F-commerce and Urban Modernities: The Changing Terrain of Housing Design in Bangladesh

Title of the Paper

F-commerce and Urban Modernities: The Changing Terrain of Housing Design in Bangladesh

Bibliographic Information

• Subject Area: The impact of social media e-commerce (F-commerce) on urban housing design, particularly in the context of Dhaka, Bangladesh
• Keywords: F-commerce, urban modernity, housing design, women entrepreneurship, postcolonial HCI, Global South

Research Background and Issues

• Problems and Challenges:

  1. With the rise of social media e-commerce (Facebook commerce, or F-commerce), many women are starting small businesses from home, creating new demands for spatial configuration and functional use in urban housing.
  2. Current housing designs, often guided by "modernization," emphasize functionality and compartmentalization, failing to meet the needs of these emerging home-based business models.
  3. There is a lack of research exploring how digital technologies influence housing design in Global South countries and their complex interactions with socio-cultural contexts.

• Significance:

  1. The rapid growth of F-commerce in the Global South is reshaping the spatial, cultural, and social dynamics of housing.
  2. Investigating the relationship between women’s entrepreneurship and housing design can reveal the limitations of modern housing design practices and inspire more inclusive approaches.

• Research Motivation and Related Work:

  1. This study enriches Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research. Previous studies have primarily focused on e-commerce behaviors or platform optimization, neglecting the impact of digital commerce on physical spaces.
  2. It contributes to South Asian feminism and postcolonial computing literature, offering significant insights into the digital transformation of Global South countries.

Proposed Solution

• Research Methods:

  • The authors conducted a seven-month qualitative study (January–August 2021), including interviews, focus group discussions, and virtual data collection.
  • Methods included:
    • Accessing and analyzing active F-commerce-related Facebook groups and pages in Dhaka.
    • Conducting semi-structured interviews and virtual home visits with 48 female F-commerce entrepreneurs.
    • Interviewing 13 female architects working in housing and interior design.

• Innovations:

  1. Investigated the impact of F-commerce on the spatial layout, functional division, and design concepts of modern residential architecture.
  2. Analyzed the profound influence of F-commerce on Global South housing from the perspectives of urban and architectural theory, postcolonial feminism, and digital technology.
  3. Proposed new directions for interdisciplinary collaboration in the intersection of digital technology and architecture.

• Key Techniques and Implementation Steps:

  • Employed open coding and thematic analysis to interpret qualitative data.
  • Analyzed spatial reuse and innovative usage driven by F-commerce through virtual observation of living spaces.
  • Integrated theoretical perspectives into practical issues, offering recommendations for improving design methodologies.

Research Findings

• Specific Findings:

  1. Spatial Impact:
     • F-commerce is transforming the design patterns of urban housing in Dhaka, challenging the modern housing ideals of single-functionality, spatial redundancy, and rational compartmentalization.
     • For instance, F-commerce has driven the demand for multifunctional spaces: living rooms are repurposed as product photography studios, kitchens are converted into production areas, and even rooftops are used for storage or drying products.
  2. Socioeconomic Impact:
     • Women engaging in F-commerce have achieved certain economic successes but face challenges related to traditional gender roles and inequitable spatial allocation.
     • Gender biases in residential community committees hinder women’s equitable use of shared spaces (e.g., rooftops, stairwells).
  3. Digital Platform Analysis:
     • Current platforms like Facebook Marketplace fail to adequately reflect the backgrounds and efforts of entrepreneurial women, lacking mechanisms to showcase the "intangible value" of their products.

• Advantages Over Existing Solutions:

  • Unlike previous HCI studies that primarily focus on consumer behavior, this paper offers an in-depth analysis from the supplier's perspective, particularly the challenges faced by female entrepreneurs in residential environments.
  • It disrupts the inherent logic of modern architectural design, laying the groundwork for more flexible and inclusive housing design principles.

• Experimental and Evaluation Results:

  1. Based on interviews and field observations with female F-commerce practitioners, the study identified five prominent limitations of current modern housing design: homogeneity, orderliness, rationalization, redundancy, and isolation.
  2. Found that F-commerce drives a shift in housing spaces from single-functionality to multifunctionality.

• Limitations:

  1. Geographic limitation: The study focuses primarily on Dhaka and does not explore other cities or rural areas in Bangladesh.
  2. Spatial limitation: It does not cover affluent villas or informal housing (e.g., slums) and their adaptation to F-commerce.
  3. Gender perspective: The study mainly focuses on women’s experiences, without addressing the experiences of other gender groups.

• Future Directions:

  1. Expand the research to other cities and rural areas to explore the impact of F-commerce on more diverse housing scenarios.
  2. Investigate the potential of computing platforms in localized design and the empowerment of women’s rights.
  3. Enhance the alignment between modern housing design and the new demands of F-commerce, such as developing more flexible building regulations and planning.

This paper integrates HCI, architecture, and gender studies to provide profound theoretical insights and practical recommendations for addressing the contradictions between digitalization and spatial modernization in the Global South.