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Most of the native citizens in the UAE live in public or private single-family houses. Given the tremendous cost of developing this type of housing and the inability of providing single-family houses to cover all the current and future needs for public housing, high-rise residential buildings seem to offer an alternative. But the question is; does this type of housing suit the local communities in the UAE, especially in light of the failure of the previous western experiences?. Through addressing this question, the research proposes an approach towards a community-oriented design for high-rise residential buildings in the UAE.

The research first investigated the reasons behind the community-relevant shortcomings of the traditional high-rise residential developments in the West. Afterwards, it briefly reviewed the status quo of the community-relevant considerations in the design of the recently built high-rise residential buildings in the UAE, where it has been found that little concern has been devoted to the community needs. In an effort to find an answer to this problem, the research examined four recent design experiences as examples for the current universal efforts to design community-responsive high-rise residential developments. Some conceptual approaches were derived from these experiences that are envisaged to help reach an approach for the case of the UAE. Nonetheless, because of the unique social and cultural traits of the UAE native society one cannot rely on these global conceptual approaches alone. Instead, the research proposes an approach that, while benefiting from the relevant global experiences, is chiefly pivoted on the vertical reconfiguration of the idea of the ‘fareej’ as the smallest unit in the residential urban context both traditionally and in the future official urban plans in the UAE.

As an important indicator of the quality of life of individuals, residential environments are continuing to evolve, due to the rapidly changing production–consumption relations. However, in this evolving process, the effect of the differentiated residential environments on the individuals' residential satisfaction remains unclear. This paper aims to measure the effects of the varying residential environments on the overall quality of urban life (QoUL) in Kayseri, one of the most developed cities in Central Anatolia.

It is based on empirical data on the quality of life in the different residential environments of Kayseri. The research method used stratified purposeful sampling, and the household survey data were analyzed using factor analysis, multiple regression and ANOVA statistical methods.

The most influential factors on the overall QoUL of individuals living in different Kayseri residential neighborhoods were satisfaction with neighborhood and city-level urban services, neighborhood relations and belonging factor groups. The critical finding obtained in this study is that residential satisfaction in low-rise and compact form housing areas in Kayseri is higher compared to residential satisfaction in high-rise neighborhoods. This result reveals that the high-rise building typology that is dominant in Turkey's big cities should be seriously questioned, and urban development policies should be re-evaluated.

The study was designed to produce baseline data so that future changes in residential conditions as perceived by the residents of Kayseri could be monitored to support decisions for residential areas.

Comparative case studies, particularly on low-rise versus high-rise environments, are scarce. As a result, this research contributes to the field of comparative studies on residential environments.

The paper aims to investigate and evaluate the impacts of the voids combination as a passive design feature on wind-driven ventilation performance in high-rise residential building units. It proposes a series of building models and thereon indoor ventilation performance and outlining why and how these building models designed with architectural design features are important. This study aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of how natural ventilation as a passive cooling strategy in living units of high-rise residential buildings can be applied through improving the provision of the architectural design feature of voids configurations.

The study was carried out through field measurements experiment and the computational fluid dynamics methods. A series of numerical simulations were carried out to calculate the indoor ventilation rate inside the case studies of the generated building models based on various variables such as horizontal voids type, size and wind directions.

The results indicate that the provision of a single-sided horizontal voids in building models can improve the indoor ventilation rate in units with cross ventilation mode up to 4 times, depending on wind direction and living unit location. The indoor ventilation performance in units located in models with single-sided horizontal voids is 17.54% higher than the units located in models without voids configuration. Furthermore, higher indoor ventilation performance was achieved in the case scenarios located at higher levels compared to the middle and lower levels in both horizontal voids types.

This study explores the application of voids combinations for natural ventilation performance, investigates the numerical simulation results and validates field measurements experiment data using CFD simulation.

Sustainability has been the subject of several scientific investigations. Many researchers in the construction industry have also examined a range of sustainability-related studies. However, few studies have thoroughly reviewed implementing sustainability concepts in high-rise residential buildings (HRRBs).

By adopting scientometrics and systematic review (SR), this study seeks to map out recent sustainability trends and concepts in the design, development and operation of HRRBs worldwide and in Hong Kong. With a focus on bibliographic records from the Web of Science (WoS) database, 1,395 journal articles from 2013 to 2022 were analysed. Furthermore, thirteen studies were systematically reviewed.

The SR indicated that sustainable practices in developing Hong Kong's HRRBs emphasised zero-carbon buildings, reduced energy usage and energy-efficient retrofitting. Likewise, terms such as BIM, urban density, life cycle assessment and system dynamics are strongly connected with clusters that include “residential buildings”, “high-rise buildings” and “high-rise residential buildings”. The study identified significant themes in establishing HRRBs by combining sustainable practices, emphasising urban governance and policy management, building performance and thermal comfort, energy and design optimisation, occupant behaviour and sensitivity analysis. Core sustainability ideas have improved resource management, air quality management and knowledge of user behaviour in HRRBs.

The study allows researchers and practitioners to explore future research directions in the built environment per the application of sustainable concepts in the development of HRRBs from design, construction and post-construction phases.

Even as multi-story apartment building development proposals in existing neighbourhoods represent a substantial component of policy debate at local planning boards, there is limited evidence for the impact of such residential developments on surrounding apartment values. This paper aims to address the void in knowledge, and the impact of multi-story apartment building developments on apartment values in residential high-rise areas located outside city and district centres is investigated in Helsinki Metropolitan Area, Finland.

Whether a multi-story apartment building development is followed by an increase in housing values depends on both positive and negative externalities. To specify valuation effects of proximate development projects, advanced research design combining matched sample methodology and hedonic-based difference-in-difference approach is used.

It appears from the analysis that completion of a single multi-story apartment building has an immediate positive impact on apartment values within 300 metre radius, while there is no statistically significant impact on price trend.

This paper studies apartment values only in Helsinki Metropolitan Area, Finland, and it is important to notice that local regulations and market conditions may have a notable impact on the outcomes.

This study is the first of its kind to provide with statistically significant evidence for positive impacts from multi-story apartment building development in Finnish residential high-rise areas and may have a crucial role in helping to dispel prejudices related to such developments.

The purpose of this paper is to examine links between environmental design of high-rise housing communities and residents’ perceptions about antisocial behaviour (ASB).

A conceptual framework was proposed to investigate correlations between architectural design parameters and perceived severity of ASB activity. A questionnaire was administered to test the relationships. Residents of 14 public rental housing estates in Hong Kong participated, and 422 complete responses were analysed.

Strong correlation was discovered between elements of residential design and residents’ perceptions of ASB severity. Block layout, building height and number of flats per floor affected residents’ feelings about ASB threat. Access to outside air in communal corridors also significantly reduced residents’ complaints about ASB.

This study offers insights into how architectural design of high-rise residences might reduce residents’ perception of ASB severity. Findings impact current ASB research, but also architects’ and developers’ designs. Better planned built environments will enhance residents’ security and satisfaction, reinforcing communities.

Previous studies have ignored whether architectural design of high-rises could directly influence residents’ perception of ASB severity. This study is the first to focus on the relationship.

This paper aims to present four purposes: to assess occupant satisfaction with indoor environmental quality (IEQ); to determine if occupants appear to be operating their dwellings in an energy efficient manner; to suggest ways that occupant satisfaction and behaviour can help or hinder energy efficiency; and to show that the post-occupancy evaluation approach is an effective tool in diagnosing and improving satisfaction and energy efficiency in high-rise residential buildings.

Beyond measuring occupant satisfaction with IEQ, this paper uses scores and user comments from occupant questionnaires to identify success and indicate frustration and/or confusion with particular building technologies. It also extrapolates the energy efficiency implications of these responses in four Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold residential towers.

The research highlights where problems occur, particularly with the adoption of new technologies which may not be well understood by the occupants. It also identifies behaviour patterns that may negate energy efficiency strategies.

The lack of dwelling metre data prevents this research from making causal links between behaviours and their energy implications. Also, the lack of Canadian benchmarks for satisfaction of occupants means that comparisons can only be made to cases from the UK, which is less robust.

This type of work has never been done in Canadian residential high rise towers before. It helps to better understand the process of ensuring that occupants successfully adopt innovation that can lead to energy savings.

To determine the probable drainage load for sizing a stack serving a number of domestic washrooms in high‐rise buildings, with various occupant loads served by an appliance and simultaneous use of appliances in a domestic washroom taken into account.

With the reported probable demand patterns of domestic appliances from laboratory testing results, on‐site measurements and survey studies, the probable maximum discharge flow rates from a number of domestic washrooms in a stack are estimated with Monte‐Carlo simulations.

The results demonstrated that the occupant loads and the usage patterns of an appliance had significant effects on the sizing of a drainage stack. It was reported that a reduction of 16 per cent in the design discharge flow rate for a washroom, at an occupant load of 4.2 persons per apartment, could be achieved with no more than one appliance discharging at a time. Influence of the occupant load served by an appliance on the probable maximum drainage demand at the stack was addressed. The results also showed a reduction of the predicted discharge flow rate at the stack serving a number of typical domestic washrooms from −26 to +21 per cent as compared with those predicted by the nominal occupant load in current practice.

The model parameters were determined from surveys for some high‐rise residential buildings in Hong Kong and from some laboratory testing results for typical domestic sanitary appliances. The model therefore may require adaptation for use in other countries.

A useful source of information in determining the stack size serving a number of domestic washrooms for those involved in building design and management related to drainage systems of residential buildings.

This paper proposes mathematical expressions in sizing a drainage stack serving a number of domestic washrooms in high‐rise buildings, where drainage demands are dependent on the building occupant loads at certain discharge patterns of appliances in a domestic washroom.

It is essential to provide the necessary facilities in a building for human living. However, most unit owners of high-rise buildings do not realise the importance of good property management until their buildings and common facilities have deteriorated. It is thus important to ensure adequate maintenance is provided to create and sustain a healthy living environment for high-rise households. The purpose of this study is to measure and compare the perceptions and satisfactions of residents with the facilities and maintenance services provided in two different condominiums located next to each other.

Survey questionnaires were used, and the data were collected from 120 residents of each condominium which was developed by the same developer but completed at different times. Using the IBM SPSS Statistics software, cross tabulations, χ² tests of independence and independent-samples t-tests were carried out for descriptive and inferential statistics. A simple post questionnaire survey was conducted to confirm the findings obtained from χ² tests and t-tests.

The results show that residents’ perceptions of facilities and maintenance services provided are significantly higher for the newer condominium compared to the older one. Residents’ satisfactions with facilities are also higher for the newer condominium. However, poorer lift services and their maintenance have resulted in lower overall mean satisfaction with maintenance services for the newer condominium. Nevertheless, results from data collected in post questionnaire survey reveal that the respondents still prefer to live in the newer condominium despite higher rental rates.

This paper reports only the data collected from samples of two condominiums in Kuala Lumpur.

There is a dearth of literature on residents’ perceptions and satisfactions towards facilities and maintenance services provided for high-rise residential living, particularly in Malaysia, where high-rise buildings are either managed by joint management body or management corporation depending on whether the strata titles have been issued. The findings can be used as benchmarks for property management purposes of condominiums.

This paper could be considered as the first in reporting residents’ perceptions and satisfactions with the facilities and maintenance services provided in residential high-rise buildings since the implementation of the Strata Management Act 2013, which was implemented to provide for proper maintenance and management of high-rise buildings and the common properties.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the maintenance prioritising for facilities services in high-rise residential buildings in Peninsular Malaysia. Maintenance prioritisation is becoming more prominent in the building maintenance industry due to budget constraints, poor maintenance management and to yield better maintenance performance.

Two main categories with eleven facilities services that require maintenance were identified through extensive literature review. A total of 321 returned questionnaires were analysed to distinguish the relationship between the maintenance priority and cost variance. Semi-structured interviews were then conducted to validate the findings.

The findings revealed that five essential facilities services were significantly correlated to cost variance and a regression model which examines the probability of over-budget was developed. Meanwhile, the interviews recognised that maintenance prioritisation has impact towards maintenance cost.

This research focusses on the maintenance priorities of facilities services and their effects to maintenance cost. However, it is undeniable that the maintenance cost can be affected by other factors, contributing to a lower percentage of the total variance in the regression model. Thus, it creates research opportunity to study the factors (i.e. manpower, materials, wear and tear, etc.) affecting the variance of maintenance cost.

This study is useful to property managers in efforts to enhance the cost performance via appropriate maintenance prioritisation. The essential facilities services should be highly prioritised compared to the value-added facilities services.

The paper signifies the importance of maintenance prioritisation. It serves as a guide to plan and execute maintenance planning in a more logical way within budget and time constraints.