Mass Housing Projects Research Articles

Displacement and asset transformation from inner-city squatter settlement into peripheral mass housing

While slum clearance projects in the Global South have displaced a large number of urban poor from the inner city to peripheral areas, peripheral mass housing estates have been developed as a spatial fix to improve the livelihood of the urban poor through slum development projects. Shifting the focus of displacement and poverty studies on changing assets and social experiences of displacement, this study makes an empirical contribution to the literature with a case study from Turkey. It demonstrates that mass housing projects that increase the importance of market-based processes and financial assets at the expense of intangible assets (household relations and social capital) make the urban poor more vulnerable to displacement pressure and external shocks. Using the example of a mass housing project in Turkey designed for the relocation of a highly concentrated Kurdish migrant squatter settlement, this research demonstrates that slum development projects can cause different types of displacement, divesting residents of opportunities to accumulate assets and reconstruct a sense of place. The research demonstrates that the dissolution of intangible assets and the exclusion of social spaces that are important to relocated residents in the mass housing estate bring about community displacement in the case of Kurdish residents. Also, relocated squatters feel pressured by the ongoing and daily experiences of displacement—notably everyday, symbolic and temporal displacement—as the spatial design of the mass housing unfamiliar with the livelihood of squatter dwellers constrains their opportunities to appropriate neighbourhood space in everyday life and enact a sense of place.

Evaluating the Existing Barriers in Implementing Constructability

In fact, constructability is facilitating the construction of a project through integrating knowledge and experience to achieve the overall and common objectives of the project in all stages of it, but practically there is still a significant gap between design, construction, and achieving the desired project objectives. Studies show that separating the design and construction processes and lack of presence of the contractor in the design stage, prevent the effective use of experiences and specialty of the contractor to improve and develop design processes. This issue results in increasing project time and cost, poor relationships, and also increasing project waste and duplication. The barriers to implementing this concept can have major differences with each other in different locations all over the world, due to the unity of the executive conditions in various countries. This paper evaluates the existing practical barriers to implementation of constructability in the construction industry. A comprehensive literature review has been performed by the authors through using the Meta-Synthesis method and findings were used to form research assumptions. Three case studies of Mass Housing project (MHP) in Tehran were instigated. Outputs taken from nine interviews with different experts in this industry working in diverse areas, including owners, consultants and contractors are then ranked after theoretical saturation compared using the NVIVO Software and through pattern and descriptive analyses. The concept of constructability is focused on the early presence of contractors in the initial stages of the project. So that, through integrating knowledge and experience, problems due to lack of their presence in the early stages of the project can be reduced. Comparing the existing barriers to implementing constructability in Iran with those of the wider world, presents some effective solutions to facilitate the presence of the construction contractors in the early stages of projects.

Changing modalities of urban redevelopment and housing finance in Turkey: Three mass housing projects in Ankara

ABSTRACTThis study aims to critically analyze the transformation of the Turkish state’s role in urban redevelopment and housing finance by focusing on 3 mass housing projects from Ankara in 3 different historical political conjunctures. The analysis reveals that the Turkish state, with its peculiar institutional artifices, not only creates rent gaps in varying forms but also increasingly coordinates appropriation of them. This involved not only reformulation of strategies to cope with the social problem of continuing expansion of urban population by planning efforts of various scope but also incorporating low-income households into the dominant logic of urban space redevelopment.

Determination of New Development Area in Kırklareli by GIS Based Weighted Overlay Analysis

In today's world geography, the migration from rural area to urban areas continues and the increasing urban population causes vertical and horizontal urban growth. Many factors, such as spatial growth of cities due to population growth, orientation of high level income group towards outskirts of cities, large scale mass housing projects, and higher education facilities attached to cities, realization of large scale public investments because of low land cost cause urban sprawl. In the historical process, the urban settlements have been shaped by a variety of factors such as the needs of the society, the security, the natural environment, the proximity to the agricultural areas, the proximity to the water bodies and the landscape. At the present case, cities are widening towards unsuitable areas. It is important to take control of expansion of cities and to canalize it towards the most appropriate sites. Similar to other cities in Turkey, orientation of urban expansion in Kırklareli city is a necessity for sustainable urban development. The purpose of the study is to determine the most suitable new development areas by using weighted overlay method considering the slope, aspect, land use, soil classes, erosion status, geological structure, proximity to natural drainage systems, proximity to transportation connections, proximity to urban facilities and urban settled area criteria. In the study Geographic Information Systems technology was used. The dataset was overlaid predominantly and the settlement suitability level was determined according to the scores of the each cells.

Wellness and illness: the aftermath of urban mass housing in Lagos, Nigeria

ABSTRACTMass housing policy and an attendant population increase play a vital role in the socio-economic profile of Lagos. The article, using data from mass housing projects, explains the effects of these projects on intra-urban dynamics and the implications in Lagos. The pace of urban growth is increasing, and there is an absence of supporting infrastructures. The areas where populations are decreasing happen to be where contemporary housing construction is concentrated. Therefore, programmes aimed at providing housing and improving quality of life should, as a priority, deal with factors affecting population growth and spatial distribution.

Theoretical and practical implications for engendering project team communication effectiveness in mass housing project delivery in Ghana

Purpose Communication ineffectiveness inherent in the unique attributes of Mass Housing Project (MHP) features is well admitted in the body of literature. However, the understanding of the extent and nature of this influence of the unique features of MHPs requires an empirical insight. The aim of this paper is to identify the communication ineffectiveness induced by the unique features and delineate the implications of the findings for mass housing practitioners and stakeholders towards engendering effective communication performance. Design/methodology/approach Through a structured questionnaire survey, data were elicited from mass housing stakeholders and project team leaders. The data were subsequently analysed using structural equation modelling, and the communication effectiveness evaluation model was developed. Subsequently, the model was validated through a questionnaire survey on ten experienced mass housing practitioners, researchers and stakeholders. Findings The results revealed significant, moderate and weak effects of the unique features of MHP team communication performance. This suggests that the unique features of MHPs have varying degree of influence on the communication performance among project teams’ delivery. The findings provide practical, empirical insights and understanding into the inherent communication ineffectiveness on MHPs, and thus are very useful in communication management and planning in MHP’s delivery. Originality/value Against the backdrop of the need to gain an in-depth understanding of the inherent communication challenges towards improving communication performance in MHP delivery, the findings have rigorously revealed and provided clear insight into the nature of communication ineffectiveness inherent in the unique features of MHPs. The findings and insights provided by this study are thus useful for aligning communication management planning and strategies to the unique MHP environment to engender communication success. Practitioners can also use these findings towards the development of their communication behavioural skills and communication infrastructure for MHP delivery.

Self-sustainability of the post-colonial North Africa habitat between individual and collective spheres

The Modern habitats of Morocco and Algeria are an interesting metaphor of the structured, rich and dramatic comparison between the different cultures on the two sides of the Mediterranean sea. This study recognises the complexities and intrinsic qualities contained in the original plans of the most significant mass-housing projects of the 1950s-1960s in Casablanca and Algiers, outlining the main processes of continuous transformation and adaptation between the individual and collective spheres. The tension between living and settlement models, product of an “enlightened rationalism” (but nonetheless authoritarian) and the tumultuous process of appropriation of the colonial peripheries by new social players that reinterpret them to their extent, constitutes an extremely interesting field of analysis and design.

Aesthetics of social identity: re-framing and evaluating modernist architecture and planning as cultural heritage in Martinique

ABSTRACTThis paper presents a little-known project in Fort-de-France, Martinique, by the French practice Candilis Josic Woods, as a starting-point for an anthropological framing of the cultural significance of modernist architecture and planning in Martinique between the 1960s and the present day. It responds to a dearth of research and scholarship on the modernist architectural legacy in the Caribbean region in general. Well known for its post-war mass housing projects in France and earlier experimental housing in Morocco of the 1950s, Candilis Josic Woods’ work in the French Antillean territories during the post-war years is hardly documented. This paper draws on archival and literary sources to consider the historical and cultural significance of this output at two levels: (1) within the context of the practice’s own commitment to an architectural approach founded in an anthropological understanding of culture and everyday life and (2) as part of the author’s ongoing work to develop an anthropological framing of modernist architecture and planning as cultural heritage within the context of postcolonial discourses and concepts of creolization, and to argue the need for detailed ethnographic fieldwork at the neglected peripheries of canonical modernism to support this line of enquiry through future research.

Evolution of Spaces between Buildings in Polish Mass Housing Estates in the Eyes of the Inhabitants

The author investigates into the state of public and semi-public spaces in the Polish housing estates erected in the times of mass housing projects (1960 - 1980). The character of these estates is special. On the one hand, the buildings were accompanied by lavishly designed open spaces with elaborate material infrastructure: urban design followed the ideas that time – and strict regulations – that, in theory, prevented creation of substandard spaces. Provision of affordable housing was given a priority in the centrally controlled economy, so vast greenfield areas were devoted to housing. Moreover, the estates often stay under one management of housing cooperatives for years. The assets are relatively modern and usually conveniently located within the city/town infrastructure. This gives the areas advantage over contemporary housing schemes affected by constraints imposed by prior development and commercial approach to the provision of housing. On the other hand, technical wear and tear, functional obsolescence, years of underinvestment, natural demographic changes in local communities, changing ownership structure, and weakening social bonds make the large housing estates with their too lavishly designed public areas an ungrateful object of management.Recent availability of the European Union funds for modernization of public spaces increases the numbers of municipal projects and individual initiatives to activate communities by improving public and semi-public spaces. A question arises whether the money and effort is spent reasonably. Do people actually use the new facilities? Are they encouraged to affect the form and function of their surrounding? Does the public space change according to some passing fancies, or according to the changing needs?To juxtapose the development of technical condition of infrastructure and functions offered by the space between buildings with the expectations of users, the author repeatedly views the scene and conducts structured interviews with the inhabitants of the estates. The paper presents the results of two interdisciplinary surveys, held five years apart in the same estate, and based on the same questionnaire. Its results confirm that user expectations evolve. The interest in the development of green areas, and availability of recreational facilities in the proximity of home is growing as people observe that changes are possible. Some people declare some form of active participation in improvements. Preferences towards functions and accessibility of the areas reflect changes in the demographic structure. Surveys of this kind may be regularly used in defining guidelines for further improvement measures, and raising user awareness of the personal responsibility for the condition of the neighbourhood.

The Potential Use of Cellular Phone Technology in Maintaining an Up-To-Date Register of Land Transactions for the Urban Poor

This article investigates the concept of using cell-phone technology for obtaining information about unofficial (off-register) transfers in land as are commonly undertaken by the urban poor in South Africa. Since the introduction of social housing programmes in South Africa after the democratic elections in 1994, mass land distribution and housing projects have been undertaken. Formal transfer of these properties has been discouraged by policy (such as a moratorium on transfers for a period of years), and the inaccessibility of land professionals and formal processes to the poor. From the disuse of formal transfer mechanisms one can conclude that these fail, at least in part, to meet the needs of this segment of society. Cell- (mobile) phone technology penetrates urban poverty more than other interactive technologies such as the internet, largely due to the lack of access to computers and the 'digital divide'. The aim of this article is exploratory. It investigates the potential use of cell-phone technology as a means to inform authorities that a transfer of property has taken place informally or semi-formally. Such information could pave the way for a process of formal registration and hence aid the upkeep of the deeds registration system. Research into the potential use of the cell-phone as an information and communication technology (ICT) tool of land administration, particularly in the developing world, is undertaken. It is envisaged that a more detailed investigation will follow, which will include an analysis of organisational and legislative capacity. Further study in which the use of cell-phone technology in land administration is tested, taking into consideration structural/organisational factors as well as socio-economic and cultural factors and motivating factors for use, may be required.

Impact of Floor Area Ratio (FAR) on Energy Consumption at Meso Scale in China: Case Study of Ningbo

In any urban planning and design project, Floor Area Ratio (FAR) of the site is a debatable factor across various stakeholders. China's increase of FAR for residential areas is one of the most remarkable cases of change of FAR in recent decades. China's urban residential projects have shifted away from low storey single-standing residential units to mid-storey mass housing projects and towards contemporary high-rise residential compounds. The changes in FAR are often very significant and is multiplied over the past few decades. In this study, FAR calculation of a meso-scale residential project located in the City of Ningbo (immediate inner city area) is put in place to shape the argument of renewable energy production and pathways towards energy use reductions. This study first elaborates on energy and policy implications of FAR. The study will then explore one example of a residential compound, based on four models of FAR (at 1, 2.5, 3 and 4). A comparison study is conducted using Eco-Tect software. All four models are analysed using their differences in heights and density. While FAR 1 is not suitable for the context of China (i.e. very low), FAR 3 and 4 are also considered to be high for energy-use reductions but are current practices. This paper argues these scenarios and concludes with impacts of FAR for energy production and reduction at meso scale.

Stakeholder requirements for building energy efficiency in mass housing delivery: the House of Quality approach

Threats of climate change and future energy price uncertainty have led to a global debate on energy efficiency, particularly the energy efficiency of housing projects. This serious global problem calls for improvement in energy efficiency from all sectors, especially the building sector which is considered a major energy consumer. Adoption of energy efficiency design practices in the housing sector has been perceived to have a significant potential to contribute greatly to the sustainable building process. Additionally, most studies indicate that the understanding and integration of stakeholder requirements has an enormous potential towards increasing the sustainability perspectives that relate to social, environmental, economic and technical issues of buildings. However, there is enough evidence from several studies suggesting a lack of common perspective on stakeholder requirements towards building energy efficiency (BEE) in housing development. Hence it is argued that stakeholders’ alignment for energy efficiency improvement is crucial and a fundamental challenge that needs to be addressed if the goal of energy use reduction in buildings is to be achieved. The aim of this paper is to identify the important building energy requirements among stakeholders of mass housing projects and their impact on technical characteristics of mass housing projects. Through a survey of building industry stakeholders and using the House of Quality model for analysis of the data obtained, the study identified five (5) most rated BEE stakeholders’ requirements in respect of housing development. The study gives a new insight into the considerations of building stakeholders regarding energy efficiency. This insight is useful towards achieving sustainable building solutions that meet the sustainability features of housing development in Ghana and other countries with similar energy and housing challenges.

Evaluating Offsite Technologies for Affordable Housing

Availability of an attribute-based evaluation and selection system for offsite technologies is crucial for the adoption of these technologies in mass housing projects. Due to this gap, adoption of offsite technologies remains low in the Indian construction industry in spite of a huge requirement of 18.78 million housing units to be built by 2022. The traditional ‘sticks and bricks’ approach is not likely to fulfil this demand. Adoption of offsite technologies has to be looked into as an option to deliver the extensive requirement in the area of affordable housing. Rejection of technology by evaluating the first cost alone is not the desired strategy to evaluate these offsite technologies. To evaluate and adopt these offsite technologies in affordable housing segment, a holistic selection framework encompassing a set of attributes is needed. This paper identifies a holistic selection framework with a set of offsite specific attributes alongside a set of standard attributes that are mandatory and desired for the adoption of offsite technologies in the affordable housing. Simple scoring of attributes is utilized in devising the framework. This framework is tested and validated on a case study where offsite technologies are used.

The Social Project: Housing Postwar France by Kenny Cupers

Reviewed by: The Social Project: Housing Postwar Franceby Kenny Cupers Richard C. Parks (bio) The Social Project: Housing Postwar France. by Kenny Cupers. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2014. Pp. xxix+ 424. $115/ $31.50. The Social Project: Housing in Postwar France, written by architectural historian Kenny Cupers, gives careful attention and novel analysis to the explosion of public housing projects and suburban growth in post–World War II France. The book itself, which is quite substantial and contains more than 125 pictures and 21 full-color plates, is divided into three main sections that focus on each of the decades of the trentes glorieuses, or thirty-year postwar economic expansion in France: "1950s: Projects in the Making," "1960s: Architecture Meets Social Science," and "1970s: Consuming Contradictions." Those who are familiar with France know well the jarring juxtaposition between a city's historical center and its suburban periphery. In urban agglomerations like Paris, Lille, Marseille, and Grenoble, the cobbled lanes, monuments, and museums of the centres-villesepitomize medieval charm, while the suburbs, or banlieues, which mushroomed in the postwar era from the surrounding agricultural fields, are home to modernist structures, much concrete, and the bulk of the population. According to the orthodox historical narrative, French technocrats and sundry "experts," intellectually formed in the crucible of war and imperial domination, forced public housing on the French populace in a heavy-handed, outward push from the centralized state apparatus. Where Cupers's work shines is in rejecting and redefining the master narrative that explains the shift toward industrial production of housing in France and the concentration of resources on grands ensembles, or mass housing projects. By integrating architectural history, urban history, and social science, Cupers achieves a more nuanced and sophisticated analysis that transcends the classic urbanisteapproach. Hence, The Social Projectis noteworthy in [End Page 593]that it challenges the overly deterministic, étatistapproach to massive planned projects and favors "situated agency over abstract forces and contingency over determinism" (p. xv). The most interesting part of this analysis, especially in section 2, describes an emerging "bureaucratic epistemology" wherein usagers—the "users" of the product—engaged in a dialectic exchange with the technocratic elite that planned and built the housing (p. 155). The constant dialogue between the usagersand policymakers, developers, and architects, which was mediated by social scientists, reshaped the ethos of public housing production in France into a grand social experiment. As Cupers observes, an important facet in facilitating this new exchange was the shift from the quantitative analysis of economists and demographers to the qualitative research of urban sociologists in the postwar era. Another important aspect of the new interplay between the technocracy and consumerism is the fascinating shift from a "ruling state" to a "serving state," where in a Foucauldian twist the state would rule by serving (p. xix). For this analysis, Cupers also relies on Paul Rabinow's interpretation of "welfare" as a key element to the French "modern" state (p. xxiv). It is interesting that historians of French colonialism often consider the colonies as the laboratories of the metropolitan state. In the post-colonial era, as Cupers points out, the laboratory shifted to the suburbs of the metropolitan cities—what was once being contested on "foreign" soil, far from the French public's scrutiny, was now being debated in their backyard in the most literal sense. The planning sites of grands ensemblesemerged as the social laboratories of citizen participation and governmental policy-making, which evolved by the late 1960s into the "science of programming" lived space. The final section describes the overreach of housing production and experimentation as planners sought to fashion "urban density and centrality" out of whole cloth. These readymade ersatz cities were a step too far. Realizing that many middle-class families were transitioning away from state-planned communities in favor of the private market, the government tried to respond by offering "intermediate" and "flexible" housing options. Burdened by a slowing economy, the state was not nimble enough to mimic the options provided by private builders. This book will be of special interest to historians of technology and science in the way that it examines the epistemologies of state...

Exploring the impact of urban neighbourhood environment on satisfaction with life in public housing in Nigeria

The physical, social and economic aspects of urban neighbourhood environment are known to influence the well-being of residents. However, there is a paucity of empirical evidence on which aspects of urban neighbourhood environment has the most significant impact on satisfaction with life (SwL). This study investigated the influence of urban neighbourhood environment on SwL using data derived from a questionnaire survey of 517 resident of public housing in Ogun State southwest Nigeria. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics, factor and regression analyses. Difference in satisfaction with neighbourhood environment and SwL was observed and this was because of differences in the income and tenure status of the residents. Although, the result also indicates that security, socio-economic environment and levels of noise and privacy in the neighbourhoods have a significant influence on residents’ SwL, the aspect of urban neighbourhood environment that needs more attention to enhance residents’ SwL in the residential setting is security of lives and property. This implies that architects and urban designers must pay adequate attention to security issues in mass housing projects in Nigeria and other developing countries.

Pathology of mass housing projects in Iran (Mehr Housing Plan)

Mass housing in construction industry is known as projects that mass production methods are used to construct residential units in it. Mass housing is a model of construction that has high economic, technical and managerial feasibility and should optimize three areas of quality, time and cost. But it should be noted that in one hand this pattern have its weakness and in other hand how to implement and enforce it, is of cases that would have different results based on efficiency and effectiveness. Since the construction of mass housing in Mehr housing projects has been one of Iran's government proceedings in recent years and has not been done comprehensive analysis about its results and effects, the present article try to analysis consequences of this pattern with pathological approach and descriptive - analytical method and outlines its advantages and disadvantages through review of some experiences in other countries. Consequences of this experience analyzed in five dimensions: procedure, economic, social, urban planning and environmental. Iran's experience shows mass housing is on the agenda with the goal of providing housing for low-income people and only in order to solve the problems of housing and the other aspect is neglected so finally will be lead to the destruction of the natural environment, social environment and city's physical environment. Keywords: housing, mass housing, Mehr Housing Plan

The Impact of Affordable Housing Developments on Sustainability in Gulf Cities

The recent construction boom has led to new urban development dynamics in Gulf cities driven by real-estate speculations and large infrastructure investments. While in the past affordable housing for medium income migrants and their families was integrated within the fringes of old downtown areas and compound developments in the suburbs, recent investment patterns have led to an increasing challenge of these economically highly engaged social groups to find residences. In recent years, a newly emerging trend in the Gulf region has been the establishment of large scale mass housing projects as new dormitory settlements to address the growing demand for affordable housing. This paper presents an overview of current development patterns by exploring two major affordable housing projects and their impact on sustainability in Doha and Dubai. This is undertaken by establishing a preliminary assessment framework that involves relevant sustainability parameters. The assessment reveals the major differences between both projects and their impact on environment, economy, and society.

Financial Feasibility Analysis of Water Conservation Components in Mass Housing Projects: Suburban Indian Case Review

AbstractThe green building concept has recently gained momentum, and the success of green projects to a large extent depends on the lifecycle cost. Water conservation components contribute almost 12%–15% to the capital cost of a conventional residential building. This paper aims to analyze the financial feasibility of using water conservation components by evaluating their lifecycle costs and operational savings in large mass housing projects. Four components have been evaluated for a case project located in a metropolitan suburban location in India. To analyze the benefits, two different water tariffs are considered: local corporation combined with mineralized water and well water. Lifecycle cost analysis (LCCA) suggests that, excluding the rainwater harvesting component, the significant share of cost for all other components is related to maintenance, repair, and replacement activities. Results of the analysis suggest that water components do not pay a return when a local corporation water tariff is con...

Modelling the Effect of Housing Design Unit Contract Packaging on Mass Housing Project Team Communication Performance

Modelling the Effect of Housing Design Unit Contract Packaging on Mass Housing Project Team Communication Performance

Housing and the urban premium

Housing policy is experiencing a revival in many countries of the South after a period of neglect. There is a risk that mass housing projects may produce inefficient, exclusive and environmentally-damaging urban outcomes. Human settlements policy should serve a broader purpose than constructing more housing units. A carefully-designed approach can help to lift households out of poverty by creating opportunities for people to become more productive. It can help urban areas to function more efficiently, and expand economic activity, investment and jobs. For housing to contribute to the urban premium, it should be situated within a broader city-wide development strategy, with density, connectivity and diversity as core objectives. Implementation is challenging and requires a range of institutional reforms to facilitate coordination and capacity-building.