Problem statement: Recurrent large-scale earthquakes across Turkey have made the temporary resettlement of disaster-affected populations an increasingly urgent challenge. Despite widespread reliance on prefabricated housing in post-disaster contexts, the dwelling experience within these environments extends well beyond physical dimensions. Socio-cultural factors play a considerable role in shaping residents' quality of life and residential satisfaction — dimensions that prior research has largely left underexplored.
Research objective: This study examines the socio-cultural components that shape the dwelling experience in post-disaster prefabricated housing, and clarifies how these components influence residential satisfaction and quality of life among occupants.
Research method: A qualitative approach grounded in grounded theory was adopted, given the study's aim to understand and interpret residents' lived experiences and narratives of inhabiting post-disaster prefabricated units, as well as to identify the formative processes underlying the socio-cultural dimensions of dwelling. Data were gathered through documentary review, analytical field notes, and semi-structured online interviews conducted with 30 residents of prefabricated units across Kahramanmaraş, Hatay, Adıyaman, and Malatya. Purposive sampling guided participant selection, and data were analyzed through open, axial, and selective coding procedures.
Conclusion: Findings reveal that dwelling experience in post-disaster prefabricated housing is shaped by a constellation of factors — among them neighborly relations, social capital, sense of place attachment, cultural adaptability, and the quality of shared communal spaces. Residents were found to partially offset disaster-induced disruptions through adaptive behaviors and the renegotiation of social ties. Variations in the socio-cultural backgrounds of the studied cities also proved influential in determining both the character of dwelling experience and overall quality of life. Taken together, prefabricated housing functions not merely as temporary shelter, but as a setting in which place identity and social relations are either reconstructed or eroded. Accordingly, socio-cultural considerations must be central to the design and planning of post-disaster settlement programs.