Customerships in Urban Housing Redevelopment – a Case Study on Retrofitting a Suburb

Urban development process can be considered as a system with its stakeholders falling under categories of Public, Private and People. This approach is called Public-Private-People Partnership (4P) and it has been successfully used in housing development. Between the stakeholders there are several kinds of relationships already recognised, but the field is by no means studied thoroughly. This paper discusses “customerships”, that is, customer relations from customer’s viewpoint, in the field of urban housing development. The issue is approached theoretically from systems theory and from the concept of customership in context of built environment. Moreover, a case study based on key stakeholder interviews of an urban housing redevelopment process aiming to low-energy retrofitting of a suburban housing area is presented. The paper does not delimit its view to the traditional end customer’s (home buyer or owner of refurbished home) role only, but evaluates all the relationships as either existing or potential customer relationships. In the case several customerships and requirements to partnership were identified. It is concluded that customership can provide a relevant viewpoint in urban housing development and help to develop the process more viable.