A sense of safety is the first requirement for human stability in a place such as a home. Many local studies investigated Baghdadi houses and their architectural changes, but the relationship between safety and sustainability in Baghdadi houses has not been studied, so the research problem was: What are the architectural elements that relate to the concept of a safe house as a home in Baghdad as a case study? How is it related to the sustainability?
The research aims to identify the architectural elements of the safe house in Baghdad, to work on these elements by architects to enhance the sustainability of the residential environment, and create homes that last for a long time and help their residents’ age in place with well-being. The research methodology started with studying the research concepts and chose the semi-structured interviews for collecting data from 118 Participants who were diverse in age, gender, and educational level and lived in Baghdadi houses built before 2003 as modern-style houses and houses built after 2003 as residential houses smaller than the legal urban controls. The interviews were conducted in their houses with the architectural documentation for these houses.
The conclusion was that the safety in Baghdadi house as a home is a complex system that consists of physical safety, social safety, economic safety, and psychological safety that work together to enhance the sense of stability in the house for a long time and create a sustainable home, the research finds that the neighbourhood is the center of the sense of safety that extends to the house. The factors of physical safety that enhance stability in the house are the design flexibility, external spaces between the house and its neighbourhood, the efficiency of services, natural lighting, correct design relationships, user participation in design, privacy, and appropriate design for the older people to age in place with well-being. The findings support the construction of houses that encourage stability in the place; the stability will increase the accumulation of memories there and thus enhance belonging. Strengthening belonging to the place of residence will enhance the feeling of satisfaction and citizenship in society.