Considering Residents’ Health and Well-Being in the Process of Social Housing Redevelopment: A Rapid Scoping Literature Review

Abstract

Many aging mid-twentieth-century social housing developments worldwide are set to undergo major redevelopment, aiming to improve residents’ living conditions. Nevertheless, the associated processes, particularly the challenges of relocation during the demolition and reconstruction phase, can significantly disrupt communities and social networks. Understanding the multifaceted impacts of social housing redevelopment projects is crucial to inform planning, design, and consultation for these projects. This scoping literature review explores how residents’ health and well-being are considered in the process of social housing redevelopment. We identified eight studies through a search performed on EMBASE, PubMed, and Scopus databases, with an additional hand search of the bibliographies of selected studies. A thematic analysis was conducted to identify the health and well-being impacts of the different phases during redevelopment projects. The findings demonstrate that social housing redevelopment projects have varied impacts on residents’ health and well-being depending on the subgroup of residents and the contextual characteristics of the original social housing estate. While improved physical infrastructure provides opportunities for better health outcomes, the disruption and lack of control during the relocation process may cause significant adverse health impacts. Moreover, the different phases during the redevelopment process expose different subgroups to varying risks. Based on these findings, we recommend that social housing redevelopment initiatives prioritize engaging and empowering residents to have better control in decision-making throughout all phases of the redevelopment.