A young family with children in the residential environment: the interrelation between environmental functionality and family activity

The article presents the results of a study of the relationship between the activity of a young family with children and the functionality of the living environment. Within the framework of the systemic, systemic-activity and activity-functional approaches, the author examines the system of “living environment and young family”, with the young family being an active element of this system. The study is based on the materials of an expert survey and interviews with representatives of young families. Based on the results of the expert survey, objective characteristics were identified that allow identifying the territory of the living environment as functional or dysfunctional for the life of the family. A survey of representatives of young families living in functional and dysfunctional environments allowed us to identify the types of activity of a young family, the significance of certain types and specific problems that parents face in these living environments. A relationship between the functionality of the environment and the activity of a young family was identified. In a functional living environment, this activity is more diverse and, in addition to implementing basic functions, creates opportunities for implementing social and existential functions of the family. In a dysfunctional environment, the activity of a young family is focused on life-saving, including normalization and adaptation. Self-organization of activity is presented in both environments, but has different sources and directions. In any case, self-organization is a manifestation of the subjectivity of residents and a way of transforming the environment. As a result of the study, the idea of the activity of a young family with children in relation to the objective characteristics of the territories of residential environments was specified. Empirically generalized types of activity create the basis for their further typology. Of practical importance is the conclusion about the equifinality of creating a functional residential environment, when the same task (safety, developed infrastructure or comfortable living) can be solved by different technical and organizational methods. The main thing is that the meaning of creating a residential environment is its human-oriented nature.

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