War Housing Research Articles

Planning and Architecture as Determining Influences on the Housing Market: Budapest–Csepel’s Post–War Housing Estates

In Hungary, post-war housing estates can be categorised according to the time of their construction. Thanks to the development of construction technologies and urban planning, these so-called generations of housing estates demonstrate different features with regard to their physical layout and socio-economic characteristics. Socio-economic transformation that took place after the change of regime (1989) was widely affected by the physical parameters of these neighbourhoods and their dwelling stock. Our results show that different generations of housing estates have followed distinct trajectories in the housing market; thus, in addition to their geographical location within the city, planning, architecture, design, and the dwelling stock play a significant role in the market positions of these generations of housing estates. House prices have risen rapidly in Budapest since 2014 up until the pandemic in 2020, and housing estates became popular segments of the housing market. The main aim of this article is to investigate the role of urban planning, architecture and the built environment in this real estate process. The research is based on empirical real estate investigations, statistical house price analyses, and fieldwork undertaken on housing estates. The case study area is Csepel, a former industrial town which became the administrative district 21 of Budapest in 1950. All types of post-war generations of housing estates co-exist, and the majority of the population lives in such neighbourhoods. This special geographical context makes it possible to explore the influential role of the built environment in the housing market. Empirical results from these low- and mid-rise housing estates can make a major contribution to the more effective and successful development of high-rise neighbourhoods.

Kalba ir tapatybė Kristijono Gotlybo Milkaus žodyno Littauisch-deutsches und Deutsch-littauisches Wörter-Buch (1800) pratarmėse: diskurso analizė

Kalba ir tapatybė Kristijono Gotlybo Milkaus žodyno Littauisch-deutsches und Deutsch-littauisches Wörter-Buch (1800) pratarmėse: diskurso analizė

Turkey’s leadership role in-between the East and the West in Marmaduke Pickthall's novels and travelogues

Marmaduke Pickthall, a neglected British novelist, has written about a dozen Oriental novels and travelogues. Pickthall who often asserts himself to be a lover of the East and Turkey has widely travelled in Syria, Palestine and Istanbul. He was an unusual traveller in the East without any cultural baggage and the frame of mind of a colonizer or a missionary. His sole concern was to fraternize on an equality with Orientals. In his deterritorialised encounters, Pickthall was not completely blind to what he found unbecoming in the Orient following a constructive and symbiotic line of flight ending up as a Turcophile journalist against his government. Despite overtly critical outlook in his novels of Syria, Palestine and Egypt, Pickthall is surprisingly positive and assertive about Turkey and the Turks in his travelogues and two novels and he professes Turkey to be "the head of the progressive movement in the East, the natural head, the sanest head”. This study aims to show that Pickthall’s preference of Turkey is not biased and results from his deep and concerned observations and retroactive and prospective analyses in his travelogues and two novels, The House of War (1916) and The Early Hours (1921). It also highlights a spontaneous rhizomatic response in Pickthall’s work to Shaw’s play Getting Married (1908). The study contributes to the debates on alternative Orientalisms and help in shaping the potential ‘minor’ contributions of Pickthall to postcolonial studies and the future of Turkey as a bridge between the East and the West.

The Announcement of Dar al-Harb in Cyber Media in Context of the Theological Policy of Jihad: Reading the Cyber-Jihad and ISIS based on the Pharmakon Characteristic of the Cyber Media

Before understanding and making sense of the pharmakon character of cyber media as well as the phenomenon of jihad, we would like to begin by describing the technology of the which is an important phenomenon in the development of the Western world in terms of communication sociology. This is because the West created a curious development in its quest for growth and founded and improved ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), which is the premise of the Internet. This network became more popular and widespread and also became the topic of democratic public spaces. In fact, it was intended to be a project. There was no way for the West to know that this new defense project would be used by mujahids when they were creating it. Yet, there was a production similar to the chimeric living things which carry multiple DNA profiles in the same body together. Internet is a tool which is almost impossible to supervise and determine who, how, and for what purposes it will be used. most controversial example of this is the announcement of jihad against the Western world by the radical Islamic terrorist organization ISIS.The Internet came into existence as a defense project funded by the West, and it has been used by some radical (Eastern) Islamic organizations for a very long time. However, ISIS is the first organization that followed an Internet policy including having their mujahids develop software programs to increase the number of tweets they send; that is, they transformed this tool of defense into an attacking tool which is as competent and sufficient as it was intended to be. They see the Internet as a battlefield where the disbelievers can fight against them (e.g. do their propaganda and make an anti-Islam lifestyle attractive through movies and websites), and as an area of Dar al-Harb (House of War) which should become Dar ai-Islam (House of Islam). ISIS have discovered an area in cyber media where they can fight with the state authorities and even the big Western evil allies they oppose to in the world as an Islamic organization and as equals practically without leaving their geography for the first time in history.The Roots of the Cyber Media: The Internet: From a Defense Project to an Antagonistic WeaponThere are two fundamental approaches to the intentions and circumstances of the creation of the Internet. These approaches both deny each other and bring us closer to the dualist character of the Internet. first approach indicates that the ARPANET, which is the premise of the was started as a defense project against nuclear attacks when the intercontinental ballistic missiles were developed. second approach, which was claimed by the multiple writers of the article A Brief History of the Internet, is that the ARPANET was not designed to resist to a nuclear attack. Accordingly, the main intention of the ARPANET was to solve the problems related to the loss of capacity created by the geographic disconnection between the researchers in the country. In other words, it is completely addressed to the civil targets of civil researchers.What and who these researchers were that were struggling with these crucial disconnections and losses is also controversial, because the efforts to prevent the crucial disconnections and losses can also be seen as defensive and/or protective. purposes and circumstances of the development of the Internet have been discussed. Another discussion emphasizes the dualist character of the Internet and its relation to freedom of expression, participation, and equality, which are the core qualities of democracy.The arguments that the in contrast with other types of media, eliminated the inequalities between gender and age groups, classes of income, urban and rural areas, developed and under-developed parts of cities, and the inequalities between cities, regions, countries, and continents thanks to the equal access facility it provides has created a debate in communication and sociology that brought technological determinists to the concept of a global village. …

Innovation in low carbon construction technologies

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the risks of building defects associated with rapid advancement of “green” construction technologies. It identifies the methods adopted by the sector for the determination of pre-construction defects that are framed within the context of, traditional; scientific; and professional design approaches. These are critically evaluated and utilised in attempts to mitigate defects arising from diffusing low carbon construction innovations. Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes the form of an evaluative literature review. Polemic in orientation, the paper critically compares two periods of time associated with rapid advancement of innovation. The first, the post-Second World War housing boom is synonymous with a legacy of substandard buildings that in many cases rapidly deteriorated, requiring refurbishment or demolition shortly after construction. The second, is today’s “green” technology “shift” with its inherent uncertainty and increased risk of latent building defects and potential failure to deliver meaningful long-term performance. Central to this is an exploration of the drivers for innovation, and subsequent response, precautionary measures initiated, and the limitations of institutionalised systems to identify and mitigate defects. Similarities and differences between these historical periods frame a discussion around the theoretical approaches to defects and how these may be limited in contemporary low carbon construction. A conceptual framework is presented with the aim of enhancing the understanding for obviation of defects. Findings – Sufficient commonality exists between the periods to initiate a heightened vigilance in the identification, evaluation and ideally the obviation of defects. Design evaluation is not expressly or sufficiently defect focused. It appears that limited real change in the ability to identify defects has occurred since the post-war period and the ability to predict the performance of innovative systems and materials is therefore questionable. Attempts to appraise defects are still embedded in the three principle approaches: traditional; scientific; and professional design. Each of these systems have positive characteristics and address defect mitigation within constrains imposed by their very nature. However, they all fail to address the full spectrum of conditions and design and constructional complexities that lead to defects. The positive characteristics of each system need to be recognised and brought together in an holistic system that offers tangible advantages. Additionally, independent design professionals insufficiently emphasise the importance of defect identification and holistic evaluation of problems in design failure are influenced by their professional training and education. A silo-based mentality with fragmentation of professional responsibility debases the efficacy of defect identification, and failure to work in a meaningful, collaborative cross professional manner hinders the defect eradication process. Research limitations/implications – Whilst forming a meaningful contribution to stimulate debate, further investigation is required to tangibly establish integrated approaches to identify and obviate defects. Practical implications – The structured discussion and conclusions highlight areas of concern for industry practitioners, policy makers, regulators, industry researchers and academic researchers alike in addressing and realising a low carbon construction future. The lessons learned are not limited to a UK context and they have relevance internationally, particularly where rapid and significant growth is coupled with a need for carbon reduction and sustainable development such as the emerging economies in China, Brazil and India. Social implications – The carbon cost associated with addressing the consequences of emerging defects over time significantly jeopardises attempts to meet legally binding sustainability targets. This is a relatively new dimension and compounds the traditional economic and societal impacts of building failure. Clearly, blindly accepting this as “the cost of innovation without development” cannot be countenanced. Originality/value – Much research has been undertaken to evaluate post-construction defects. The protocols and inherent complexities associated with the determination of pre-construction defects have to date been largely neglected. This work attempts to rectify this situation.

The Sharī‘a and Islamic Criminal Justice in Time of war and Peace

Mahmoud Cherif Bassiouni is a distinguished human rights advocate with anastounding career and publication record that exceeds seventy books (authoredand edited) and 260 articles. The Sharī‘a and Islamic Criminal Justice is yetanother rigorous contribution that should enrich and broaden the scope of thecriminal law debate in the Islamic legal system and its relevance to internationalhumanitarian law. The significance of this work lies especially in theBook Reviews 107author’s sincere endeavor to derive appropriate tools from Islamic law to addresscontemporary issues of post-conflict and transitional justice.The first chapter, an introductory review of key conceptual constructs andhistorical developments, examines various topics from the evolution of Islamiclegal theory and the Sunni and Shi‘i schools of law to the resurgence of Islamicthought during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In regard to Islamic law’shistorical pertinence to issues related to war and peace, the author elaboratesespecially on two categories: dār al-ḥarb (the house of war) and dār al-silm(the house of peace). Finally, he illustrates four types of treaties: those of peace(salām), truce (hudnah), protection (dhimmah), and safe conduct (amān) ...

REDISCOVERING LARGE SCALE HOUSING ESTATES IN POST SOCIALIST CITIES

Large scale housing estates, once a dream of every family, now are facing serious physical and social decline. However comparison of the post war housing has showed that despite low physical quality neighbourhoods in the east-central Europe were much less deteriorated, then their western counterparts. On the other hand nowadays post socialist cities are experiencing loss of population, sprawl and shifts in the housing market. That changes position of the estates, which is rapidly decreasing. As soon as the housing shortage is eliminated, apartments in the estates go to the bottom of the market, segregation, urban problems and decline is triggered. To prevent the threat to happen it is necessary to start rehabilitation programs in early enough stage. However it is essential that regeneration policies are included in broader city plans and strategies, as that brings long lasting results, and is beneficial for the neighbourhood and for the city itself. The paper researches tools how to prevent large scale neighbourhood decline in post socialist cities, learning from western European regeneration policies. Santrauka Masinės statybos gyvenamųjų kompleksų tipologija nepasiteisino. Vakarų Europoje tokie kvartalai prarado poliarumą ir yra probleminės miesto vietos. Buvusiose Rytų bloko šalyse industrinės statybos rajonai yra mažiau degradavę ir išlieka gana populiarūs. Tačiau situacija keičiasi. Postsocialistiniai miestai išgyvena didelius urbanistinius pokyčius: gyventojų skaičius mažėja, miestiečiai keliasi į priemiesčius, išaugo automobilių naudojimas. Šie procesai daro įtaką mikrorajonų veidui bei jų padėčiai būsto rinkoje. Kvartalams gresia tokia pati degradacija, kokia įvyko Vakarų Europos miestuose: išnykus būstų trūkumui, butų kainos masinės statybos rajonuose krenta; čia įsikelia vargingiausi gyventojų sluoksniai; atsiranda socialinė atskirtis bei iš to kylančios problemos, tokios kaip nedarbas, nusikalstamumas, blogas rajono įvaizdis, kuris dar labiau blogina situaciją. Problemų dydis masinės statybos kompleksuose tiesiogiai priklauso nuo jų padėties būsto rinkoje (Tosics 2005). Kad išvengtume nuosmukio, yra labai svarbu pradėti taikyti ištisų kvartalų restruktūrizacijos strategijas ir išlaikyti kompleksus patrauklia gyvenamąja vieta net ir nesant būstų trūkumui. Tai būtų naudinga ir rajonui, ir visam miestui. Restruktūrizacijos strategijų galima pasimokyti iš Vakarų praktikos, kur jos pradėtos taikyti jau nuo XX a. 9 dešimtmečio. Šiame straipsnyje apžvelgiama renovacijos patirtis Vakarų Europos miestuose bei urbanistikos pamokos, kurias galėtų perimti postsocialistiniai miestai bei senstantys ir prarandantys populiarumą masinės statybos rajonai.

Residential Satisfaction in Housing Estates in European Cities: A Multi-level Research Approach

This paper mainly focuses on the determinants of housing and estate satisfaction in post-Second World War housing estates. Multi-level linear regression models were applied to estimate the impacts of individual, dwelling and estate characteristics on resident satisfaction levels, using a unique dataset from 25 post-Second World War estates in nine European countries. It is concluded that satisfaction with the dwelling is higher for the elderly and residents with higher incomes, and in situations where the dwelling has been renovated and is sufficiently large. The presence of children and a longer duration of stay have negative impacts, and renters are generally more negative than owners. Estate satisfaction is highest among immigrant households or when the dwelling is renovated, and among lower educated inhabitants. Individual characteristics and opinions on the estate are more important than estate characteristics in explaining estate satisfaction. The overall conclusion is that attempts to improve post-Second World War areas may result in new areas, but does not necessarily improve the overall satisfaction.

In the house of war: Dutch Islam observed

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INTRODUCTION CONFESSIONS: THE COMPOSITE RELATIONSHIP OF THE SECULAR AND THE RELIGIOUS 1. The Established and the Outsider of the European Integration 2. Immigration without Integration 3. How Europe's Secularism became Contentious: Mosques, Imams, and Issues 4. Prisoners of the mosque 5. Pim Fortuyn versus Islam: Muslims, Gays and the Media's Reliance on Conflict 6. The Public Intellectual versus Islam: A Year of Sex and Rhetoric 7. Riding Pim's Wave: Islam, Women, the Sacred, and the Naked CONCLUSION: THE VANISHING MUSLIM INDIVIDUAL ENDNOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sufis on Exile and Ghorba: Conceptualizing Displacement and Modern Subjectivity

Sufis' theory of ghorba (estrangement or exile) underlies here a reflection on exile in contemporary Arab cultures. Hence Ibn al-Arabi's speculations on ghorba in Al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya shed a new light on Arjun Appadurai's notion of “ethnoscape.” The Sufi concept of ghorba paves the way for a modern Arab ethnoscape, where the Arab subject experiences transnational movement in the global space without associating this experience with the negative aspects of exile. Ibn al-Arabi dismisses the negative effects of “geographic” displacement. According to his reasoning, an expatriate does not feel estranged anywhere he or she travels, since the world—and the divine—are in continuity with the human subject. The real exile is a psychological experience resulting from the disruption of monist unity and harmony between human and divine, man and the world. This conception of exile challenges nationalist theories of estrangement based on the assumption that a sense of displacement is bound to physical movement out of the national territory. Ghorba is a state in which the subject is far from his or her ethical and spiritual plenitude (thanks to the Sufi mystical unity with the divine), not a geopolitical situation. This conception challenges the dogmatic distinction of House of Islam versus House of War in Arab Islamic Sunni tradition, where the displacement out of the former results in an experience of exile. In modern terms, ghorba—as conceptualized by Sufis—provides a traditional basis helping the modern Arab subject cope with the experience of displacement, by shifting the paradigm of belonging from the realm of geopolitics to that of spirituality and ethics. Thus the construction of a modern postnational Arab subjectivity can be achieved thanks to the investment of the ethnoscape—a virtual space that transcends national boundaries but keeps active a network of affects and cultural references and products unifying an ethnically distinct subject. The Sufi sense of belonging to the whole world makes it politically and ethically acceptable to feel at home outside of one's homeland, without being stripped from one's ethnicity. It adds to this compromise a dimension of spiritual fulfillment, since the horizontal ethnoscape intersects with a vertical spiritual axis, constantly neutralizing nostalgia to the geographic paradise of origins.

'Bombora', 'Malabar Mansion': the psychogeography of the Sydney Sonic Sublime

This paper looks at two recordings connected with the strangely disquieting tract of fifteen or so square miles separating the northern shores of Botany Bay from the Pacific Ocean, in Sydney’s south-east. In 1964 the Atlantics, a band composed mainly of young migrant Australians produced a reverb-drenched guitar instrumental called “Bombora”. The name - an Aboriginal word referring to a type of submerged rocky reef, over which large ocean waves occasionally and unexpectedly break - had immediate meaning to Sydney’s surfer subculture. But for the population of the Botany Bay area, the term had a more local meaning, referring to one specific reef where, over the years, many boat fishermen, often migrants unused to the local conditions, had been killed. In the 1988 recording, “Malabar mansion,” singer Mac Silver prepares himself for the horrors of a night in Long Bay Jail, (located nearby on that same peninsula). At that time a commission of inquiry was investigating the deaths in custody of large numbers of young Aboriginal prisoners, and Silver’s recording had powerful political and emotional resonances. “Bombora” is a frenzied, almost operatic piece, and many listeners hear a bouzouki and folk dance influence in Theo Penglis’s lead guitar. The chaotic textures, high pitch and fast pace might be heard as a musical analogue of hyperventilation and a racing heart beat-bodily markers of the state where excitation becomes terror, leading to a moment of transcendence, a kind of sonic sublime. “Malabar Mansion”, on the other hand is almost anti-sublime: quiet, literal, weary, precise in its delineation of the psychic and physical perils, and disarmingly specific in describing the elsewhere for which the singer longs. The peninsula whence these songs come has long been an uneasy presence in the city’s imaginary, a combined badlands and seaside idyll. Over the past century suburban homes have shared the snake-infested sandhills, heath, swamp with a leprosarium, a prison, a cemetery, a crematorium, a rubbish dump, a sewerage works, a power station, a rifle range, an army depot, tanneries, refineries, a migrant hostel, a shipping terminal and a sprawling post war housing project. Although rarely visited by tourists, the area has some of the most hauntingly beautiful coastline in the Sydney district, and is home to native flora and fauna long since lost to the rest of Sydney. Neither “Bombora” nor “Malabar mansion” simply “sounds like” the places they are meant to evoke, but both, I will argue, are thoroughly determined by moods, physical ecologies and insoluble contradictions of place.

Reinventing Social Studies: By All Means!

WHEN I was asked to respond to Reinventing Social Studies, I began by considering many points Kevin St. Jarre raises about beginnings of social studies, place of history and other social science disciplines in social studies education, characterization of secondary social studies teaching, and how best to reinvent social studies and put subject area squarely on path of our students to live in a globalized world. While I initially selected my involvement in teacher education programs as primary lens for my analysis, on further reflection, I decided to take a wider view and include my many other experiences in education community. I want to use Mr. St. Jarre's commitment to secondary education and his passion for social studies as a springboard to elaborate on main issues he raises and to describe why reinventing social studies is no easy task. Thus it is unnecessary to devote much space to discussing role of history and other social science disciplines in development of a social studies curriculum. There is no question that in 1916 National Education Association (NEA) viewed history as discipline that should play major role in early development of a social studies curriculum. At turn of 20th century, history was well positioned in schools and universities, and, along with content from geography and political science, was viewed as core subject area in a social studies curriculum for K-12 schools. American historians believed in the value of historical knowledge to strengthen individual, sharpen mind, broaden horizon, and give depth to soul. (1) Social studies proponents also viewed history as providing framework (i.e., chronology) by which to examine events, issues, trends, and personalities in social science contexts. While other social scientists were forming separate organizations (e.g., American Anthropological Association, American Psychological Association) and accurately perceived advantages of playing a role in development of social studies curriculum, they were too inexperienced to counter influence of American Historical Association. As a result, well into late 1900s, social studies/history was one of core subject areas in K-12 curriculum, with few of social science organizations challenging its primacy. After reading Reinventing Social Studies, I believe Mr. St. Jarre and I agree on what is meant by social studies and its intended purpose in curriculum. The definition he quotes, adopted by NEA Committee on Social Studies in 1916, may seem vague--those [disciplines] whose subject matter relates directly to organization and development of human society, and to man as a member of social groups--but it is quite similar to one National Council for Social Studies (NCSS) developed and continues to use: the integrated study of social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence. (2) In NCSS position statements on social studies education, promotion of civic competence refers to nurturing an awareness and understanding of students' immediate communities and many others to which they belong. What I find surprising is that Mr. St. Jarre makes no mention of NCSS, but his notions about creating competent citizens and preparing students to live in a globalized society seem to echo organization's definition and stated purpose for social studies education. However, unlike Mr. St. Jarre, I do not see history as merely a record, not an analysis. In House of War, James Carroll eloquently describes what history means to historians: [it] is not a catalogue of events, not just a knowledge of their chronology .... History is, rather, appreciation of how events relate to each other, if not causally, then mythically. Objectively but also personally .... Our concern is not only with what happened but how it felt, and how it set other things moving in public realm and in human heart. …

Constrained Communities: Black Cleveland's Experience with World War II Public Housing

The World War II - era housing shortage in Cleveland, Ohio was severe, and particularly so for African Americans. Black Clevelanders encountered discrimination in the private housing market and race-based tenanting policies in the city's public and so-called temporary war housing. As a result of racial discrimination— which was not only government-sanctioned but actually encouraged by the conversion of properties to multi-family occupancy with Home Owners Loan Corporation funding—African Americans faced substandard housing conditions that led to the further deterioration of housing stock in Cleveland's traditional ghetto section, Cedar-Central,—and in an adjacent neighborhood, Hough. However, race—based planning by the city's housing officials did have one beneficial, if unintended consequence. By siting one temporary war housing project on the southeastern outskirts of the city, adjacent to a preexisting semi-rural black enclave, the Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Authority helped to enable subsequent African American migration into Southeast Cleveland, which became the city's preeminent black middleclass stronghold in the postwar decades. The understudied World War II era thus holds the key to understanding subsequent patterns of black population expansion in Cleveland after the war, and also helps to explain the divergent fortunes of middle- and working-class African Americans there.

House of war: the Pentagon and the disastrous rise of American power

House of war: the Pentagon and the disastrous rise of American power

Towards more Social Cohesion in Large Post-Second World War Housing Estates? A Case Study in Utrecht, the Netherlands1

The last few years have seen many studies of large post-Second World War housing estates. At present they are often the most deprived areas of European cities. The turnover of the population on these estates is characteristically rapid, leading to considerable socio-economic and socio-cultural changes and a multi-ethnic neighbourhood. Such areas often have to contend with severe physical, social and economic problems and the consequent dissatisfaction of the residents. This combination of rapid and selective population turnover and increasing numbers of problems may well affect aspects of social cohesion within these neighbourhoods, particularly the social networks. This process is regrettable, because social cohesion is regarded in a positive light, something that enhances the quality of life. Stimulating social cohesion is therefore an important objective of many policies that focus on large post-Second World War housing estates. The authors have found it interesting to discover how important social cohesion is in the opinions and the lives of the inhabitants rather than the policy makers. In their opinion, urban policies focus on social cohesion while the inhabitants' views of its relevance are unknown. On the basis of this paper, certain aspects of social cohesion in large post-Second World War housing estates appear to be valued, but housing market behaviour, such as residential moves, is hardly affected by aspects of social cohesion. Other aspects, such as moving to a better house, are much more relevant. The results may put into doubt the stress placed in urban policies on social cohesion.

The Ottoman Empire and the world around it

The first paperback edition, in line with latest historiography - is a major and advanced early modern power, this book is based on a huge study of original sources and personal accounts. The author leading historian of early modern Ottoman Empire in all aspects - political, economic, diplomatic and cultural. In Islamic law the world was made up of the House of Islam and the House of War with the Ottoman Sultan - the perceived successor to the Caliphs - supreme ruler of the Islamic world. However, Suraiya Faroqhi demonstrates that there was no iron curtain between the Ottoman and other worlds but rather a long-established network of diplomatic, financial, cultural and religious connections. These extended to the empires of Asia and the modern states of Europe. Faroqhi's book is based on a huge study of original and early modern sources, including diplomatic records, travel and geographical writing, as well as personal accounts. Its breadth and originality will make it essential reading for historians of Europe and the Middle East.

The Evolution of Design Characteristics During the Post-Second World War Housing Boom: The US Experience

to stimulate the private housing market. The federal government passed the National Housing Act which guaranteed low-interest mortgages of up to 80 per cent of the value of a home.1 The National Housing Act was supervised by the specially created Federal Housing Authority (FHA); the programme met with limited success during the Depression, when capital was scarce, and it ground to a halt during the war due to the appropriation of all building materials for the war effort. As a consequence, the post-war period was characterized by inflated expectations and a boom in the demand for housing. For the consumer, the legacy of depressed hopes, wartime frugality, and self-denial was replaced by the anticipation of plentiful, new, ideal family homes. However, demand so far exceeded supply that potential buyers experienced long delays in obtaining their houses. In 1944, the Veterans Administration had created the Veterans' Mortgage Guarantee Programme, later known as the GI's Bill of Rights. Administered by the FHA, this programme enabled veterans to borrow the entire appraised value of an approved house without a down-payment. The significance of the GI's Bill of Rights to the housing industry was directly related to the guidelines set for qualified housing: the programme limited the price range of the affordable post-war family house to between $6,ooo and $8,ooo, and the range in size to between 800 and i,ooo square feet. This price restriction drove architects and builders to experiment with cost-reduction strategies. The FHA also mandated and controlled the style and form of subsidized housing: builders had to conform to set government guidelines if their potential customers were to finance their homes under the programme. While the result of such control has been characterized as con-

Urban Arsenals: War Housing and Social Change in Richmond and Oakland, California, 1941-1945

Research Article| August 01 1991 Urban Arsenals: War Housing and Social Change in Richmond and Oakland, California, 1941-1945 Marilynn S. Johnson Marilynn S. Johnson Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Pacific Historical Review (1991) 60 (3): 283–308. https://doi.org/10.2307/3640450 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Marilynn S. Johnson; Urban Arsenals: War Housing and Social Change in Richmond and Oakland, California, 1941-1945. Pacific Historical Review 1 August 1991; 60 (3): 283–308. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/3640450 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentPacific Historical Review Search This content is only available via PDF. Copyright 1991 The Pacific Coast Branch, American Historical Association Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

How Housing Needs may be Met

P RIOR to World War II and the year just past, we have had sporadic periods of a housing shortage but never until now have so many people in every walk of life been faced with the grim problem of finding shelter. Formerly housers were interested in the lowest income third. Nowadays, adequate income does not of itself insure an adequate home. Everyone has a housing plan. We must plan housing for everyone. Even in an inflationary period income remains a basic factor. Eventually, either through black market methods or as production more nearly approaches demand, the higher income groups will be able to satisfy their wants. Our problem is the middle group as well as the lower third. Unless we solve it, not one-third but two-thirds of the nation will be ill-housed. It seems to be fundamental that we need good housing but we have taken better care of our animals than we have of our citizens. Good husbandry proved the need for good barns but it took the war to demonstrate to the nation at large that good housing paid dividends in increased production. Prior to the war, good housing was a social problem and model mill villages and low-income projects provided samples of how homes affected people. The demand for war material made adequate housing an economic problem. Lost man hours and labor turnover were directly related to poor homes. Industry soon realized this and the pressure for Lanham housing was intense. So much so that the civilian worker had a housing priority above and beyond the military. The employer sought good housing. The employee insisted on it. Much of the pressure behind the veteran demand is due to an unwillingness to return to substandard and over-crowded homes. I believe that as a nation, we are going home. We have passed through a stage where, because of industrial activity and inventive genius, housing was merely a covered bed and our conscious interests were elsewhere. Now, we are not returning to a walled manse but rather to the fulcrum of our life. We are becoming more aware of a need not to retire from mechanistic living but to integrate the fundamental emotional needs for a home with products of the machine in a design for happier living. The programs such as the temporary 200,000 units rebuilt or converted from war housing or Army and Navy facilities and the prefabricated homes and the like, to be provided by private builders for the veteran, are important. They are emergency poultices, however, and are intended only to arrest the housing cancer and not to remove it. We must-plan further. A mathematical correlation between good homes and good citizens is not possible. That there is a relationship, we do know. We know inadequate financial resources breed slums, disease, crime, and broken families. How much of this we can cure by providing decent housing is still debatable. We do know that even discounting the fact that tenants in low-income housing are a selected group, there is less disease, crime, et cetera, where there are good homes even though incomes are similar. Studies in Cincinnati, New Haven, Newark and the Davisville section in Hopewell, Virginia are prime examples. The long term program to meet housing needs is S-1592, the NVagner-Ellender-Taft bill.

War Housing Priorities

Journal AWWAVolume 38, Issue 9 p. 1083-1084 Article War Housing Priorities First published: 01 September 1946 https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1551-8833.1946.tb17638.xAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume38, Issue9September 1946Pages 1083-1084 RelatedInformation