Housing Transformation Research Articles

Housing disruptions: Six conceptual entry points for analysing the digital transformation of housing and home

Housing disruptions: Six conceptual entry points for analysing the digital transformation of housing and home

Disruption of Pastoral Nomadism: The Impacts of Russian Colonialism on the Kazakh Steppe during the 19ᵗʰ and 20ᵗʰ Centuries

This study examines the multifaceted impacts of Russian colonization on the Kazakh Steppes during the 19ᵗʰ and 20ᵗʰ centuries. The colonization process caused significant destruction in various fields in the region, including migration routes, livestock herds, socioeconomic life, trade networks, housing and dietary patterns of nomadic communities. Russian expansionism, aimed at establishing control over the steppe, led to the blockage of ancient migration routes and the restriction of nomadic economic resources. The blockage of migration routes, forced transition to capitalism, forced sedentarization and interaction with sedentary life transformed the livestock herds of the nomads. Socio-economic life and trade were restructured by the Tsardom for reasons such as integration into the Russian Empire market, change of commercial centers and concentration of wealth. The changing structure of pastoral nomadism also led to transformations in housing and diet. Comprehending the complex dynamics of Russian colonialism on the Kazakh Steppe will reveal the destruction of nomadic life by scrutinizing the historical and contemporary sociocultural landscape of the region.

Rebuilding a traditional village house using the carbon footprint approach

Houses in villages that are traditionally built with locally available materials like wood, mud, and stones are nowadays being demolished and reconstructed. The current trend has been to adopt framed construction with reinforced cement concrete and red bricks as the main materials. This is going to have a significant environmental impact and needs to be addressed with critical observations. This study was conducted for a local village in Tripura state, India, where a new house for the economically weaker section was constructed using stabilized mud blocks and bamboo as a model house. The main objective was to investigate the environmental impact of the transformation of a traditional house constructed out of locally available materials versus masonry and concrete houses. The impact has been represented as the difference in the Carbon footprint of the two houses based on the LCA approach. It was found that the total carbon footprint of the house built with locally available bamboo and stabilized mud bricks having a built up area of 25 m2 was 9.599 tons, 11.736 tons, and 11.401 tons of CO2 eq lower in landfilling, waste treatment and circular economy, respectively, as compared to concrete and masonry houses, and it has the potential to reduce the life cycle impact of the production stage to be almost neutral.

Housing as an Arena for Change – From Eco-Efficiency to Sufficiency in the Swedish Housing Sector

ABSTRACT The housing sector in Sweden, as elsewhere, faces major transitions to meet far-reaching sustainability targets. Eco-efficiency has tended to dominate the sustainability discourse, with a reliance on incremental improvements. This paper explores what is needed to reach a system-level framing of sustainability transformations in housing and home-related structures and practices. Based on previous research and empirical insights from workshops with diverse actors in the Swedish housing sector, we explore different narratives of what needs to change and perspectives on agency and collective action. Shifting the narrative from efficiency to sufficiency, and from a focus on technology and behaviour to complex interactions between actors and systems, offers opportunities as well as tensions in the sector. While the current paradigm offers limited space for action, the emergence of perspectives, policies, and practices concerning, for example, living smaller, simpler, and sharing posits the housing sector as an arena for socio-ecological transformations.

Hated but Indispensable: Physical Transformations and Changing Perceptions of Panel Housing Estates in Postsocialist Bulgaria

This essay addresses the physical transformation and changing public perceptions of the panel housing estates built in Bulgaria during socialist industrialisation. Particular emphasis is given to specificities of the Bulgarian experience, such as resident adaptations, self-made gardens and codes of behaviour around public spaces. The attitudes of various social and professional groups have been divided into four categories: rejection, scepticism, realism and reinvention. These serve as a framework for the analysis of two chief aspects: the physical decline and/or renewal of prefabricated housing estates; and the growing variety of public perceptions concerning these estates.

Beyond the hype: Digital transformations in global land, housing, and property

This theme issue investigates how 21st-century digital innovations are changing the nature and value of land, housing, and property. Contributors bring together an array of cases to understand how digitization is remaking land and housing on a global scale and, in turn, how existing property relations structure digital transformations in particular geographies. In this introduction to the theme issue, we outline how hype can be used as an analytical entry point to characterize the collection’s contribution, demonstrating how hype elides unequal relations of land and labor while stoking speculation in immovable property, even as it creates new markets for less tangible assets—whether rental data or virtual plots—that usher in new global connections and familiar market dynamics.

Analysis of fire protection design strategies for commercial renovation of villagers’ self-built houses

Abstract The current situation of self-built houses by villagers is prevalent in rural areas, where many villagers construct their own residential dwellings based on their personal needs and economic circumstances. These self-built houses are typically constructed using basic materials and traditional building techniques, often without adherence to strict building regulations and standards. As a result of the lack of professional knowledge and technical guidance, the structural integrity and safety of these houses are often compromised. In addition, the lack of firefighting facilities and fire prevention measures further increase the risk of fire accidents. This situation contributes to a higher incidence of fires in rural areas, posing a significant threat to the lives and assets of villagers. Therefore, it becomes imperative to improve the current state of self-built houses by villagers. Strengthening fire safety awareness and implementing robust fire prevention measures are vital in this regard. This paper aims to summarize the challenges involved in fire protection design for renovating rural buildings. Additionally, it proposes fire protection design principles specifically for the commercial transformation of self-built houses by villagers. By analyzing real-world engineering cases, this study puts forth specific fire protection measures concerning fire rescue, fire control zones (groups), evacuation design, and fire systems. To ensure the fire safety of these buildings, special fire protection design methods are employed. The effectiveness of the proposed fire protection measures are validated through the use of FDS fire and smoke numerical simulation analysis software and Pathfinder evacuation simulation software, ensuring the fire safety of the buildings. The results show that the available safe evacuation time that can be provided by this scenario is 1200 s as calculated by the FDS simulation, and the necessary safe evacuation time is less than the available safe evacuation time in case of a fire on the first floor of this building, and the safe evacuation of the people can be guaranteed. This study can provide a valuable resource for architects, engineers, and decision makers to implement effective fire protection measures during commercial remodeling of village-owned houses.

Incremental housing as care infrastructure: transformations in low-income housing in Alto Hospicio, Chile

The discussion regarding the relationship between housing and care within the general field of housing studies has generated a broadening of the field in many ways. One of such is the reciprocal relationship between the numerous forms of housing transformation and care, particularly for low-income communities in the Global South. We suggest that the main drive to transform housing incrementally is care. Following the work of Power and Mee (2019), we consider housing as an infrastructure of care and therefore, the incremental transformation of housing as part of a set of practices, which produce a sociomaterial assemblage that is constitutive of care. Under these practices, not only does housing pattern care relations, but care relations also pattern housing and therefore housing transformations. This relational way of seeing housing and care is increasingly relevant in the implementation of housing transformation programmes and policies, as this would impact incremental housing design, programme, operation, funding, and implementations, particularly in the context of an increasing incorporation of multiple alternatives of housing transformation and improvement in public housing in the Global South. We show this through ethnographic work on housing transformation for care purposes in the city of Alto Hospicio, Chile.

Urban transformation and population decline in old New Towns in the Osaka Metropolitan Area

In shrinking cities, old New-Towns have emerged as an urban issue in recent years as the population ages. New-Towns were quiet residential areas that flourished as neighborhoods that provided housing during the population boom from 1960 to 1990. New-Towns were developed on the design principle of Perry's neighborhood unit model. However, New-Towns have become “old New-Towns” with many older adults. The aim of this study is to examine the nonlinear relationship between population decline and urban transformation by using the urban transformation of houses in old New-Towns. This study analyzed the Osaka metropolitan area as a case study. The XGBoost algorithm was used to analyze the nonlinear relationship between urban transformation and population change. In conclusion, population decline correlates with the urban transformation of houses into health care facilities in old New-Towns in Japan. This means that the neighborhood unit model, which focuses on children, has changed to one that focuses on older adults. However, there have been fewer old NTs that transformed from housing to health care facilities than changes to other land uses. Therefore, urban planners need to develop policies to encourage the construction of health care facilities and mixed land use in old New-Towns.

The riverside way of life as a spatial attribute for the design practice of Amazonian housing

The production of social housing in the Amazon does not differ from that found in other regions of Brazil, as the lack of adequacy in the projects is a historical and ongoing issue. This essay aims to raise questions about the inadequacy of housing projects for Amazonian cities. Reference is made in this investigation to the Amazonian imaginary, the origins of local ways of living, and the results of research projects already carried out by local researchers. Non-participant observations were also conducted in urban housing areas in the city of Belém. In this sense, it was observed that there are strong indications that the closer to the original way of life of the region's inhabitants, the riverside dwellers, the less likely transformations in housing promoted by the government are to occur. In the study reports, a typological language of riverside dwelling was identified in the modifications made to these state-owned housing units, serving as a mechanism of adaptation in housing. It has been noted that there is a mismatch between the user's needs and state action/production, and understanding the symbolic communications established between people and the built space may likely be beneficial in reducing the existing imbalance between user expectations and project quality in state offerings. Therefore, rethinking the ways of designing and producing architectural living spaces from the local user's perspective is a secure path for the sustainability of the project, encompassing the development of people and space vitality.

Could financialisation explain why developers are building more expensive houses? Evidence for Malaysia

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of financialisation on the changing structure of housing supply in Malaysia. The share of newly launched sub-MYR250,000 houses has been decreasing continuously in the past decade. This implies that housing developers are launching more expensive houses. The greater focus on higher cost housing could be attributed to inflation. But while input cost is rising, the housing sector has also become increasingly financialised. This claim can be supported by the rising share of mortgage and real estate loans in gross domestic product. Financialisation is a process in which the financial sector becomes more dominant relative to the real sector. The extent to which this process is responsible for the changing structure of housing supply in Malaysia is investigated. Design/methodology/approach A survey of the literature suggested that the decreasing the proportion of newly launched sub-MYR250,000 housing could be result of rising input cost, greater degree of financialisation and changing market concentration. Thus, long-run cointegrating equations were formulated and estimated. These equations linked housing share with financialisation, market structure and input cost. The quantitative and qualitative impact of financialisation on the structure of housing supply is of interest. Findings The analyses of secondary data suggested that financialisation and input cost did indeed contribute to the decrease in proportion of newly launched sub-MYR250,000 housing. However, the impact of market concentration on housing share was ambiguous. This conclusion survived several robustness checks. Practical implications The financialisation of the housing sector implies that developers are increasingly building for profits instead of accommodating the social objective of providing shelter. This result is unsettling because access to adequate housing is a human right. The transformation of housing from the concept of a shelter to a tradable, money-making asset could be a major contributor to the declining housing affordability in the country. Thus, efforts to improve affordability must take account of the effects of financialisation. Originality/value An empirical framework for assessing the changes in the structure of housing supply was developed. Existing studies tended to focus only on the volume of housing supply. It is a comprehensive study on changes in the structure of housing supply. Second, while existing studies on the financialisation of housing are mostly qualitative in methodology, this paper offers a quantitative assessment of the financialisation in the housing sector.

The influence of gentrification on the health and well-being of older adults: a qualitative study

ABSTRACT Views on gentrification and intersections with health and well-being were explored via semi-structured interviews with nineteen residents (≥60 years) in Porto (Portugal). Participants acknowledged that gentrification led to noticeable transformations in recreational areas, food/beverage establishments, housing, and commercial activities. Participants had contrasting views on gentrification-induced transformations. Some acknowledged positive contributions, while others expressed concerns about higher living costs, scarcity of affordable housing, weakening social cohesion, and aggravated vulnerability to mental health issues. Several participants claimed that the changes, mainly concerning commerce and recreation, seemed directed towards youth. Policymaking driving gentrification should consider older locals’ needs to promote better health.

Multi-Objective Analysis of Housing Transformation in Istanbul

Multi-Objective Analysis of Housing Transformation in Istanbul

The Anatomy of Privatization: The Genealogy and Practice of Postsocialist Housing Transformation in Bratislava

The Anatomy of Privatization: The Genealogy and Practice of Postsocialist Housing Transformation in Bratislava

Water supply telemetry data processing in apartment buildings

The digital transformation of construction and housing and utilities sector involves data-based management. The most accessible data is telemetry of electricity, gas, heat and water consumption. Despite the fact that not all apartment buildings are equipped with meters yet, it is necessary to think about methods for processing measurement data. Intelligent data processing methods are gaining wide popularity. The purpose of this study is the processing and analysis of water consumption telemetry data. The objective of the study is to determine the periods of nighttime water consumption using the clustering method. The data of apartment meters of hourly consumption of hot and cold water are investigated. The measurement period is 1 month. Intelligent cluster analysis was conducted based on the DBSCAN machine learning model (Density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise). Clustering objects are the hours of the day. As a result of the study, the hours of night consumption of cold and hot water were allocated, both in the whole month and separately on weekdays and Sundays. The conclusion is made about the benefits of using intelligent cluster analysis of water consumption telemetry data for effective management of water resources and equipment.

From flatmates to realestate? Platform capitalism and the transformation of share housing

The rise of platform capitalism has been instrumental in facilitating capital accumulation at scale through the commodification of previously untradable services and spaces. Digital real estate technology-based platforms or ‘PropTech’ (Property Technology) have transformed how housing is produced, traded, and managed, augmenting existing and creating new housing markets in ways that are still evolving. While ‘home-sharing’ platform Airbnb has become synonymous with ‘peers’ offering residential accommodation online, more traditional forms of house sharing between ‘flat mates’ have also been digitised by global platforms. In this paper we trace the evolution of Australian share housing platform ‘Flatmates.com.au’ from the online equivalent of a campus noticeboard advertising share houses to a sophisticated real estate platform owned by global, PropTech giant Real Estate Advertising ‘REA Group’. In doing so we examine how ‘platform logic’ i.e., converting user-inputted data to information to asset; exponential growth through network expansion and connectivity – has integrated the social practices and relationships defining share households within the global real estate market. The paper contributes to critical literature on the inter-relationships between platform capitalism and housing, focusing specifically on the share housing sector in Australian cities.

Literature Review on the Renovation Project of Self-Built Residential Buildings in the South Under the Low-Carbon Background

With the continuous exploration and research of low-carbon buildings in China, combined with foreign theoriesand practices, there are a few basic theoretical and practical projects for low-carbon construction in major cities of China. However, throughout the entire academic research, there is still no comprehensive and clear guidance for the green and low-carbon research and transformation of rural self-built houses. Therefore, the existing development of low-carbon technology for rural self-built houses has been summarized, and some prospects for the future development of rural selfbuilt houses have been summarized. It is hoped that this will have positive help for future rural low-carbon transformation.

The good, the bad and the tenant: Rental platforms renewing racial capitalism in the post-apartheid housing market

This article examines how racial capitalism intersects with platform capitalism through the rise of rental platforms and corporate landlords in the post-apartheid housing market. Combining 18 months of fieldwork in Cape Town with the spatial analysis of sales and longitudinal census data, I demonstrate how rental platforms enabled the consolidation of the private rental sector and the emergence of corporate landlords through the classification of tenants centered upon credit scoring. To automate tenant screening solutions, rental platforms leveraged and extended the information dragnet knitted by credit bureaus. This dragnet of unprecedented depth and volume is built upon the infrastructures and devices that enabled the for-profit, racial classification of people, housing and neighborhoods during colonialism and apartheid, notably ID numbers. In the context of racialized indebtedness and housing inequalities engineered by racial property regimes, the use of platforms to sort the “good” from the “bad” tenant and manage rental portfolios shifts mechanisms of segregation and reproduces racialized patterns of capital accumulation across the post-apartheid city. The article argues that rental platforms extend the extractive logic of racial capitalism through two joint rentier mechanisms: the transformation of rental housing into a new asset class; the extraction and assetization of rental data.

Housing Vacancy Outlined with Delphi Survey. Contributions of Participatory Research to a Just Transformation Process on Trial

Rising housing prices, associated supply gaps and displacement processes have revived the “housing issue” in Germany. This is particularly true for certain social groups socially marginalized by high competition in the housing market. The participatory action research study “Wohnungsleerstand wandeln!”(WohL) - “Worthy places from un-used spaces” examines the coexistence of housing scarcity and housing abundance in a district of the Munich metropolitan area. The goal is to use a participatory multi-method design, including a two-stage qualitative Delphi Survey, to find tailored solutions for the housing situation in each community. The Delphi method was used to reflect the diversity of perspectives in housing as well as the principles of participatory action research such as participation in research, proximity to the field, and capacity building through mutual learning. In the case of sustainable housing solutions, a group discussion process, in which facts are listed by participants (who remain anonymous) without taking into account local social structures, can lead to conclusions that are not accepted by the community. Hence, this paper explains how a Delphi Survey can be designed as a qualitative element of participatory action research. Therefore, the WohL Study and its qualitative Delphi Survey are presented, followed by a methodological reflection on the findings. It becomes clear that consensus and anonymity have to be balanced with solution sustainability. Criteria like the selection of participants, the process of group discussion as well as data collection and analysis have to be adapted to the specific field to be explored. New, diversity-sensitive and method-based approaches to decision making pave the way for a transformation of housing that must imply “vacancies” are to be (re)used, but also that collective decision-making brings “overlooked” groups “back into play.” Ultimately, the essential prerequisite for managing the transformation is the participation of the people of the community.

Restoring and Improving Livelihoods in Resettlement Sites Through Housing Transformation: Evidence from Gopalganj, Bangladesh

Restoring and Improving Livelihoods in Resettlement Sites Through Housing Transformation: Evidence from Gopalganj, Bangladesh