Abstract
The purpose of this study was to find out awareness of the environment-friendly planning elements for residential unit space among practitioners. The respondents in this questionnaire survey were 140 practitioners in architecture and interior design field. The major findings of this study were as follows; most of the respondents were aware of the impact of indoor built environment on residents' wellness. In addition, the survey respondents viewed that the factors for planning environment-friendly high-rise apartments were represented by gardening and energy-saving while their perception on the concept excluded comprehensive components affecting residents' life quality. Over 50% of respondents had an experience of applying environment-friendly planning elements in their works, and high frequency appeared on the general planning elements which had been applied special awareness as pro-environmental features. The respondents considered environment-friendly planning elements as important. Specially, space planning and system were considered more likely important in interior design field. In application of environment-friendly planning elements, cost, lack of consumers' awareness of and underdevelopment of environment-friendly materials were of concern. Therefore, the consumer's cognition needs to be improved for wide application about environment-friendly planning element, and then consumers are willing to pay additional construction cost of environment-friendly apartments. At the same time, the current practice that housing developers pass the additional cost on to residents needs to be changed. Then, the quality of life in high-rise residential settings can be improved. More importantly, the exchange and development of the reliable information on environment-friendly planning elements need to be made, and technical support and long-term policy for the development are required. This research showed current status of knowledge and practice in sustainable planning of unit apartment and proved basic information for future direction.
