A comparison study on space-use analysis techniques and proposal of a novel method for determining space needs in public facilities

This paper deals with inefficient space management of public real estate resulting in discrepancy between the amount of space required for provision of public services and the amount of space that is available. This situation causes either waste of resources, in case of underused spaces, or affects quality of service if the space is overused. To address this issue, this paper compares different methods for space-use analysis and discusses their suitability for public facilities. It also proposes a novel, activity-centered method for defining space needs. The paper contributes to the state of the art in the following ways: It demonstrates that generally used methods for space-use analysis are not appropriate for public buildings due to their cost, complexity and building-centered approach. Moreover, it reveals that methods used in the private sector cannot be simply copied to the public one. However, its biggest contribution is proposal of a new, low-cost and activity-centered method for determining space needs that can be applied for multiple public buildings of different purposes.