Abstract
The safety and comfort of the housing environment concerns both its functional, spatial and social structure. Current tendencies in the design of housing areas typically do not take the latter factor into account. based on an analysis of the spatial structure of european housing areas, an attempt was made to determine a number of the principles of shaping space that beneficially affect the formation of informal social relationships. The research method was based on a case study of three housing areas and their spatial structure, in reference to the principles concerning the shaping of social spaces inside housing areas as described in co-housing schemes proposed by (Durrett and McCamant).