Psychological Impact of Mixed-use Housing Commercial Activities for Residential Area: in the Case of District 11 Kabul City

Abstract

The urban population is increasing rapidly in most developing countries. Kabul as the capital and largest city of Afghanistan has been facing undesired urban issues due to its rapid population growth. According to the master plan of 1968, Kabul city was designed for two million people, but after the evolution of 2001, the city encountered to unexpected rising in population which reached almost five million, living in this city. For this reason, most of the low-rise residential houses are transferring to commercial and residential mixed-use housing. These housings are facing a lack of privacy and a good correlation between commercial and residential spaces. Therefore, as a significant matter, this paper studies the correlation of commercial with residential space, in the quest to determine which activities are suitable to be allocated in this type of housing and which activities are inappropriate based on cultural and regional fit. Additionally, a list of activities based on their suitability is classified in this paper which helps to segregate unsuitable activities accordingly. This study draws insights from primary data collection using questionnaires for Post Occupancy Evaluation, semi-structured interviews, and fieldwork observations in the mixed-use housing apartments and from the analysis of secondary data such as government documents.