Housing Transformation Research Articles

Innovative housing policy tools: impact indicators in the NRRP Urban Regeneration Programmes

The topic of indicators as measurers of the effectiveness of urban and housing transformations strongly re-emerge because of the performance approach the funding of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) is based on. Within the NRRP specific programmes, the issue of performance measurability of interventions was managed with the application of different indicators and application methods. The research group had the opportunity to work on the construction of a system of indicators for a national urban regeneration programme, financed within the NRRP. This paper describes the research aimed at the definition of the indicators for evaluating the design proposals applied to the NRRP financed program called PINQuA (Innovative Programme for Housing Quality). The proposed system of indicators proved useful to promote an objective reading of the interventions and to encourage, in the design proposals application, the response to housing quality criteria aimed, among other issues, at improving the cultural condition of the contexts.

Reinvigorating a Traditional Balinese House: Managing Tourist Facilities and Maintaining Architectural Traditions

Traditional Balinese houses in tourist areas are transforming, whereas, on the other hand, Balinese have tried to maintain the identity of the traditional houses to attract tourists. This transformation is a paradoxical phenomenon in which people have transformed their houses to gain economic benefits from tourism. The absence of an appropriate transformation model, which can be used as a guide for the community in utilizing houses in tourism economic activities, allows for the filtration of the tourism function into traditional spatial and cultural spaces. Therefore, this study is urgent to be carried out to maintain the potential of the house as a cultural tourist attraction while at the same time gaining economic benefits. To achieve this goal, a tiered method was developed starting from baseline data collection, an inventory of the texture and character of changes in traditional houses. A more in-depth exploration of traditional house changes using samples based on stratified random sampling and interviews will reveal and create traditional house change innovations. It is continued with the creation of design innovations in the traditional house transformation model. Finally, an analysis was carried out on creating design innovations to transform traditional houses into tourist facilities without abandoning the meaning and values of a traditional house.

The capitalization of crime in the city of real estate

This article explores how the relationship between crime and property values is reshaped by the transformation of houses into investible assets. Departing from neoclassical economics of crime, we introduce the notion of “capitalization of crime” to illustrate how crime is utilized to generate forward-looking financial expectations and shape housing markets in gentrifying neighborhoods. The study, based in Haifa, Israel, combines quantitative and qualitative data to demonstrate how investors and renters each play a role in constructing the value of crime by capitalizing crime in opposite directions. First, using a geographic information system to map crime alongside real-estate prices, we show that the effect of crime on property values is offset by prospects of future gentrification, thereby contributing to housing speculation. Second, using digital ethnography, we show how renters use “crime” to dampen investor expectations, reduce rents, and delay their displacement. Thus, our study adds to the established body of critical criminology, which examines the manipulation of crime for economic and political gains. It further contributes to emergent debates in urban criminology by explicating how the financialization of rental housing is remaking urban politics of crime and criminalization.

Reluctant Innovators: Dynamic Capabilities and Digital Transformation of Italian Opera Houses in the Pandemic Crisis

This paper analyzes the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the process of digitalization of Italian opera houses. Based on a conceptual framework provided by the literature on dynamic capabilities and digital transformation, the evidence collected from six case studies is presented. Results are discussed with reference to two ideal-types of pandemic-induced paths (“back to normal” vs “new normal”) and to the variables that explain differences in strategies: history, digital mindset of human resources staff, dominance, leadership and external integration. Relevant implications for both theory and policy and managerial practice are presented with regard to present and future innovation paths.

Architecture for Community-Based Ageing—A Shape Grammar for Transforming Typical Single-Family Houses into Older People’s Cohousing in Slovenia

In Slovenia, the existing organised housing infrastructure for people over 65 years of age is insufficient and lacks diversification. Older people are often homeowners, many of whom dwell in large, underused single-family houses that require adaptations. Some have the potential to be transformed into small co-housing communities of 3–6 older people. The houses in question are mostly pattern-book houses of various types, built in the first decades after WWII. To approach the problem of converting this mass resource while providing enough flexibility for individual customisation, a shape grammar was proposed, with the intension of expanding the range of design variations for the transformation of single-family houses and presenting them to both users and architects for further assessment. The shape grammar was inferred based on a corpus of case studies developed by architecture students across two weeklong workshops. Three general strategies emerged—splitting the house vertically (according to sleeping/private and living/communal functions), horizontally, or with the maximum number of sleeping/private spaces. Essential spaces were catalogued to determine the conditions and requirements for assigning every transformation rule. The result was a simple, yet versatile composition generator. Through the development of a user-friendly interface, this resource could be used to empower potential inhabitants in the transformation design process.

Villa CEREPEC-Chiguayante. Cooperativism and collective housing in Greater Concepción

The Metropolitan Area of Concepción (AMC) has industrial traces in its urban development. Under the auspices of state industries and their workers, housing complexes were developed in the second half of the twentieth century, away from industrial plants, proposing new modes of urban development for the period and location. A case in question is the Cooperativa de Empleados Refinería de Petróleo Concepción (Concepcion Petrol Refinery Employees Cooperative or CEREPEC), in Chiguayante. This article records part of the urban evolution of this commune, through the analysis of a housing complex materialized by workers of the National Petroleum Company (ENAP) under the cooperative model. The results show both the foundational contribution in building the urban space of "Manantiales street", as well as the way cooperativism materialized in the urban design and the architectural project of the CEREPEC complex. The company-worker-savings bank relationship stands out, where the worker assumes the leadership and the company supports its management, in a model that is very distant from industrial paternalism, and which logically builds different new sectors in the city. It is a relevant model because participatory processes are in demand today, involving the dynamics of construction and transformation of houses and neighborhoods.

Multi-Level Housing Governance in Rural Settlement: Transformation of Two Vernacular Houses in Zhejiang Province of China

Vernacular houses are a dynamic complex that assemble multi-dimension variables of time, space, and people. Two governance systems, which are the officials and the people, control the village on different levels, and the spheres of their influences are distinct during different socio-economy periods. In this paper, a multi-level analytical framework is used to regroup information. Three agents are engaged in modeling the issue that each plays a different role in different levels of construction. This paper takes the two cases, the Old Tang House (OTH) and the Sishuishanzhuang Chen House (SSCH) in the Xiaqiao Village (under bridge village) in Zhejiang Province of China to study the transformation process of housing settlement in three building levels. The methods of morphology and typology are used to illustrate and disintegrate the process of housing transformation. Then, a further reading of space is conducted to explain how the hidden agents influence and control the transformation. As a result, a clear hierarchy of governance approaches is proved that the larger the scale of observed space, the higher the order of governance power. What happens in settlement level are always controlled by formal governance, meanwhile, in architectural level are controlled by more informal agents from individuals.

Features of enhancing environmentally-oriented green construction at the regional level

The study focused on the challenges of establishing a national market for green housing construction in Russia, particularly highlighting the importance of regional-industry level management in its implementation. Using the example of the Penza region, problematic trends in the reproduction of green housing stock through long-term processes of sustainable housing construction are demonstrated. The object of the study is the national housing construction market in the process of its transformation into a green construction market with the priority of environmentally-oriented development and green certification. The purpose of the study is to assess the current state, problems and prospects for the development of green housing construction at the national and regional level based on environmentally-oriented development. The following main scientific results of the study are presented: a review of the modern concept of sustainable development of the construction industry; analysis of the problems of green, energy-efficient construction and eco-development in the Penza region; issues of strategic development of green housing construction; directions for improving the organizational and economic mechanisms of green construction in the context of the priority of environmental development. The study confirms the relevance of the priority transformation of housing markets into green housing construction markets.

Analysis of Traditional Chinese Residential House Transformation Based on Bibliometric Research

Analysis of Traditional Chinese Residential House Transformation Based on Bibliometric Research

Transformation of rural housing in Western Siberia (Kemerovo region, the 20th century)

Purpose: To suggest factors of transformation (formation) of rural dwelling architecture in Western Siberia. Identification of factors that determine changes in the dwelling archi tecture. Identification of the specifics of the factor interaction, which determine changes in architecture. Methodology: The analysis of the literature in the field, a comparative historical analysis of the main changes in the architectural solutions of a rural dwelling in Primorye at the end of the 20th century, ethnographic methods of the field research to collect materials for conducting research (interviewing, expert surveys, measurements, photo fixation). Study of works of Siberian historians, architects and ethnographers, namely A.Yu. Mainicheva, V.A. Ilinykh, E.A. Ashchepkov, O.N. Shelegina, L.A. Scriabin, V.M. Kimeev, B.R. Rubanenko, K.K. Kartashova. Research findings: The transformation of rural housing on the example of the Kemerovo region at the beginning of the 20th century. Determined are the main transformation factors, their interaction and hierarchy. Originality : Determination of relationships between sociocultural, economic and other changes as well as changes in the dwelling architecture.

Sustaining Traditionalism: an investigation into the vernacular transformation of the Khasi tribal houses of Sylhet

PurposeThis study aims at understanding the reasons causing the decline in the practice of traditional, regional architectural methods of creating house forms in the Khasia Punji at Jaflong, Sylhet area.Design/methodology/approachTwo main types of traditional and modern house forms were identified and studied in order to document and analyze the aspects of changes in the construction method and material uses, while the interviews together with observational, qualitative and descriptive study formed an insight into the changing socio-cultural dynamics and evolving lifestyle of the tribe. Apart from physical surveys, the primary data on settlement patterns over twenty years' time were reviewed through satellite imaging while the characteristics of local house forms were also collected from tourist photographs through time recorded in Google database.FindingsThe findings of this research have pointed out that in the case of the Khasi tribe, the shift in temporal context, accompanied by a shift in technological, socio-cultural and economic aspects, is fueling the transformation in the formal expression, material and methods of the house building.Research limitations/implicationsLimitations were posed in setting up more constructive and informative interview sessions with the Khasi people due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) situation which limited the survey outcomes in general.Practical implicationsThe scope of this study is to understand the changes and advances in socio-cultural, technological aspects of a society and their impact on the intricate patterns of life and customs that are evidently reflected in the transformation of built environments.Originality/valueThis research attempts to understand the causes behind the transformation of vernacular house forms, taking place in the Khasi village of Jaflong, Sylhet.

Transformations and Sustainability of Individual Housing in the city of Djelfa

The present study aims to shed light on the residential transformations taking place at the level of traditional individual housing and the extent to which they achieve the sustainable dimension of housing in the Algerian city of Djelfa. The latter has undergone design, functional, morphological, and structural changes in addition to transformations within different time periods. In order to accommodate their evolving housing demands and requirements, inhabitants translated these manifestations through their practices and interventions, sometimes outside of the legal framework and sometimes in a traditional method.
 In order to achieve the required goals, we employed one of the field investigation instruments, kind observation, and the questionnaire given to the neighborhood people, within a 10% study sample that was discovered and chosen for numerous aspects. This study's significance lies in knowing the relationship between the degree of housing transformation and the sustainable feature; achieving the sustainability and continuity of housing through morphology, construction, and aesthetics.

Transformações habitacionais e seus impactos no bem-estar dos residentes

Abstract Housing transformations have been studied over time. Numerous Post-Occupancy-Evaluation (POE) studies reveal user-initiated alterations occurring in Brazilian Social Housing (SH). These transformations have specific objectives, such as additional space, refurbishment, and improvement, or upgrading. However, results of transformations are not always positive, and may affect dwellers’ well-being through losses in environmental comfort. A critical investigation using the Systematic Literature Review (SLR) method analysed forty-seven studies to understand what needs and requirements stimulate SH projects' upgrading and how transformations impact well-being. In addition, an in-depth analysis was made to assess aspects of environmental comfort, safety, design, layout and economic aspects that affect people’s well-being, and improve their quality of life. Results contribute to supporting upgrading processes of existing SH and to guide the improved design of new SH projects based on the desires and well-being requirements of low-income families.

Social and Climate (In-)Equality Perspectives within the SDGs: Introducing the Inequality and Poverty Assessment Model for a Sustainable Transformation of Housing

In this paper, we bring issues of inequality as a cross-cutting principle to all SDGs with a critical perspective on power relations, exemplified through the relevant social question of housing. For this purpose, we have developed the inequality and poverty assessment model (IPAM), a systematic approach for streamlining problems and solutions within the SDG-framework in an inequality-sensitive way, serving as a guideline to screen topics for five dimensions of social and environmental justice: (a) distribution, (b) procedure and participation, (c) fairness in climate and environmental adaptation, (d) legitimacy and (e) recognition. Following a mixed-methods research design with expert interviews, stakeholder workshops, document analysis and an extensive literature review, we identify areas of concern, such as the interlinkage of energy efficient, affordable and climate-friendly housing, and elaborate on strategies and policy recommendations to support affordable and sustainable housing, in the specific context of urban (in)equalities in Austria. We recommend three sets of measures on the (I) De-commodification of housing by remunicipalisation, (II) De-commodification by spatial and building planning and regulated land use and (III) Strategies for more inclusive housing.

HOUSING TRANSFORMATION PROCESS IN GOVERNMENT PROVIDED REHABILITATION PROJECT: A STUDY OF BHANDARPARA ASHRAYAN PROKOLPO

Housing transformation is a commonly practiced phenomenon, especially in government-provided housing all over the world. In Bangladesh as well, the government-provided rehabilitation housing, like Ashrayan projects, experiences transformation of physical elements according to the dwellers’ needs. This physical transformation of housing indicates an existing gap between the housing provision process and users’ needs. These transformations also reflect many unidentified indicators like traditional dwelling patterns, building materials, flexibility, livelihood options, and accommodation of the dwellers’ next generation, etc. that could be helpful to meet the noble vision of Ashrayan projects. A critical understanding of the housing transformation process will help to formulate a more user-centric rehabilitation approach. The aim of this study is to investigate the process of housing transformation and identify decisive indicators causing the transformation in the development and construction phases of government-provided rehabilitation projects. The rehabilitation project of Bhandarpara Ashrayan, in Khulna, a southern district of Bangladesh, was chosen as the case of this study. The project accommodates 260 households in 26 barracks. Among the population, 33 households were chosen as samples for morphological analysis using qualitative techniques. The finding implies that users gradually altered the government-provided housing units. Direct labor, locally available materials, and a self-help approach without the need for building designs or authorizations were well-used indicators in the housing transformation process.

The Incidence of Falls and Related Factors among Chinese Elderly Community Residents in Six Provinces.

This cross-sectional study classified the factors related to falls among residents ≥ 60 years old in China in order to provide evidence for the prevention of falls in the elderly. A total of 2994 participants were enrolled, and the correlations between social demography, physical health, self-health management awareness, family support, and fall risk were analyzed. Factors influencing falls were classified by location, cause, and the activity during falls. Suffering from osteoarthropathy (OR = 1.761, 95% CI: 1.234-2.513, p < 0.05), depression or anxiety (OR = 1.896, 95% CI: 1.331-2.700, p < 0.001), household size > 2 (OR = 1.806, 95% CI: 1.042-3.130, p < 0.05), and poor self-assessed health (OR = 1.478, 95% CI: 1.107-1.972, p < 0.01) were risk factors. Higher participation in community health programs (OR = 0.522, 95% CI: 0.298-0.912, p < 0.05) and spousal support (OR = 0.909, 95% CI: 0.841-0.981, p < 0.05) were protective factors. Falls were divided into the following categories: stairs/hallway (vision, attention problems), bath/toilet (vision, attention problems, slipping), indoor housework (dizziness, leg weakness), and outdoor activities (attention, surface problems). While acknowledging that the personal physical and mental health of the elderly may lead to falls, community support, accelerated transformation of housing, and the construction of barrier-free environments play an important role in reducing the risk of falls.

Retraction Note: Research on the Construction of Virtual Three-Dimensional Model of Aging Housing Transformation in Northeast China Based on Mobile Communication Technology

Retraction Note: Research on the Construction of Virtual Three-Dimensional Model of Aging Housing Transformation in Northeast China Based on Mobile Communication Technology

Class, Caste, Gender, and the Materiality of Cement Houses in India

AbstractRecently, large parts of India and the global South have experienced a rapid transformation from mud to cement houses, which has been promoted by governments and cement companies for its positive impacts on household socioeconomic status and gender inequalities. But we know little else about how different communities are participating in house transformation. In this paper, I study the embodied and affective dimensions of house transformation in Himachal Pradesh, India. I argue that house transformation is also the transformation of traditional gender and caste identities into new middle‐class identities which benefits some social groups, like upper‐caste women and Dalit men, but not others like Dalit women along intersectional lines. My work extends literature in infrastructure studies and urban political ecology by highlighting how the materiality of infrastructures interacts with everyday dimensions of difference to reproduce the marginalisation of historically oppressed groups along intersectional lines of class, caste, and gender.

Influence of social housing models in the development of urban agriculture in Mexico

This study examines urbanization patterns linked to social housing units and the way in which such patterns influence the practice of urban agriculture (UA) in Mexico. Due to the transformations that take place over time in Mexican social-housing units, impervious surfaces tend to increase at the expense of greenspace and UA possibilities. The research aims to identify the negative impact of social housing transformations on UA and suggest a policy framework for sustainable housing development in Mexico. The empirical analysis distinguishes four social housing typologies within two emblematic neighborhoods in the city of Merida, Mexico: Las Magnolias and Ampliación Tixcacal-Opichén. A survey of 157 housing units combines quantitative metrics and qualitative descriptors to unveil the detrimental impact of development on UA. The results show that UA takes place within the building lots and around the housing units, rather than in public urban areas. 60% of the sampled units practiced UA, with traditional backyard gardens being the most common modality. The research findings point to a systematic expansion of impervious surfaces, limitation of both cultivation choices and crop variety, and major restrictions on UA practices. Social housing represents the bulk of residential developments in Mexico (42.7% out of 35.5 million housing units). Left unregulated, the types of social housing transformations that have been empirically verified in this study endanger the availability of green space as the primary resource for UA. This research sheds light on critical policy changes and formulations that are required to enhance UA practices and to establish greener cities and more sustainable housing development.

Transformation of Traditional Balinese House in Banjar Umacandi, Buduk Village, Bali, Indonesia

The phenomenon of the transformation of traditional Balinese houses in Banjar Umacandi is interesting to study. The perpetrators of the conversion of religion from Hinduism to Christianity, should live in the Christian world, but the perpetrators of the conversion in Banjar Umacadi still apply some of the values of traditional Balinese houses as a form of Balinese culture derived from the teachings of Hinduism. The change in traditional Balinese houses has three implications, namely: (a) the side of creating new concepts, (b) developing and strengthening existing concepts, (c) losing the original concept. This article will describe the transformation of traditional Balinese dwelling houses by simultaneously exploring the conversion of religion from Hinduism to Christianity. In the hope that it can be understood the extent of the change in traditional Balinese dwelling houses in the middle of an area with high religious conversion. These changes have an impact on the transformation of traditional Balinese values, especially in terms of Balinese building architecture, in addition to the values of social wisdom and other local wisdom values. Furthermore, this article aims to investigate the factors causing the transformation of traditional Balinese houses, the transformation process and the implications of transformation on socio-cultural and religious life in Banjar Umacandi, Buduk Village. The method used is qualitative research, because the emphasis is not on measurement but on trying to find the subjective meaning of the research subject. The results showed that economic factors are the main factors that influence the transformation of traditional Balinese residential houses in Banjar Umacandi. Ideological factors are not the main factors causing the transformation of traditional Balinese residential houses in Banjar Umacandi. The transformation of residential houses in Banjar Umacandi has not yet fully occurred. Local residences have transformed from traditional Balinese houses into modern houses (non-traditional architecture) in the traditional Balinese architectural style. The concept of a modern house in the Balinese architectural style that is still maintained, has implications for the socio-cultural life and the local waga religion. The fusion between the Hindu system of citizens and conversion actors who still maintain the concept of Balinese culture as a common thread, has an impact on the creation of harmonization in Banjar Umacandi to this day.