Improving well-being via adaptive reuse: transformative repurposed service organizations

• Published in: The Service industries journal Vol. 41; no. 3-4; pp. 223 - 247
• Main Authors: Rosenbaum, Mark S., Kim, Kathy (Kawon), Ramirez, Germán Contreras, Orejuela, Augusto Rodríguez, Park, Joohyung
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Routledge 17.02.2021; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: adaptive reuse; repurposing; Social support; transformative service research; well-being; 变革性服务研究; 社会支持; 适应性重用; 重新调整用途
• ISSN: 0264-2069; 1743-9507
• DOI: 10.1080/02642069.2019.1615897

This research illustrates the social supportive role that adaptive resuse of service organizations may play in promoting individual well-being. This work showcases how a health care clinic located in a developing country transforms into a setting which hosts community members' socially supportive relationships during the clinic's off-hours. The empirical results reveal that participating in an array of social activities offered in the clinic grants clinic patrons, most of whom are financially vulnerable, access to social supportive resources. The results show that social support is positively related to patrons' sense of belonging, well-being, and quality of life. The authors encourage public health and governmental agencies, especially in low-income areas where people often lack sufficient social support and in locales where governmental agencies confront monetary limitations, to consider the adaptive resuse of structures (i.e. clinics, education facilities, and office buildings) into spaces that encourages community members to gather and to socialize.