Sustainable development – from a local to a European perspective

Second Transnational ExchangeSeia - Portugal

May 8th - 14th 2016

How do people see the traditional houses? Do they like them?

Seia- Geographic location

Seia is located in the north center of Portugal

Seia is located in western slope of Serra da Estrela that is integrated in a protected reserve area, the Natural Park of Serra da Estrela.

The Natural park of Serra da Estrela

Seia- Geographic location

How are the traditional houses?

The traditional houses in our region, Seia, are built in stone, generally smaller in dimensions with tiny rooms.

These houses are less comfortable than those built nowadays, which show the lack of economic possibilities of the population.

How do people see the traditional houses?

Do they like them?

We thought about the following problems:

From this point on, we came up with the following hypothesis:

People like traditional Houses.

We prepared a questionnaire form with 12 items to which 49 participants answered agree or don’t

What is the opinion of the people about traditional houses?

INQUIRY

 INQUIRY - items AgreeAgree

somewhat

Don’t agree

1st Nowadays it’s hard to live in these houses because the rooms are too small      

2nd It is hard to make the houses comfortable      

3rd It is more expensive to restore a traditional house than build a new house      

4th The houses are liveable because their infrastructures are simple      

5th The restoration of these houses needs materials that are difficult to find      

6th These houses are inhabited by poor people      

7th These houses enrich the landscape      

8th The materials that are used in these houses enrich their aspect      

9th The neighbourhoods where these houses predominate are beautiful      

10th I would like to live in a traditional house      

11th The architecture of these houses is attractive      

12th I prefer to live in modern house      

Questions AgreeAgree

somewhat Don't agree1st Question 27 13 92nd Question 15 13 213rd Question 23 16 104th Question 33 7 95th Question 9 13 276th Question 19 14 167th Question 42 5 28th Question 34 8 79th Question 39 8 210th Question 29 10 1011th Question 41 4 412th Question 19 13 17

Resultados

1st Que

stion

2nd Q

uestio

n

3rd Que

stion

4th Que

stion

5th Que

stion

6th Que

stion

7th Que

stion

8th Que

stion

9th Que

stion

10th

Ques...

11th

Ques...

12th

Ques...

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45AgreeAgree somewhatDon't agree

Results

Report of the Results

The results show that from the 49 respondents, 27 considered their houses difficult to live in due to the dimension of divisions, but 33 said they are good to live in because they have the basic infrastructures and 21 considered that it is possible to make them more comfortable. These results show a favorable opinion towards these houses.

Within the respondents 23, less than half, think that is more expensive to recover a traditional house than build a new one, but for the 27 the materials needed are not difficult to find. It’s less of the sample, 19 who think these houses are inhabited by poor people with lack of resources, 16 who do not agree and 14 who agree little.

Report of the Results

The results still point to the appreciation of both houses and sites, as 42 respondents agree that these houses value the landscape and 34 believe that the materials used favor their design, 39 agree the villages where traditional houses predominate are beautiful and 41 find architecture attractive.

There is also a favorable opinion of the respondents regarding traditional houses since 29 would like to live in a traditional house and only 19 say they prefer to live in a modern house.

Conclusion

People recognise that the dimensions are the biggest problem of these houses. However, they think they are habitable, they could become comfortable despite its recovery not being cheap comparing it to the construction of a new house.

They consider the traditional houses have architectural beauty and in the material form of buildings which give the villages and the landscapes a great value.

Conclusion

Making a balance between those who would like to live in a traditional house and those who prefer to live in modern homes it highlights a greater appreciation of the traditional house.

So the hypothesis that we started from that people like traditional houses seems to be real, because they are valued not only by their materials, by their architecture but also for the beauty they bring to the villages and landscapes.

Mariana Duarte FigueiredoMatilde Rola FigueiredoRute Catarina Silva CostaBeatriz Costa RodriguesBeatriz Magalhães GomesBruna Tatiana Oliveira CerqueiraCamila Carvalho LázaroCarolina Alexandra C SilvaSara Alexandra Amaral Sousa

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