Internal and External Aesthetics of Housing Estates

This article focuses on internal and external aesthetic aspects in 12 housing estates, including terraced, row, detached and semidetached houses, and four-storey blocks of flats sold to low-income people by the public sector in the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre, Brazil. The image and appearance of housing estates and visual composition of buildings are investigated. Relationships between aesthetic aspects, resident attitudes and behavior concerning the housing environment, household characteristics and feelings about internal and external aesthetics of housing estates are further explored. Data were collected through questionnaires, structured interviews, physical measurements, observations of behavior, and physical traces. Data analysis was carried out qualitatively and quantitatively by means of nonparametric statistical tests. Results show, for example, that aspects associated with maintenance of dwelling facades dominate the explanations for positive external aesthetics evaluation, while aspects associated with maintenance and visual composition of facades lead the explanations for negative external aesthetics evaluation.