Apartment buildings with communal and community spaces

CONTEXT

This section covers the maintenance of communal spaces and the need for community spaces in apartment buildings as factors to take into consideration due to their positive consequences for health.

The poor state of a building’s communal spaces, as a consequence of the lack of maintenance, may cause accidents, cohabitation problems and stressful situations. The most common problems are caused by noise, poor hygiene and cleaning, the irresponsible care of pets, bad odours and the presence of damp. It is necessary to suitably maintain the common spaces of buildings (and indirectly of homes) in order to prevent health problems for residents.

Additionally, community spaces are communal spaces that have the aim of strengthening or building a sense of community, that is, collective spaces of the building that foster relations between people. They may be roofs, patios, corridors, gardened spaces, terraces, and common rooms, in addition to kitchens, study halls and collective dining rooms. In order to favour their good operation it is necessary to equip them with good spatial and architectural conditions: lighting, ventilation, exterior connectivity, connectivity with the homes, materials, furniture…

Community living spaces foster social relations between neighbours, enabling the establishment of networks and social cohesion, which improves mental health and favours the establishment of links that facilitate the maintenance of these spaces. Open-air community spaces with plants foster physical activity and allow people to enjoy sunlight, which improves both physical and mental health (see "Lighting").

Due to the increase in the effects of climate change, it is increasingly important to have community spaces and ensure their correct management. Preventing the heat island effect, being a safe space or helping with the integration of migrants due to climate change will be some of their major functions.

In any case, it is necessary to be aware that the potential positive values of community spaces may be affected if they are not used and maintained properly, and this may be detrimental to cohabitation.

OBJECTIVE

Improve maintenance and use of communal elements of buildings to improve interior environmental quality and reduce conflicts between neighbours.
Foster the existence of quality community spaces in apartment buildings due to their value in terms of social cohesion and physical activity.

PROPOSALS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Proposals and recommendations for the development of housing (public and private)

Foster patios or communal gardens in apartment buildings to act as catalysers of the social activity of the community and foster physical activity.
Plan the creation of meeting spaces in the entrances to buildings.
Plan community spaces, both open and closed, where the community can carry out different activities.
Plan flexible, neutral community spaces that enable adaptability to different functions and activities.
Create material storage areas in community spaces: toys, bicycles, trolleys, tables, chairs, tools…
Provide everyday facilities in apartment buildings with a variety of activities for different people and timetables that meet the building’s maintenance needs.

Proposals and recommendations for users and the residents association

To be able to enjoy communal and community spaces of a building it is necessary to:

Conserve and maintain the communal and community spaces of the building. This must include both the maintenance of its services and its structural, waterproofing, habitability and security conditions, such as planning cleaning and tidying and the prevention of the generation of noise, among other things.
Develop cohabitation and a sense of belonging to the community of residents.

In the case of a lack of maintenance, the affected people and/or the president of the residents association will inform the administration so it can take measures to resolve it and mediate it.

Proposals and recommendations for the administration

Measures related to cohabitation

Activate public awareness programmes on the importance of the maintenance of buildings and their common spaces.
Establish support programmes for residents associations to facilitate their constitution and operation based on the fostering of the sense of belonging and the commitment to look after and maintain the common spaces. These programmes should be complemented with mediation programmes that facilitate the resolution of conflicts.
Prepare municipal public cohabitation by-laws.

Measures to facilitate the correct maintenance of the building

Establish municipal aid for renovation and/or renovation agreements in the case of economic difficulties in order to guarantee the conservation of the building.
Ensure strict compliance with the maintenance work provided for in the Building Record and in the ITEs (Technical Building Inspections).

Measures to ensure compliance with the duty to conserve and renovate

Establish building inspection programmes to verify habitability and use conditions.
Foster administrative intervention measures (inhabitability declarations, foreclosures, expropriations due to non-compliance with conservation and rehabilitation duties…).
Impose penalties when the building is in poor condition.
Activate public awareness programmes on the obligations (rights and duties) of the owners and renters and other occupants.

REFERENCE EXPERIENCES

Information only available in Catalan

Cooperativa d´habitatges La Borda. – Districte Sants-Montjuïc, Barcelona. Edifici de 28 habitatges i espais comuns per potenciar la vida comunitària. Amb la col·lectivització d’alguns usos (bugaderia, espai de convidats, cuina i menjador grans) s’aprofiten els recursos espaials i d’aparells.
Col·loquis per fomentar la convivència veïnal. El Consorci d’acció social de la Garrotxa i l’Ajuntament d’Olot han impulsat aquest cicle de debats per tal que es comparteixin experiències i s’exposin temes que preocupen als veïns i veïnes per tal de trobar solucions als conflictes dins d’un mateix edifici.
Programa de suport a les comunitats de veïnes i veïns. – Mataró. El Servei de Civisme i cooperació de l’ajuntament, prestat per Creu Roja, té com objectiu donar suport i assessorament a comunitats per tal d’oferir solucions a problemàtiques que posen en risc la convivència de les comunitats.
Pla d’ajudes per fomentar usos comunitaris als terrats.- Barcelona. L’ajuntament ofereix subvencions per transformar i recuperar aquests espais de coberta en desús amb usos mediambientals, energètics i comunitaris.
GUIA VEÏNAT + - Vic. Guia de suport amb recomanacions pràctiques per ajudar en la gestió de les comunitats de veïns. Incorpora temes organitzatius de la comunitat, bones pràctiques de bon veïnatge i eficiència energètica de l’edifici.
Projecte d’intervenció en les comunitats de veïns i veïnes.- Santa Coloma de Gramenet. L’ajuntament va posar en marxa un procés informatiu personalitzat sobre el correcte funcionament de les comunitats i els seus principals problemes a nivell d’estructura, gestió i convivència. I alhora, impulsaren un procés formatiu per a la correcta gestió de les comunitats i la millora de la convivència veïnal introduint la mediació i la gestió de conflictes.

LEGISLATION

Llei 8/2013, de 26 de juny, de rehabilitació, regeneració i renovació urbanes
Real decreto 233/2013, de 5 de abril, pel qual es regula el Plan estatal de fomento del alquiler de viviendas, la rehabilitación edificatòria y la regeneración y renovación urbanas
Decret 141/2012, de 30-10-2012, pel qual es regulen les condicions mínimes d'habitabilitat dels habitatges i la cèdula d'habitabilitat.
Llei 18/2007, de 28 de desembre, del dret a l'habitatge.
RD 314/2006, de 17 de març, por el que se aprueba el Código Técnico de la Edificación.
DB HS salubridad CTE. Reglas y procedimientos para cumplir las exigencias mínimas de slalubridad en los edificios. HS1: protección frente a la humedad, HS2: recogida y evacuación de residuos, HS3: calidad del aire interior (Almacenes de residuos, trasteros y zonas comunes, aparcamientos y garaes).
Projecte de Decret pel foment del deure de conservació, manteniment i rehabilitació dels edificis d'habitatges, mitjançant les inspeccions tècniques i el llibre de l'edifici, que derogarà el Decret 187/2010, de 23 de novembre, sobre la inspecció tècnica dels edificis d'habitatges i del Decret 206/1992, d'1 de setembre, sobre el contingut del llibre de l'edifici per als habitatges de nova construcció.
Llei 15/2009, del 22 de juliol, de mediació en l'àmbit del dret privat
Llei 5/2006, de 10 de maig, per la qual s'aprova el llibre cinquè del Codi civil de Catalunya, que conté el funcionament correcte d'una comunitat de veïns des de l'àmbit legal, al capítol tercer, articles 553-1 a 553-59.