Urban Housing Construction Research Articles

Bibliometric Analysis of Urban Coastal Development: Strategies for Climate-Resilient Timber Housing

Urban development in coastal areas has become increasingly important due to the climate crisis and its effects on sea level rise and extreme events, which increased the vulnerability of coastal zones. Therefore, it is important to analyze possible sustainable development techniques in urban planning and residential housing construction based on low-carbon footprint materials such as timber. These techniques should be capable of mitigating the effects of flooding and uncontrolled rises in coastal areas, as well as identifying normative and economic differences in their application in the Chilean context. For this purpose, a bibliometric analysis of 3882 articles selected from the Web of Science database between 1987 and 2022 was conducted, allowing us to identify a range of possible solutions to be developed in the study area. This includes evaluating their potential for normative application and a cost analysis of these solutions. In this regard, housing solutions such as amphibious houses and houses on stilts are two types of flood-resistant homes that are gaining popularity worldwide. Following the technical–economic analysis, it was observed that the solution on stilts can be up to 50% more cost-effective to implement in Chile. However, both options offer a promising solution to minimize the risks of coastal flooding and should be taken into account in the urban planning of coastal areas.

Inhibitors to Earth-based Materials Adoption in Urban Housing Construction: The View of Design Experts

Earth-based materials are eco-friendly and harmless to the environment but have been neglected and relegated, and preference is given to non-sustainable and expensive conventional materials owing to certain factors. Existing studies in the Nigerian context did not consider the factors hindering the use of earthen materials in urban low-cost housing production. This study presents the outcome of examining the inhibitors to the adoption of earth-based materials in urban housing construction from the perspective of design experts in a developing country like Nigeria. Thus, it fills the critical literature gap in the Nigerian context. A well-structured quantitative questionnaire was utilised to collect data from construction design experts using the snowball sampling technique via electronic means. With a reliability index of 0.899, The gathered data were analysed using frequencies, percentages, Mean score, normalisation value technique, Mann-Whitney U test, overlap analysis, and exploratory factor analysis (EFA). It was found that the major barriers to the use of earth materials in urban housing production are (i) image and aesthetic barriers, (ii) Knowledge and resistance barriers, (iii) technology and data barriers, (iv) strength and maintenance barriers, and (v) demand and demographic barriers. More training and workshops were advocated to increase knowledge of the environmental and economic benefits of these materials among stakeholders to influence their interest and the market for earthen materials' acceptability and usage in housing production in urban areas.

Analysis and evaluation of the thermal performance of roofing systems used in dry construction for residential buildings located in the city of Santiago de Cali and its area of influence

According to the decree 1285 (1), regulating the approaches of sustainable construction in Colombia as part of the inclusion of "Environmental Criteria for the Design and Construction of Urban Housing" of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, the following research work is part of the management of passive measures for the improvement of the thermal condition of housing buildings. Under this approach, the analysis of envelopes (walls and roofing) is key to enriching the proposals for improving thermal comfort focused on light dry construction systems and their components. In the case of walls, described and expanded in the text "Analysis and Evaluation of thermal performance of the Light Dry Construction System in Residential Buildings” (2), factors that trigger heating inside the spaces due to heat transfer phenomena are detected. In this section we isolate the roof variable that is addressed in the current project, called "Analysis and evaluation of the thermal performance of roofing systems used in dry constructions for Residential buildings located in the city of Santiago de Cali and its area of influence", where different roofing solutions are tested in the field considering this variable as fundamental in the analysis, thermal comparison and evaluation, not including architectural management variables that can be simulated later (openings of gaps in specimens and arrangement of spaces). At the same time, they considered technical aspects that were successful in the previous study, being that they determined the behavior of the components of the construction system and their location; These mechanisms include ventilated chamber and well-performing thermal insulation such as glass wool and polyester foam

Real estate in the focus of development priorities 2030 (based on the materials of the Gaidar Forum 2022)

The annual Gaidar Forum traditionally opens the agenda for the development of the national economy for the next year with an eye to the implementation of strategic goals. The dynamism of modern economic processes requires not just taking into account external challenges and internal problems, but forecasting chan­ges in the global economic landscapes, modeling systemic changes in the allocation of productive forces and the possibilities of integrating Russia into existing and emerging technological chains. The intensive development of new industries, the targeted focus of investments on investments in the knowledge economy, the transformation of the industrial, transport, energy and housing and communal framework of capital funds set a new rhythm of construction. Its ultimate goal is to create a real estate sector that provides balanced spatial development, accelerated energy transfer and advanced development of human capital as a basis for impro­ving the comfort, quality and standard of living of citizens.
 The range of topics discussed touched upon almost all strategic objectives of achieving the goals of national projects. Priorities for the development of the real estate sector were announced in various contexts: digital and administrative transformation, scientific and personnel support, formation of a comfortable urban environment, housing construction and mortgage boom, master planning tools, etc. At the same time, behind the obvious thematic favorites of the new rhythm of construction and transformation of the real estate sector, a number of important problems remained in the “shadow” of panel discussions. Among them: the euphoria of housing construction and the danger of possible imbalances, professional transformation and the challenges of digitalization, the risks of human-centered and distance education, the discomfort of the business environment in real estate, the vacuum of modern tools for resolving economic disputes and coordinating economic interests, etc.
 Developing a view on the priorities of the development of the real estate sector in terms of ensuring the rights of shareholders and the transition to project financing, the issues of ensuring the quality of housing and communal services, further capitalization of the housing stock, mechanisms for resolving contradictions between tenants and management companies, etc. remained outside the Forum. These issues, being an integral part of a comfortable business environment and the living environment of citizens, actualize a new context of development from Priorities to Parities of economic interests and tracks of development of “power – business – man”.

ПРИНЦИПЫ АЛГОРИТМИЧЕСКОГО ФОРМООБРАЗОВАНИЯ В ПРОЕКТИРОВАНИИ ЖИЛЫХ МОДУЛЕЙ ВРЕМЕННОГО АРКТИЧЕСКОГО ПОСЕЛЕНИЯ

One of the special aspects of the Arctic region is the predominance of the rotational settlement. This article studies the types and principles of the formation of settlement systems in the Arctic zones as well as the factors that form the subject-spatial decisions in them. A distinctive characteristic of this form is the "sprouting" of domiciled settlements from temporary settlements as well as the simultaneous appearance of such a phenomenon as "dead cities". This influenced many life areas of the local population: from urban planning plans and housing construction technologies to the peculiarities of formation of subcultures and regional identity. By the example of subject-spatial complexes of temporary mobile settlements in the Arctic region, it is proposed to consider the time cycle as an object of design and its impact on the socio-cultural aspect of the life of the foreign-born population. A design concept for the self-organization of the system in the life cycle was proposed. Methods of spatial modeling were considered on the example of an engineering system for object modeling, where the feature is the presence of unified modular elements with an original mechanical detachable interface.
 The study used the methods of historical, cultural, and systems analysis, a systematic approach to design, scenario modeling, conceptual forecasting based on synergetic theory (theory of self-organization of systems), structural and spatial modeling.

Thinking relationally about socialist cities: cross–border connections in Czechoslovak post-war urban planning and housing construction

ABSTRACT This article makes a case for a relational approach to studying the history of ‘socialist cities’ in Europe as inherently interconnected with various other places through transnational links. It attempts to contribute to historians’ debates about the socialist city and to interlink them with the project of developing a ‘global urban studies’. To do so, it brings several examples from the history of urban planning and urban development in post-war Czechoslovakia which challenge academic representations of socialist cities as specific and disconnected from places across the Iron Curtain. First, based on a review of contemporary professional literature in urban planning and architecture, the article points out some of the channels through which knowledge about and from geographically or ideologically distant places, including the ‘Western’ world, was available to Czechoslovak experts, and, especially, how this knowledge has been reflected in their own debates about housing construction and urban development in Czechoslovakia. Second, one palpable example of exchanges across the borders of the then-divided Europe is depicted through the transnational story of wooden prefabricated houses. So called Finnish houses were produced in Finland, yet they became an integral part of several cities and towns in socialist Czechoslovakia.

GLOBAL ARCHITECTURAL AND URBAN PLANNING TRENDS 1900s and 1930s AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON THE ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN PLANNING OF METROPOLITAN KHARKOV

Organizational changes in project activity and the stages of its formation in the Ukrainian SSR as a tool for constructing a new social reality have been traced. The first stage was the approval of the altered role of architecture and the architect in socialist model, the second - the inclusion of social relations and lifestyle in the subject of architectural creativity, the third - conceptual approaches / models and the fourth - the creation of new samples of architecture. Global trends in urban planning and housing construction in the 1920s - 1930s essential for understanding the processes taking place in the construction of the capital Kharkov have been established. Namely: – the formation of urban planning schools at the turn of the XIXth and XXth centuries. (England, France, Germany, Austria (Vienna), as well as in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kharkov and Kiev; – outsourcing knowledge from other sciences (statistics, economics, law, sociology, etc.); – aspiration to construct cheap housing, industrialization and standardization; – attraction of private capital to the construction of residential complexes. A similarity pointed out between architectural and urban planning concepts is composed of the attraction to conceptual solutions alike to the "garden city" in early 1920s, the search for a new housing typology (sometimes small) with facilities; creation of the concepts of a house-commune and a housing complex. Implementation of avant-garde concepts in the development of social and housing infrastructure of the metropolitan Kharkov is considered. In the 1920s the formation of architectural and urban planning concepts in the USSR took place in correlation with the basic social ideas of architectural and urban planning practices of the West in the following sequence: noncritical borrowing of Western bourgeois models ("garden city"), attempts at social innovation inspired by the classics of utopian socialism (house-commune as phalanx reincarnation), constructing new functional-spatial models as means of implementing social doctrine (residential complexes); socio-economic invention in the context of industry planning (Sotsgorod). Practical verification of the models created at each stage became an incentive for new searches. Keywords: architectural and town-planning tendencies, socialization of town-planning, socialization of residential architecture complexes, metropolitan Kharkov.

Land Provision for Decent and Affordable Housing for Low-Income Community in Salatiga City

The needs land for urban housing construction was increasingly difficult andmore pricey, so for low-income communities for able owned a house was not easy.Limited of land in an urban area, especially in small cities such as Salatiga, its land wasnot all can be used in housing constructions. This condition needed an interventionfrom the local government to facilitate their needs for housing could be fulfilled. Basedon the problems, the goals of this research studied a providing of land for decent andaffordable housing for low-income communities in Salatiga. The method used was amixed method with a sequential explanation strategy, that is by overlaying secondarydata on the land potential map from various sources that can be used for decenthousing with primary data, such as interview and document review with localgovernment to reduce of housing cost. The results of the study figure out that housingused a land owned by the village government can be affordable for low-incomecommunities with price less expensive below the standard set by the government.

Land Provision for Decent and Affordable Housing for Low-Income Community in Salatiga City

The needs land for urban housing construction was increasingly difficult andmore pricey, so for low-income communities for able owned a house was not easy.Limited of land in an urban area, especially in small cities such as Salatiga, its land wasnot all can be used in housing constructions. This condition needed an interventionfrom the local government to facilitate their needs for housing could be fulfilled. Basedon the problems, the goals of this research studied a providing of land for decent andaffordable housing for low-income communities in Salatiga. The method used was amixed method with a sequential explanation strategy, that is by overlaying secondarydata on the land potential map from various sources that can be used for decenthousing with primary data, such as interview and document review with localgovernment to reduce of housing cost. The results of the study figure out that housingused a land owned by the village government can be affordable for low-incomecommunities with price less expensive below the standard set by the government.

Housing Planning for Lower Income Cities with Sustainable Development Approach in Mehregan Township of Mashhad Metropolis

Housing is the most important element of the city, which is of great importance in the sustainable development of the city. Therefore, achieving sustainable housing in order to enhance and improve the quality of life of the present and future generations is a major issue. Housing from various perspectives, including architecture, construction of buildings, residential buildings, land and building costs, housing loans, housing market, housing regulations, house prices, Desirable housing, etc., can be considered. On the other hand, housing is the most important concern of the present-day human being and its most important function is economic performance. And its most important function is economic performance. The housing situation and the analysis of housing prices are of particular importance, because the main goal of urbanization is to create human settlements and, among the various uses of urban land, residential use is of particular importance. Also the share of housing is also significant in quantitative term. One of the indicators for measuring poverty is housing. Good and adequate housing is a housing that does not have too much density. And, in many cases, housing and environmental conditions are the most important factor affecting on level of satisfaction of a person in a neighborhood. Apart from the social class and economic conditions of individuals, housing is always one of the most important needs and priorities of the household. The main factors that have led to provide a place to live become a crisis, especially for low-income groups, are: Rapid population growth, a sharp increase in urbanization rates, lower household size, higher rates of profitability of the land market and housing, reduced demand for housing, reduced access rates and poor financial capabilities of the poor, the plummeting market of land and housing to the detriment of low-income groups, the reduction of land and housing supply, the lack of attention of the private sector and, ultimately, unsuccessful government policies. In spite of various experiences to address the problem of disadvantaged low-income groups, the root cause of this problem is the need to examine its structural factors. This paper has been conducted with the purpose of providing a affordable housing pattern for vulnerable urban areas with a sustainable development approach in the Mehregan township of Mashhad Metropolis detachable area using a descriptive-analytical method of applied type. The population of the study is 366 people based on the Cochran formula. Using descriptive and inferential statistics from the completed questionnaires, experts have been analyzed using non-parametric and parametric statistical methods. Since housing is a cross-domain and multidimensional domain, the attitude to it must be all-round and multi-dimensional. Hence, effective policies in the field of housing for low income groups regarding the potential of the marginal areas of Mashhad for system effectiveness will be considered. Finally, in the city of Mehregan, we can solve this problem, By drafting urban planning, architecture and housing construction in accordance with international standards and enhancing their flexibility and encouraging activities in marginalized fabric for the benefit of low income groups and changing the views and plans of urban development projects.

Garden City: Everyday Life of the Sixties in the Soviet Social Memory

The article is devoted to the history of Soviet urban everyday life at the turn of the 1950s — 1960s. and its reflection in the social memory of the inhabitants of Omsk, the problem of exploiting the enthusiasm of Soviet people during the years of the Khrushchev thaw. A forgotten episode in the history of urban housing construction in a Siberian city is associated with the socialist competition between Omsk and Leningrad in 1959 for the title of an exemplary Garden City. The very fact of the improvement of the urban environment by the forces of the townspeople and the method of socialist competition led to a lot of contradictions — between the general and the private, between free and paid, between the ideological and the real. And this historical episode revealed many aspects of the behavior of ordinary workers of the Soviet industrial city, with their explicit and hidden desires, aspirations, upbringing and the degree of “faith in a bright future”. The creation of a garden city by means of the public work of the residents became a significant idea that could unite everyone. It coincided with the very atmosphere of the “Khrushchev thaw” when the most daring ideas and projects were born and implemented. The study of the history of urban non-capital everyday life was carried out on materials of oral history (memoirs of the old residents of the city of Omsk), a large complex of archival sources, periodicals, etc.

Urban Housing Construction: International Experience of Investment Attraction

The main hurdle for the expansion of housing construction is the lack of financial resources at the beginning of the investment cycle, thus making it necessary to borrow and take out loans. Housing construction is extensive in developed countries due to well-established and reliable investment mechanisms, primarily through bank loans. Conversely, funds are lent in Russia at high interest rates, while weak risk management technologies and loopholes in the assessment of technical factors of investment construction projects restrict possibilities of domestic banks. The study aims to analyze international experience of drawing investment in urban housing construction. In the article, we analyzed scientific books about how to draw investment in housing construction. We have determined main features of investment models for housing construction and investment models for housing construction that are in use abroad.

A hybrid computational intelligence approach for predicting soil shear strength for urban housing construction: a case study at Vinhomes Imperia project, Hai Phong city (Vietnam)

This research proposes an alternative for estimating shear strength of soil based on a hybridization of Support Vector Regression (SVR) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). SVR is used as a function approximation method for making prediction of the soil shear strength based on a set of twelve variables including sample depth, sand content, loam content clay content, moisture content, wet density, dry density, void ratio, liquid limit, plastic limit, plastic index, and liquid index. The hybrid framework, named as PSO–SVR, relies on PSO, as a metaheuristic, to optimize the training phase of the employed function approximator. A data set consisting of 443 soil samples associated with the experimental results of shear strength has been collected from a housing project in Vietnam. This data set is then used to train and verify the performance of the PSO–SVR model specifically constructed for shear strength estimation. The hybrid model has achieved a good modeling outcome with Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) = 0.038, Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) = 9.701%, and Coefficient of Determination (R2) = 0.888. Hence, the PSO–SVR model can be a potential alternative to be participated in the design phase of high-rise housing projects.

To the problem of effective organization of pro-curement activities of construction companies

The article considers organization of procurement activities of company, which works in a field of urban housing construction, as part of a single logistics supply chain of component parts. The article identified the factors which have influenced the level of centralization of purchases and the transfer of procurement activities to outsourcing. The conclusion is: the feasibility of a particular option for the organization of procurement is determined through feasibility analyses based on identified factors.

Housing and Poverty in Southern Ethiopia: Examining Affordability of Condominium Houses in Hawassa City

IntroductionThere is no doubt that housing is one of the basic necessities for human beings. However, it has remained a critical problem for millions of poor people in developing countries (Bihon, 2007).As a result of increasing urban homelessness and the growth of slums, from the 1950s governments throughout the world started to develop various strategies and intervene more directly in the procurement of urban housing (Wakely, 1988). The two decades 1950-1970 saw the political independence of many colonies in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean and a new economic independence, and these brought about significant industrialization and dramatic urbanization in many Latin American countries (Wakely, 1988; Wakely, 1988). In some countries, the government subsidy was redirected from the low-income groups to low-middle income earners and then switched from individual householders to the (profit-motivated) producers of housing -real estate developers and bankers (UN Habitat, 2003).Today, housing for low-income families is a major component of all towns and cities in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, typically covering 60-80 percent of the developed land area of towns and cities and accounting for 50-70 percent of the value of the fixed capital formation of urban areas of which they are an integral part (UN-Habitat, 2003).Like most urban centers of developing countries, most cities and towns in Ethiopia face a plethora of problems, including an acute and ever-worsening housing shortage (Solomon & McLeod, 2004). In Ethiopia, until recently, there was no specific legislation that recognized citizens' right to housing or which imposed a duty on the government to recognize that right. Nevertheless, there were few national coordination policies regarding housing and urban development. During the first half of the 20th century, land and housing in Ethiopia were controlled by a few individuals and groups, where housing supply was mainly controlled by the landowning elite who constitute less than one percent of the population but own more than 70% of the arable land (UN-HABITAT, 2007). Following the 1974 land proclamation (No. 47/1975), ownership of all urban land and extra houses were transferred to the government in an effort to enforce a fair distribution of wealth across the country (Teshome, 2008). State sponsored urban housing construction has begun in the late 1980s (Mulugeta, 1995). With emergence of the current government in 1991, Leasehold as a land tenure system was introduced in 1993 and then revised in 2002 and 2011 (UN-HABITAT, 2010).Since year 2005, Ethiopia has been implementing an ambitious government led low and middle-income housing programme. The programme involves a radical shift from the single-storey detached housing typology (government owned rental housing) to a new condominium typology (private homeownership). According to the programme, all slums would be cleared within ten years. To make the programme feasible, the state transferred the overall responsibility for the housing sector to the regional administrative level. At the regional level, the Bureau of Works and Urban Development (BWUD) is responsible for urban management and development issues.According to empirical assessment of housing study by HCAFEDO, 52 percent of the total population of the capital city, Addis Ababa, earns a monthly income of less than 167 USD (HCAFEDO, 2011). Based on this observation, it would be obvious that the housing standard of the city is incompatible with the affordability of the majority of the residents to build their shelter. The situation is not different for most towns in Southern Ethiopia, especially to the capital of Southern regional state (Hawassa city administration). In the city administration, high income group earning more than Ethiopian birr 2000 (100 USD) accounts for only 8 percent, middle income getting monthly income of 670 - 2000 accounts 26 percent and low income residents, those getting less than birr 670, account for 56 percent. …

China’s Urbanization and Carbon Emissions Peak

With the increase of urban population around the world, the massive construction of urban infrastructure and residential housing is hard to avoid. Urbanization has become a major factor that influences carbon emissions instead of a secondary factor due to more and more energy consumption and carbon emissions caused by the economic activities related to urbanization. China is in a stage of rapid development of urbanization, and urban construction has a huge potential demand for steel and iron, cement, and other high energy-consuming products, and thus the development of urbanization in the future will bring great challenge to the realization of China’s carbon emissions peak. Through the exploration and the analysis of the mechanism of urbanization’s impact on carbon emissions and the experience of urbanization development in developed countries, this paper summarizes the general evolving rules of carbon emissions peak along with the development of urbanization, defines the present stage of our country and briefly analyzes the arrival of China’s carbon emissions peak in the future. During the process of China’s new-type urbanization development in the future, we should make a scientific planning integrated with low-carbon concept from the demographic, social, economic, spatial structure, technical, and other dimensions, in order to reduce the impact of urbanization development on carbon emissions and realize the carbon emissions peak of China early.

The Influence of Pier Stiffness Ratio on the Failure Modes of Masonry Structures

Masonry structure is the main form of Chinese urban and rural housing construction structure. And heavy casualties and huge economic losses are caused by the damages of masonry structures in the previous destructive earthquake. So the failure modes of masonry structures are analyzed in the paper. ABAQUS software was used; and the Xuankou High School Student Dormitory of masonry structure in Yingxiu town, severely damaged under the Wenchuan earthquake, was taken for example. The influence of the stiffness ratio of pier between windows and spandrel on the failure modes of masonry structures is discussed. The results show that the failure modes in the earthquake could be changed by controlling the stiffness ratio. Suitable stiffness ratio helps proper design of masonry structures.

Embracing off-site innovation in construction in China to enhance a sustainable built environment in urban housing

With the rapid rate of urbanization and pressing need for higher levels of sustainable development within the built environment in China, the housing construction industry presently is facing urgency of shaping a sustainable construction process. This paper examines several sustainability challenges from the large-scale urban housing construction, and explores the connection between off-site innovation and sustainability within a context of China's housing construction industry. The study also identifies four pillars of strategy agendas that could enhance an enabling innovation environment for the ultimate goal of sustainability: (1) institutional environment, (2) public housing market, (3) organisational actions and (4) technological capacity. The knowledge and research findings presented in this paper would provide a ground framework that helps evaluate and assess the significances of off-site innovation to assist with a sustainable built environment.

Study on Correlation between Housing Construction and Influence of Urban Development in the Succession of Urban Dynamics

Since 1990s housing construction in China has been going through a gradual separation from the planned economy mode, a transition from collective housing construction and distribution to market-oriented mode, which resulted in the all-time growing of real estate development and accelerated the succession of urban development. This article gives an outline of general analysis on correlation of housing construction and urban growth, including its influence on urban economy, social stability, urbanization process, city layout, suburban districts and appearance of residential difference. The article points out the importance and urgency of keeping balance between housing construction and urban development. It points that seeking a balanced way for cities, dwellings and humanity would be the theme and trend of urban housing construction.

Soviet Urban Planning, Housing Policies, and De-Stalinization

Mark B. Smith, Property of Communists: The Urban Housing Program from Stalin to Khrushchev. 240 pp. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 2010. ISBN-13 978-0875804231. $40.00. Paul Stronski, Tashkent: Forging a Soviet City, 1930-1966. 350 pp. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2010. ISBN-13 978-0822943945, $65.00 (cloth); 978-0822961130, $27.95 (paper). The general character of the postwar and post-Stalin period in Soviet history has become a topic of much debate in recent The chronology and labeling based on commonly accepted subdivisions--postwar years, late Stalinism, thaw (Khrushchev period), and stagnation (Brezhnev period)--do not necessarily provide an adequate frame for the most recent research and have indeed been openly challenged. The period of late Stalinism for example, had previously been seen as a period of re's: reconstruction and recovery from the war losses followed by the reestablishment of the Stalinist repressive system. More recent contributions show a more nuanced picture of a dynamic society in search of new identities, including such contradictory phenomena as emerging youth cultures and an obsession with control. (1) Concerning the thaw period, nowadays often labeled de-Stalinization, the general narrative is moving away from concentrating on Khrushchev's dipsydoodling reform policies. Rather, scholars are now examining the emergence of new types of public spheres--albeit limited ones, forums of communication, and new forms of interaction between regime representatives and the broad population. (2) One of the more recent approaches to the postwar years and the Khrushchev period is the analysis of citizens' voices as expressed in letters. As Christine Varga-Harris and others have shown, a new discourse appeared at this time. Soviet citizens called for adequate compensation from the state in exchange for the efforts and sacrifices they had made during and after the war. They insisted on their rights to food, adequate housing, and other material provisions, in many cases appealing to the state's own promises. (3) Citizens acted more self-consciously than they had in the 1930s, due to the abating of terror and the new source of legitimacy provided by victory in World War II. Here the two studies considered in this review overlap. Both provide new insights into the postwar period with reference to the relationship between individual citizens and the state, especially in regard to housing. Neither limits the scope of its research to the 1940s and 1950s, though, reaching well beyond it. They thus make it possible to see the immediate postwar period in a broader chronological perspective. Yet the two authors use different strategies in creating a wider historical narrative. For good reasons, Mark B. Smith challenges the well-established chronology for the study of the postwar period, while Paul Stronski inscribes Uzbekistan into it. Both monographs treat aspects of urbanization, urban planning, housing policies, and housing construction. While Smith addresses the entire Soviet Union, concentrating on the categories of ownership and the welfare state, Stronski's book is devoted specifically to the history of Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. Both authors place their findings in broader comparative contexts: Smith draws on the development of housing construction and property rights in Western Europe, and he tries to show that the Soviet experience did not stand apart from European-wide trends but developed out of them. Stronski presents the history of Tashkent and Uzbekistan as an integral part of the Soviet modernizing project with many parallels to other parts of the Soviet Union. Smith departs from the well-known phenomenon of the urban housing construction boom in 1956-63 in stressing that the Soviet construction rate was the highest in Europe. The author seeks to account for the forerunners and historical background of this project, which is usually connected to only Khrushchev's name. …