish consistent betterment in their wellbeing.

The idea of capacity building translates the idea of establishing the inlaid potential skills and talents which in itself support and manage the role, the outside resource would necessarily serve the focus group, thereby equipping the focus group to manage and meet their needs.

The concept of identifying the problem and serving the solution through capacity building has significantly found the negative aspiration for it has been portrayed as their mistake which makes them feel inefficient such as the top-bottom approach.( S. Kenny et al)

Economic factors also determine the psychological security (Van Hal, 2015), which is related and interlinked with occupational stability and occupational risk. A large number of studies have proved that the fear of crime in terms of social security factors increases the psychological well-being (Astell-Burt et al., 2015)

2.3.6 Impact of Education

Education and educational opportunities has always stood to be an important indicator in assessing the quality of living as it is one of the means in achieving employment, income, social status and many more.

The impact of educational and skill development opportunities ensures to improve the skills and competencies acquires in the due course of time which in turn would fetch better jobs and thus the entire set of necessities.

Also educational opportunity helps the user to enhance the understanding and the competency of the world they live in, which helps in a positive aspiration.

There are many findings which ensure in establishing education and access to educational aid to self-empowerment. (Blanchflower and Oswald 2004, Easterlin 2001, Ferrer-i-Carbonell 2005, Graham and Pettinato 2002)

Community capacity-building is essentially not a neutral technical process: it is about power and ideology and how these are mediated through structures and processes. As with the terms community and community development, the term Community capacity building is used to hide a false consensus about goals and interests. In reality they are all arenas for political contestation. And, as with these earlier terms, Community capacity building has been manipulated by governments to give a falsesense of community ownership and control.( Craig, Gary,2007).

To respond effectively to local communities’ demands would mean giving up much of the power which these bodies enjoy. We may well ask: who defines the capacities which communities need and why? What control do local communities exercise over the capacity-building process? And who defines what a strong community would look like? As Banks and Shenton (2001: 296) put it, ‘we

Educational opportunity helps the user to enhance the understanding and the competency of the world they live in, which helps in a positive aspiration.

need to question whose purpose capacity-building is serving and ensure that local residents are not mere puppets in the regeneration game played out by large national, regional and local agencies. “Community development” may be a more acceptable term and a more useful approach to promoting social and economic change in neighbourhoods.’

Thus, the politics and the conspiracy within this plays a major impact on deciding what has to reach the user group thereby determining the quality of living in return.

2.3.7 Conclusion

Based on the above discussed aspects, a clear impact on the QOL was able to be perceived and realised to how it is reflecting the experience of people in respect to their access and affordability towards these necessities for their well-being.

The focus is developed in orienting the further chapters of the study in considering these as the aspects to be observed and reflected as they become the core of developing well-being in people.

2.4 Conceptual understanding of quality of living in relation with the context of the study

From the above literature(2.1), by assessing and formulating the cohesive understanding of the subject: QUALITY OF LIVING, it is important to establish the area of concern in regard with study orientation on the space-related quality of living that is to be addressed and assessed from the people’s perception and experience.

In this study, it is proposed to identify the certain components or elements which would define the Quality of living as the focus towards analysing the relationship between the quality and dignity in living/dwelling spaces to its impact on the user.

QOL embraces not only the material aspects of life like increased wealth measured by higher income, the number of dwellings or availability of basic services and amenities such as water and electricity but also the less tangible aspects of life such as satisfaction with the living environment or a greater sense of happiness or joy. (Housing Development Board, HBD, Singapore).

(ii)SPACE- RELATED QUALITY OF LIVING:

Is defined by the factors that enable an understanding to review, think and realise the impact of space and spatial quality received, assessing based on the geographical, environmental, social, emotional and economic conditions of the person of different age groups thereby also analysing the expected perception of Quality of living from what was received.

2.5 ROLE OF ARCHITECTURE IN SOCIAL ISSUES

In the broader understanding of the role of architecture and to what it plays in the society, architectural practice is isolating the environment from the totality of its relational interdependency on social, economic and political dimensions which is an alarm to notice that the level of perceiving the multitude of this service is intense and is yet unattended. Neither in the academic sector nor the practice of architecture, the architects are given a chance to experience the real ground and be equipped to face the problems that is fundamental for the space to be well utilised.

Architects working in for the social betterment through architectural practice engage in areas also other than the design work to which most practices limit themselves —which includes user interaction, ground study on their social background, identifying capacity building through the design intervention and making the space be more flexible in its functionality to host the users neces sities with incremental thinking.

To position architecture up against bread is to guarantee that it will lose; there is nothing very profound in that observation. (Paul Goldberger, Feb. 10, 1985, The Newyork Times)

2.6 Role of spatial quality in the quality of living

Through architecture, people make places in which they tend to do things they do in their lives - places to eat, to sleep, to shop, to worship, to argue, to learn, to store and so on. The way in which they organize their places is related to their beliefs and their aspirations, their world view. As worldviews vary, so does architecture, at the personal level, at the social level and cultural level, and between different subcultures within a society. (Unwin (1997) Analysing Architecture).

From the readings of the German Philosopher Martin Heidegger-Building, Dwelling and Thinking, Dwelling is any space irrespective of the function that we utilise it for from being, a home, to a school, to an hospital to anything and everything. It is also these spaces articulated to help adapt and empower the actions that it follows, thus enabling the experience of the event, through the space and the memory attached with it.

Thus, this gives an understanding of how the built spaces and the buildings are itself perceived with this notion and is thus accepted to be a fundamental way of viewing building and built spaces. He believes that building is not just an end but a way of dwelling. Within any dwelling the activities of cultivating and erecting is accomplished. Thus, dwelling in any case be the goal of all the buildings.

Now, when we try to understand how a person relates to the spaces and the surounding in which he dwells, we certainly should look up at the way those influencing factors take control in determining the level of exposure and quality in living. If we are there to understand the buildings and the spaces within, we must understand the society, culture, politics, psychology and economics in which

they exist. This realisation and development of a coherent understanding will not only help in developing methods of evolving a design and its process, furthermore on how an environment can create behaviour patterns for the people to dwell, evolve and outgrow the cycle of their living style