Housing Discourse Research Articles

Visions of Modernity: Architectural Vignettes and Modern Living in Urban India 1975–1990

This article examines the discourse of housing and urban planning between 1975 and 1990 in India. It approaches this subject within the context of international and national development agendas, which aimed to improve living conditions of the poor. Architects Balkrishna Doshi and Charles Correa, commissioned to design houses and towns during this period, are the focus of this study. Their studios produced a body of visual material: drawings, serigraphs, watercolours and photographs for publications, presentations and exhibitions, sharing utopian visions of modern living. They also published essays and interviews, which, along with the visual material, have been instrumental in the shaping of the modern housing discourse. This article undertakes an inter-textual analysis of this material and applies Doreen Massey’s approach to space ‘as a product of interrelations’ to examine the geopolitics of the houses and towns they designed during this period. While the architects’ ambitions were rooted egalitarian ideologies of clean and open spaces for all, this study highlights that in reality, they were constrained by development agendas and the market, and their designs reproduced social hierarchies. The outdoor space became a focus of debate during this time. It was controlled and regulated by the architects and the developmental agencies, alike.

Housing choices in later life as unclaimed forms of housing activism

ABSTRACTThis paper explores how housing choices over a lifetime produce under-recognised and unclaimed forms of housing activism. It is based on qualitative interviews with two individuals in their sixties, living in intergenerational communities in the South of England. I argue that their stories of their housing choices and their future housing plans resist dominant housing discourses, particularly as they relate to ageing, and they illuminate a number of under-recognised elements of housing activism. Using Clapham’s housing pathway concept, I describe their narratives of decision-making about where and how to live over their life time to show their agency and their resistance to norms of housing consumption in later life, which are key elements of housing activism. Whilst interviewees recognised the political nature of their housing choices, neither claimed the term ‘housing activist’ nor used the term in their narratives and I argue that this may be because their forms of housing activism were interwoven with domestic and caring needs, emotional experiences, intermittent commitment and ageing identities. Their housing pathways and life stories support emerging theories of activism that broaden definitions from public to private spaces and challenge stereotypes of older people’s involvement in housing activism.

Women and LoW-income Housing TransformaTion in uganda

The article explores the transformations low-income women make to appropriate their housing that often goes unnoticed. The aim is to document, acknowledge and make low-income women's efforts to appropriate their housing visible. Lessons learned are assumed to inform the Ugandan low-income housing discourse on design considerations that can contribute to the provision of housing designs that are conducive to low-income women. The study confines its investigation to the housing designs provided under the governmental low-income housing projects in Uganda.This article presents results from a case study on Masese Women Housing Project MWHP that targeted women as its main beneficiaries. Post Occupancy Evaluations POE methodology was utilised to collect data on the performance of the housing designs provided by the project and the transformations women make to increase their housing appropriateness. Open-ended interviews were carried out with women owners to investigate the transformations they apply to their houses. Results are documented through photography, sketches and measured drawings. Results are synthesised and analysed under outdoors and indoors transformations.The study confirmed the substantial contribution low-income women make to appropriate their housing. It argues for acknowledging and including women's efforts in the Ugandan low-income housing discourse to support the provision of housing designs that are more user-friendly to them. Design considerations that are essential to attain low-income women convenience with their housing are: its capacity to accommodate women's triple roles, their potential for incremental development and their ability for segmentation into autonomous housing units to allow for their flexible, economic and functional use. The study advocates for directing efforts to the development of traditional building technologies instead of introducing improved but alien ones as an alternative that is more favourable to women.

Less planning, more development? Housing and urban reform discourses in Australia

This paper examines how particular interests shape urban policy debate and reform in Australia. With a particular emphasis on proposed planning system reforms in the nation’s largest state of New South Wales, we examine written submissions from development industry sectors, resident groups, and professional associations. We then compare these submissions to government responses, finding these responses heavily reflect industry narratives. In the context of an ongoing microeconomic reform agenda oriented towards deregulation and competition policy, housing development is framed as central to delivering economic growth, while the planning system is portrayed as a constraint holding back investment and new housing production. Through this prism, a series of rhetorical strategies reframe community concerns about housing affordability and the impact of new development to fit the growth agenda, while environmental and social considerations are largely sidelined.

From “National Style” to “Rationalized Construction”

From “National Style” to “Rationalized Construction”: Mass-Produced Housing, Style, and Architectural Discourse in the East German Journal Deutsche Architektur, 1956–1964 examines architectural critique of housing and style as it unfolded in the East German journal Deutsche Architektur (German architecture) from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s. Through an analysis of articles published in the journal as well as primary source documents, Emily Pugh investigates the reception of newly built housing developments in East Germany by a group of influential socialist architects, historians, and critics who were then writing for Deutsche Architektur. Pugh highlights individual architects’ attempts to subvert or resist the control of state and party authorities and considers how these individuals’ efforts might have influenced the development of the East German building economy. She also argues that these architects’ understanding of architectural modernism differed from that of their counterparts in the Cold War West, having been influenced by political and economic circumstances specific to East Germany.

New narratives for existing houses in Flanders, Belgium: Exploring the discourse on retrofitting dwellings

The Belgian housing discourse contains strong disagreement about how to deal with the legacy of the postwar housing model and how to continue with housing production in response to shifting housing demands. An important aspect of this discussion is how to intervene in existing sprawling settlement patterns that have resulted from postwar building practice. This contribution discusses how this housing question has been the topic of a research project on postwar, detached single-family houses in Flanders, Belgium.

Housing Trajectories Across the Urban Hierarchy: Analysis of the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada, 2001–2005

Within the Canadian housing market, some immigrants move quickly to quality, affordable housing, whereas others struggle through both systematic and institutional barriers. This article uses Statistics Canada's Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC) —capturing the settlement and integration experiences of immigrants from 2001 to 2005—and investigates housing conditions (housing satisfaction, rates of homeownership, crowding, and affordability) over three survey waves across the Canadian urban hierarchy. Descriptive statistics are used to explore the relationship between immigrant admission class, housing conditions, and settlement locations, namely, those arriving in primary settlement locations (Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver) relative to that observed in secondary (census metropolitan areas) and tertiary (census agglomerations) locations. Using overall housing satisfaction as a proxy for the suitability/adequacy of housing to the needs of the immigrants, a logistic regression model is used seeking to understand the factors shaping a satisfied housing experience; the most significant factors include owning one's home, having an excellent or very good level of self-rated health, and not living in crowded conditions. The results of this research are framed as advancing understanding in the Canadian immigrant housing discourse through providing a longitudinal perspective on immigrant housing trajectories, and how these vary across socio-demographic and economic factors.

Home, Meaning and Identity: Learning from the English Model of Shared Ownership

This article explores the problematic nature of the label “home ownership” through a case study of the English model of shared ownership, one of the methods used by the UK government to make home ownership affordable. Adopting a legal and socio‐legal analysis, the article considers whether shared ownership is capable of fulfilling the aspirations households have for home ownership. To do so, the article considers the financial and non‐financial meanings attached to home ownership and suggests that the core expectation lies in ownership of the value. The article demonstrates that the rights and responsibilities of shared owners are different in many respects from those of traditional home owners, including their rights as regards ownership of the value. By examining home ownership through the lens of shared ownership the article draws out lessons of broader significance to housing studies. In particular, it is argued that shared ownership shows the limitations of two dichotomies commonly used in housing discourse: that between private and social housing; and the classification of tenure between owner‐occupiers and renters. The article concludes that a much more nuanced way of referring to home ownership is required, and that there is a need for a change of expectations amongst consumers as to what sharing ownership means.

Good Deals for Homebuyers, Not for the Poor: Erasing Poverty from Affordable Housing Discourse

The usage of the term affordable housing has changed over time, from meeting the housing needs of the poor, to the relatively unproblematized workings of the home ownership market. Qualitative analysis of media discourse in the Boise, Idaho, metropolitan area, from 1990 to 2009 demonstrates this shift in meaning. The changing construction of affordable housing in the media reifies the importance of homeownership as a primary tenure status and further marginalizes the poor as consumers of housing and as legitimate policy concerns.

Gender and Transport

What are the strategies which men and women in poor communities utilize to meet their daily mobility needs? This is a key question which captures the emerging policy discussion on transport deprivation in developing countries. As transport deprivation means how people in poor communities, mostly women, experience greatest access problems. The article revisits a neglected dimension of urban poor housing discourse. More often than not, communities are seen as homogenous without recognizing that women and men, from diverse backgrounds, in poor communities have widely varying mobility and accessibility needs. This article initially begins a discussion on the transport experiences, the gendered differences of mobility and travel patterns of the men and women in poor communities, their transport conditions, and the related conditions experienced by poor men and women in three marketplaces. Methods for primary data gathering include (1) a random sample survey of 120 men and women from 3 major marketplaces of the three districts of the city (2) focus group discussions with representatives from four sectors (i.e., transportation leaders, public sector, private sector and NGOs, feminist leaders) and (3) key informant interviews of local and national officials. Secondary data such as official documents of the city were also utilized. While the costs of journey to work vary in the three districts, the time spent traveling for the short distance to work raises time poverty concerns. The article shows that men and women are predominantly pedestrians in a city whose official transport policy and practice is very biased towards high cost projects praised for technological efficiency and management.

1910년대 주거담론의 성격

1910년대 주거담론은 위생론 일반을 다루는 글, 여성의 주택청결 관리를 계몽하는 글 그리고 일본인이 한국전통주택을 관찰하고 평가하는 글에서 등장한다. 1900년대의 그것과 비교하면 위생에 초점을 두는 점은 같지만 깊이와 양에서 매우 위축되어 있다. 담론의 주체와 맥락도 달라졌다. 1900년대 주거담론은 위생을 국가의 문명화와 부국강병을 위한 방법론으로 인식한 개화론자들이 주도했고 국가의 공중위생 책무를 강조하는 담론과 함께 전개되었다면, 1910년대는 여름철이나 환절기 전염병을 예방 차원에서 개인위생을 계몽하는 의사나 의료관료들을 통해 주로 개진되었다. 1910년대 조선총독부의 환경위생사업에서 식민지 조선인의 거주지와 주택은 제외되어 불결했고, 공중위생정책에서 차별받는 그들에게 주거의 청결은 개인의 책임지고 해결해야 할 문제였다. 주택의 불결은 민족적 미개함 열등함의 표상이 되었고 식민지지배의 당위성을 공고히 하는 효과를 낳았다. 또한 1920년대 주거개량 문제가 조선인의 인종적 개량과 문명화의 과제로서 논의되는 데 심리적 배경이 되었다. 【All the text of housing in 1910s was conveyed in three; hygiene general readings, home economics texts saying women's responsibility of cleaning house, and Japanese's observation and criticizing Korean housing. It stressed sanitary conditions of housing and criticised Korean housing dirty, of which contents and logic were same with the housing discourse in 1900s but much simpler and smaller in amount. It was mainly written by those in medical treatment field like doctors for enlightenment of private hygiene practice to Koreans. Because Choson Government-General(朝鮮總督府) excluded Korean residental areas from urban sanitation project, they remained dirty in 1910s. The practice of housing sanitation remained just as a matter of private sanitary practice. These political and discoursive conditions insinuated a sense that Korean dirty housing was representation of Korean's uncivilized customs and manners and a reason for being colonized. This sense made many Koreans to insist their housings' reforming to sanitary states just for civilization during colonized period.】

Discourse and innovation journeys: the case of low energy housing in the UK

The paper examines the role of discourse in innovation journeys using the example of low energy housing in the UK. Discourse is shown to be influential within innovation journeys in two main ways: first, discourse unites the often disparate organisations involved in innovation, and thereby gives structure and direction to the innovation journey; second, discourse has the power to retrospectively ‘reframe’ the course of an innovation journey, leaving out inconsistent parts and ignoring twists and turns, so past innovation journeys are in effect reconstructed in the present. This discursive remapping of innovation journeys has implications for current and future pathways of innovation. Further, there is a two-way relationship between discourse and technology development. It is discussed how pioneering low energy housing developments have themselves become a significant part of low carbon housing discourse, acting as powerful ‘storylines’.

'Greening the People's Home': The Formative Power of Sustainable Development Discourse in Swedish Housing

This article analyses what it takes for a new discourse to acquire formative power all the way from the formulation of ideas to the institutionalisation of new practices. Starting from seemingly contradictory propositions in the literature on housing and environmental policy discourses, and combining these with a contextual rational action approach, the empirical analysis traces the fate of the new sustainable development discourse introduced across many policy sectors in Sweden after 1996, including housing. It is found that who introduces new discursive ideas is important for their formative power; discourse introductions by government induce shifts in thoughts and talk across sectors. How this is done is even more important; metaphors and story lines of already institutionalised discourses strengthen formative power. Furthermore, using distributive measures with some strings attached is found to be an effective use of power resources to gain institutionalisation of the new discourse. However, it is found that institutionalised discourses at the local implementing level provide hindrances to formative power reaching all the way to new practices. This is furthermore accentuated by inherent contradictions in the Swedish discourse, as it built on equalising sustainable development with ecological modernisation.

The Mismatch Argument: The Construction of a Housing Orthodoxy in Australia

Australia's housing policy discourse contains many orthodoxies. While orthodoxies are never totally accepted within a discourse, they are the dominant notions within them and as such carry significant symbolic authority. One orthodoxy that has particular authority in Australia is the notion that there is a 'mismatch' in the housing system between the available stock and the size of households to the extent that there is significant underutilisation and underoccupancy of housing. The mismatch argument's power as orthodoxy is such that the idea is assumed in much housing policy discussion. Criticism of the mismatch orthodoxy can take many approaches, such as empirical, conceptual and discursive. The discursive critique focuses not on the empirical relationship between households and dwellings, but on the statements about that relationship. The resulting analysis shows how the mismatch orthodoxy arose in Australia and its effects on housing discourse. This paper examines the construction of the mismatch orthodoxy, from its first uses in the early 1970s to its entrenchment in national and state housing policy research in the early 1990s. It shows how the structures of the discourse construct the orthodoxy, despite empirical and conceptual criticisms of it. Of particular importance is the effect the orthodoxy has on people deemed to be underutilising their dwellings, and on how the orthodoxy affects policy interpretations, such as occupancy standards.

The home ideology and housing discourse in Finland 1900–1950

Abstract This article investigates the links between ideologies and housing discourses, focusing on the case of Finland from 1900–1950. During the early 20th century a specific view of the ‘Good Society’ emerged, called here the ’home ideology’. The home was seen as the core unit of society, a locale where the nation's moral basis was created. The mother was seen as the central person of the home, its spiritual leader. Home ideology is reflected in two aspects of early housing discourse: (1) the struggle against the practice of keeping lodgers which the housing reformers considered as morally corrupting, and (2) the propaganda for detached house owner occupation as the ideal form of housing. It is also hypothesised that the home ideology was crucial in the emergence of home ownership as the dominant type of tenure of modern Finland.