Sustainable Urban Housing Research Articles

Montserrat Pareja-Eastaway and Nessa Winston (eds): Review of ‘Sustainable Communities and Urban Housing: A comparative European perspective’

Montserrat Pareja-Eastaway and Nessa Winston (eds): Review of ‘Sustainable Communities and Urban Housing: A comparative European perspective’

Increasing Community Participation in Sustainable Urban Housing Renewal Implementation (Case Study: Sombo Walk-Up Flat)

Urban housing renewal is one of the ways to solve housing problems such as environmental, social and economic degradation in the community. But housing problems is still found on post-renewal in social, economic, cultural and environmental aspects. This is probably happened because the local community is not holistically involved in the implementation of the development. This research uses qualitative method with purposive sampling technique. Data collection techniques through interviews to the original residents of Sombo walk-up flats, stakeholder and managers of Sombo walk-up flats and also conducted by field observations. Then, the analysis is using data triangulation. The results of this study indicate that community participation is still not done holistically in which the community is less empowered after urban housing renewal is done. Therefore local communities should be empowered to realize sustainable urban housing renewal

SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES IN REAL ESTATE HOUSING IN GHANA: PERCEPTION OF OCCUPANTS

Sustainability has been and continues to be the one recurring topical issue the world over. Governments all over are turning serious attention towards the provision of sustainable urban housing for their urban populace. This they have realised holds the key to leading developmental growth for their economies. Building professionals are now confronted everywhere on green building and construction Ghana as a lower middle income country is grappled with a huge housing demand giving rise to a thriving real estate sector in the capital city. The houses they produce come with exhorbitant cost due to the fact that most of these building features are imported in addition to poor planning and design construction. The paper evaluates the occupiers of this estates house their perception on sustainable housing solutions and their satisfaction levels in the dwellings. Again it sought to investigate the building performance in meeting the occupant’s desired comfort. The study adopted the case study as the most appropriate with quantitative methods and random sampling techniques in sample size and questionaire administration. Data collected were analysed by the spps analytical tools and results presented in tables bar and pie charts. Likert scale ranking from 1-5 were used to rank satisfaction with Habitability Index (HI)formula used determine the actual satisfaction levels. Results indicated that majority of occupiers were aware of sustainability issues. Whilst they acknowledge the opportunities offered they were reluctant in making extra expenditure to get these sustainable solutions. Satisfaction levels were high for site planning, and neighbourhood landscape obtaining Habitability Index above 80%. Provision of natural ventilation, natural lighting, use of local materials energy efficient design and rain water harvesting received satisfaction levels of HI below 50%. The study thus recommends amongst others aspects that further education should be carried out by the key stakeholders on housing delivery; government should foster practising sustainable housing by public private partnerships and offering various incentive packages to participants; and government should establish a regulatory body to oversee the operations of real estate developers. This study would provide vital information on the perceived indicators of Real Estate occupants in Ghana.

Designing Sustainable Urban Social Housing in the United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates is experiencing a challenging turn towards sustainable social housing. Conventional neighborhood planning and design principles are being replaced by those leading to more sustainable urban forms. To trace this challenging move, the research has investigated the degree of consideration of sustainable urban design principles in two social housing neighborhoods in Al Ain City in Abu Dhabi Emirate, UAE. The first represents a conventional urban form based on the neighborhood theory; the other represents the new sustainable design. The ultimate aim is to define the obstacles hindering the full achievement of a sustainable urban form in this housing type. To undertake research investigations, a matrix of the design principles of sustainable urban forms has been initiated in order to facilitate the assessment of the urban forms of the two selected urban communities. Some qualitatively measurable design elements have been defined for each of these principles. The results of the analysis of the shift from ‘conventional’ to ‘sustainable’ case studies have revealed some aspects that would prevent the attainment of fully sustainable urban forms in newly designed social housing neighborhoods. Finally, the research concludes by recommending some fundamental actions to help meet these challenges in future design.

Gentrifying a Superfund Site: Why Gowanus, Brooklyn is Becoming a Real Estate Hot Spot

This feature length article tells the story of Gowanus, a Brooklyn neighborhood on the Gowanus Canal, haunted by the pollutants of its industrial past.. The Environmental Protection Agency recognized the Gowanus Canal as a Superfund cleanup site in March 2010. Yet Gowanus is experiencing an economic and cultural revival. What was historically a booming manufacturing area with active warehouses spilling their waste into the Gowanus Canal is now an industrial site where middle to upper class families, seeking to purchase organic foods, are willing to relocate and settle down. As of December 2014, a two-bedroom condo boasting waterfront views and located just one block away from the Gowanus Canal on Carroll Street was priced at $1,549,000. The average price per square foot for homes in Gowanus is 50 percent higher than the rest of Brooklyn. This story links issues of sustainable development and current urban housing needs in New York City. My research rested primarily on interviews with subjects who have expertise in the changes of the neighborhood. I was fortunate to speak with a real estate agent who specializes in Gowanus, a representative at an affordable housing advocacy group working on development in Gowanus, two separate families who moved to the area when they started began having children, and a life-long resident of 27 years. I also attended two community meetings relating to the sustainable development of Gowanus in addition to speaking with some old and new shop dwellers. Author’s Note I am passionate about telling the story of the gentrification of Gowanus because it brings to light two major challenges that New York City is facing: a lack of affordable housing and funding for sustainable and environmentally friendly areas. Having worked as a child-care provider in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Gowanus during the 2013-2014 academic year, I had a strong interest in understanding why an area that lies along the banks of one of America’s most contaminated waters and appears so desolate is transforming into a hip, familyoriented neighborhood. As a graduate student at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, where I am a degree candidate in the master of international affairs, I am focusing my studies on environmental policy and management. I am specifically interested in policy issues surrounding urban planning and water management. I am also specializing in media and communications. My future goals are to continue writing about issues of sustainable development in urban areas to shed light on the ways urban areas can manage environmental issues.

Land use Regulations Towards a Sustainable Urban Housing: Klang Valley Conurbation

Sustainability can be achieved through housing development as it could promote social equity, generate economic growth, and promote environmental conservation through its planning, construction, design and management. It is to be believed that the most fundamental aspect in achieving sustainability is through the planning system and development plans. The issue of non-compliance such as illegal change of land use zoning and conflicts in development plans are among others that affect sustainability in the housing sector. Therefore, the intend of this paper is to review how land use planning regulations such as Acts, development plans and planning guidelines may affect the achievement of a sustainable urban housing development in the Klang Valley.

A Review of “Sustainable Urban Housing in China: Principles and Case Studies for Low-Energy Design”

Housing is the largest construction sector in almost every large city of the world. Energy consumption, including both embodied energy for material and construction as well as building maintenance,...

Emerging Forms of Sustainable Urbanism: Case Studies of Vauban Freiburg and solarCity Linz

Abstract This study is an ongoing interdisciplinary collaboration, which discusses possible emerging forms of sustainable urbanism in the 21st century. The idea of sustainable urbanism is examined in this paper in more than environmental and ecological aspects, to highlight the emergent forms of urbanism based on new paradigms that inform on the shape of cities to come. The two case studies discussed embody complex topics of design, dwelling, community in space, building technologies, environmental strategies, as well as models of affordability. At the same time, new trajectories in the development of sustainable urban housing are explored. It is based on the following case studies: Case Study 1: The new city district of Vauban Freiburg, in Germany, describes the guiding principles and their implementation in the planning and design of this new major development: Vauban comprises 2,000 homes to house 5,000 people, as well as business units to provide about 500 to 600 jobs. Case Study 2: solarCity Linz, in...

Communities’ Environment Improvement Network: Strategy and Process toward Sustainable Urban Poor Housing Development

“Baan Mankong” program is presently the government’s major policy in urban poor housingdevelopment in Thailand, undertaken by Community Organization Development Institute (CODI). The mainstrategy of the program is to upgrade living conditions, secure tenure as well as community capacitybuilding through communities’ self-proposed projects and people participation process. This paper isderived from the experience in the development practice of a case study on Bang Bua canal in Bangkok,where on both sides of the waterfront are presently illegally occupied by a group of neighborhoods. Thesecommunities have invaded into public land and settled their housing trespassing into the canal. Theprevious attempts by the local authority to evict the waterfront urban poor communities, for being thecause of water pollutions and other associated environmental problems, had led to a long conflict in urbandevelopment.
 To achieve the goals of sustainable community development, it is vital that not only the coreproblems of urban poor housing such as the lack of secure tenure and development funding are systematicallysolved, but also to evoke residents’ participation and people awareness on environment related issues.The Bang Boa community development scheme under the “Baan ManKong” program is expected to highlightinitial guidelines and strategies for urban poor settlements’ redevelopment of other waterfront area ofBangkok. This paper will discuss how the process of community capacity building and empowerment havebeen undertaken and will be initiated, particularly in establishing various networks as a significantdevelopment strategy.

An Analysis of Commuting Distance and Mode Changes of Recent Migrations to Housing Renewal Areas

This research concerns preconditions for sustainable urban housing policy, which lead to a reduction of commuting distances and sustainable mode changes. Although there have been many empirical studies on residential and commuting behaviour, it is still not clear whether land use can contribute to achieving more sustainable urban form. This study has provided empirical evidence in relation to the Compact City through a case study of housing renewal in Seoul, Korea, and has examined changes of commuting distance and of modes for commuting and shopping of households who moved to renewed residential areas using multinomial logit model analyses. This study suggests that, ceteris paribus, compact city-type urban housing supply can be used as one of the options to achieve more sustainable urban form, though not to a great extent. Furthermore, reduction of commuting distance does not automatically result in shorter commuting time nor sustainable mode change.

Sustainability issues in urban housing in a low-income country: Bangladesh

Bangladesh, a low-income country, experiences an unsatisfactory situation in urban housing. Improvement in the situation is constrained by a number of factors, such as rapid population growth, an inequitable social structure, poor economy and persisting poverty, an ineffective public policy and a hostile natural environment. In sustainability terms, rapid urbanisation and large-scale demands for housing in urban areas may pose some problems for ecological sustainability. There are also conflicting and competitive issues in technological and economic sustainability versus cultural and social sustainability. The provision of easy access to housing finance, in the model of Grameen Bank's housing credit, access to land, realistic building standards and access to affordable building materials along with community involvement are some of the options towards achieving a sustainable housing policy in Bangladesh. At the same time strong political commitment and a stable political environment are recognised as preconditions to sustainable urban housing.