Developing and Testing a Live-Work Postoccupancy Evaluation Tool for Informal Settlements in Thailand

Live-work housing is a dwelling type that accommodates living and livelihood activities. In the Global South, live-work housing plays a vital role in income generation and is central to poverty alleviation at the household level. They are particularly vital to women and older people by giving them a level of financial independence that would otherwise be difficult to achieve. Despite these and owing to limited understanding, live-work housing in the Global South remains unpopular with planning and regulatory authorities because it is perceived to be synonymous with informal settlements and poor living and working conditions. However, in order to make adequate housing provision for residents of informal settlements, it is important not to just devise a vision of the new space to be created but to first understand how low-income people use their existing spaces to sustain their living and livelihood. The most suitable tool to generate such a knowledge base is postoccupancy evaluation. This project developed and tested a live-work housing evaluation tool for low-income informal settlements in Bangkok, Thailand.