Johanne Mose Entwistle
Associated Partner / Head of Impact / Anthropologist
Aarhus
jme@aart.dk
+45 22 50 78 40
Impact case | Nye
Boosting the quality of life
Communities make us live better and longer, research shows. With the community in focus, NYE have been created to raise the quality of life - successfully. For among the residents of NYE, 37 percent experience that their home has a very large impact on their quality of life, and it is almost double compared to Danes in general.
Creating community
Studies show that the most crucial factor for whether we as humans live a good and long life is social integration. Therefore, NYE is created with the aim of strengthening social integration – in other words community. In NYE residents own little and share a lot. A sharing economical approach to architecture, where the houses are scattered into clusters, and where we replace private gardens are encircled by hedges with open common areas. The result is a living local community connected by shared paths, playgrounds, greenhouses, kitchen gardens and much more. A local community where you enjoy nature and where residents meeting each other is a natural part of their everyday life.
The community means that 95 percent of the NYE residents have very high trust in each other.
Raising quality of life
The community-based focus can be measured in terms of quality of life. To such an extent, that almost the double amount of the resident experience that their house has a great importance for their quality of life compared to the general public. While it applies to 37 percent of the NYE residents, it only applies to 21 percent of Danes in general. That is reflected in the neighbourly relations, here, 66 percent of the residents say that they have good and active neighbourly relations. In comparison, it applies to 25 percent of Danes in general. As a result, NYE is experienced is a safe place to live, where 95 percent have higher trust in the other residents.
According to the residents, the shielded terraces help keep a good balance between private life and community.
Trust is an expression of a sense of community […] And a high trust level has a vast value for society – socially, politically, and economically.)Danmarkskanonen – 10 værdier for fremtidens Danmark
But what about private life?
Private life is an important condition for community. A balance between private life and community which most residents have succeeded to create in NYE, actually. 84 percent experience that their house offers just the right balance, while the remaining 16 percent stay neutral. None of the residents experience an unbalance between private life and community. Especially, the sound isolation between the houses, the shielded terraces, and the opportunity to regulate outsider’s insight, are highlighted as crucial for keeping the right balance.
Community gives a sense of being a part of something. You are not an isolated island here.Resident / Interview
The spontaneous community occurs automatically because you run into each other when you are heading to your car, collecting your post, or heading out with the rubbish.”Resident / Interview
It is definitely because of the architecture and the outdoor facilities that we run into each other. We help each other. It is safe.Resident / Interview
Inviting light inside
Not only, does the houses in NYE strengthen the close community and thus its mental health. They strengthen their physical health by using architectural means such as big windows, skylight windows, acoustic ceiling, and ventilation crevices beneath doors. The result is an experience of an indoor climate of high quality. No wonder that 87 percent of the residents highlight daylight conditions as the most important reason for choosing their house next to view of nature, which 82 percent highlight as the most important reason.
For residents, the good daylight conditions have been crucial to their choice of house.
Living more sustainably
87 percent of the residents experience that their house helps them to live more sustainably. This is not only due to the good daylight conditions that according to the residents have a sustainable gain. But also, because the big windows mean that the residents turn on artificial light much less than in their previous houses. Actually, it applies to 74 percent of the residents. According to the residents the windows simultaneously draw in light into the houses, which supports good quality of life and close contact with nature.
The good daylight conditions help residents to live more sustainably.
We have never lived in a place with such good indoor climate. We can simply feel it. My boyfriend has asthma, and he can feel it on his breathing that it is healthy to live here.Beboer / Interview
We were completely sold when we took over the house. The big windows, the oak tree frames, and the high ceiled room. We love it. It gives an extremely nice incidence of light.Resident / Interview
I love how much light there is. It creates air, freedom, and positivity.Resident / Interview
There is such a good acoustic here. The plates on the ceiling functions, and there is no echo at all, even though we do not have any carpets. I thought that we should have that.
Behind the impact case
The impact case on NYE builds on qualitative and quantitative studies developed by our impact team between September 2019 and January 2020. Here, the impact team visited NYE, interviewed the residents, and distributed questionnaires. This gave unique insights that subsequently were compared to external research. Always with an aim of attaining well-documented knowledge on the impacts of the first and second construction stage entailing 30 one family houses that we have build together with Tækker as developer.
Press coverage
2020
DR
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2020
Ældre Sagen
Fællesskab i forstaden
2019
Jyllands-Posten
Nabofællesskabet herude er vores fritidsinteresse
2019
Politiken
Astrids hus gør det nemt at opføre sig klimavenligt — uden at tænke over det
2018
Jyllands-Posten
Det grundlæggende ved Nye er delekulturen
2016
Jyllands-Posten
Huse med delevaskeri og fælles frugthave
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