Abstract

While housing can facilitate many of the freedoms associated with a ‘well-lived’ life, the Capabilities Approach (CA) is yet to have transformed housing research and evaluation. This paper explores the relationship between housing conditions and well-being, using Nussbaum’s version of the CA as the basis for analysis. It draws on data from a UK-based qualitative study of the experiences of individuals residing in privately-run hostels in the North of England. The analysis reveals much diversity in terms of the ways in which the residents perceived their housing conditions and the impacts of these on their exercise of key functions, despite all living in similar environmental conditions. This highlights the highly subjective and complex nature of the relationship between housing conditions and well-being. It is argued that a more robust understanding of the key factors that mediate the relationship being investigated is needed if the potential of the CA to advance housing research and evaluation is to be further realized.

摘要

虽然住房可以促进许多与“美好生活”相关的自由，但能力方法（CA）尚未改变住房研究和评估。本文以努斯鲍姆版本的CA为分析基础，探讨住房条件与幸福感之间的关系。它借鉴了英国一项针对英格兰北部私人经营旅馆的个人居住经历的定性研究的数据。分析显示，尽管居民生活在相似的环境条件下，但他们对住房条件的看法以及住房条件对其履行关键职能的影响存在很大差异。这凸显了住房条件与福祉之间关系的高度主观性和复杂性。