Social housing in Latin America: Opportunities for affordability in a region of housing need

In advanced capitalistcountries, the term social housing normallyrefers to social rented housing, and itsprovision can be examined within the context ofthe type of housing welfare regime that hasevolved within the country under consideration.However, in large parts of Latin America –because of minimal affordability and limitedinvestment – social housing is very much amarginalised tenure and – apart from a smallsocial-rented sector – comprises illegalshelter in shantytowns, assisted self-buildhousing, and low-cost owner-occupation. Itwould therefore be unproductive to examinesocial housing in Latin America within thecontext of any of the welfare regimes thatprevail in the developed world.Within the region, large-scale migration intothe major urban areas created a substantial andgrowing housing deficit among the poor in thelatter half of the twentieth century. At first,there was an attempt to satisfy housing needsby the provision of social rented housing, butit was soon recognised that such accommodationwas unaffordable to the majority of the poor,while municipal governments were constrained bybudgetary considerations from increasing oreven maintaining its supply. At the same time,it was realised that informal housing could beupgraded more cost-effectively, and that forits future development the legalisation oftenure was essential; while self-build formalhousing could be constructed through theprocess of community funding. By the 1990s,even the middle-income segment wasdisadvantaged in the housing market asunemployment and interest rates rose and realwages fell, and therefore – through theintroduction of means-tested demand-sidesubsidies – the term social housing wasextended to the conventional owner-occupiedsector.Clearly, welfare regimes in Latin America areat a rudimentary stage in their development,although there is a tendency for governments toembrace neo-liberal housing policies. But at atime of fiscal constraint, it is a cause forconcern that macroeconomic priorities mightmake it more difficult for a large proportionof the population of the region to satisfy itshousing needs.     

Running hot and cold in the urban home-ownership market: The experience of Japan’s major cities

Urban home-ownership in Japan was destabilised when the bubble economy collapsed at the beginning of the 1990s. This paper looks beyond the social and economic changes in Japanese housing in the post-bubble recession to focus on the ups and downs in current home-ownership markets in Japans major cities. Since the mid-1990s, social fragmentation has created a novel environment for urban home-ownership. The combination of a prolonged recession and a policy to promote housing construction and urban redevelopment has split urban space into hot spots, where the housing market is increasingly active, and cold spots, where the market is persistently inactive.     

Commodification, normalisation and intervention: Cultural, social and symbolic capital in housing consumption and governance

This paper relates the governance of anti-social behaviour in theUK to a wider policy conceptualisation of social housing as a flawed andproblematic form of housing consumption. Drawing on the theoretical workof Bourdieu and Foucault, the paper identifies how the habitus ofhousing consumption is shaped by acts of governance including classification,legitimisation, normalisation and targeted intervention. The paper argues thatdominant governance discourses relate problems arising within socialhousing to assumed distinctions in the cultural, social and symbolic capitalascribed to commodified and branded housing tenures, thereby marginalisingthe importance of differential access to economic capital in the conceptualisationof UK housing policy.     

Geotechnical Solutions for Construction of the “Business Center” in Moscow

An example of a complex geotechnical solution is cited for the construction of buildings housing the Business Center in Moscow, which includes the analysis, design, and construction of a trench enclosure for the building complex, including an architectural monument with an underground level, and a newly constructed building with from two to three underground levels, as well as the church of Saint Peter and Paul on Yauze, which abuts the buildings under construction.     

Ways to increase the economical effectiveness of foundations for agricultural buildings with three-hinged bents

Conclusions 1. The failure of a sandy foundation bed under a rigid embedded reinforced-concrete foundation (h/b0.5) with a flat, rough lower surface is three-dimensional in nature when the loads are inclined at =20–40° to the vertical.2. Plane shear is not observed when the load is inclined at an angle = and the eccentricity e0 ( is the angle of the soil's internal friction as determined on a shear apparatus in accordance with GOST 12248–66).3. The settlements and lateral displacements of an embedded foundation (h/b>0.5) in the limiting state are 2–3 times larger than those of the nonembedded foundation; lateral displacements exceed the limiting values established for farm buildings [2], or approach them.4. For angles =20–40°, eccentricity of the inclined load in the direction opposite to the horizontal component, but not less than r_C (r_C is the core radius of the section) effects an increase in the ultimate load as compared to a central positioning of the resultant. Additional experiments and theoretical studies are required to investigate the role of positive and negative eccentricity on the bearing capacity of the foundation bed.5. For loads inclined at angles =35–40° and a relative foundation embedment 0.5h/b1, computation in accordance with SNiP II-15-74 yields considerably lower bearing capacity than computation from experimental data.6. The studies that we conducted are used to develop a more economical method of computing and designing foundations for farm buildings under an inclined loading, which is employed in practice [2].B. E. Vedeneev All-Union Scientific-Research Institute of Hydraulic Engineering. Central Scientific-Research Institute of Experimental Design and Planning for Rural Construction. Translated from Osnovaniya, Fundamenty i Mekhanika Gruntov, No. 4, pp. 3–6, July–August, 1979.     

Fire drainage system

Present firesafety measures were conceived to deal with hypothetical fires spreading by destruction of successive compartment boundaries. A new firesafety system, referred to as the fire drainage system, is designed to cope with real-world fires spreading mainly by convection. It confines fire and smoke to the room of origin and to a small corridor element adjacent to the room. The system can be designed to operate without the use of water and electric energy. The fundamentals of its design are described and some experimental information is presented. Reference: T. Z. Harmathy and I. Oleszkiewicz, Fire Drainage System,Fire Technology, Vol. 23, No. 1, February 1987, p. 26.This paper is a contribution from the Institute for Research in Construction, National Research Council of Canada.     

Strength of Clayey Soils Subject to Large Shear Strains

Results are presented for determination of the peak _p, residual _r, and standard _f,st strengths of clayey soils containing up to 35% of particle inclusions ranging in size from 1 to 10 mm. It is established that on transition from _p to _r, the parameter C of Coulomb's law becomes essentially equal to zero, while the angle remains constant. A method is examined for repeated torsional testing of soil samples under conditions where shear strain s and torsional moments M _tor are controlled to establish their strength.     

Tenant Empowerment Through Innovative Tenures: An Analysis of Woonbron–Maasoevers’ Client's Choice Programme

According to the recent Housing Memorandum (MVROM, 2000 MVROM 2000 Mensen-Wensen-Wonen: wonen in de 21e eeuw [What people want, where people live: housing in the 21st century] The Hague Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment  [Google Scholar] ), Dutch housing associations are expected to actively improve the control of tenants over their dwellings and their living environment and offer them more possibilities to choose their own type of tenure. Before the publication of the Memorandum, associations had already developed various innovative types of tenure, for example fixed rent contracts, tenant maintenance programmes and different forms of sale with discounts and risk-reducing conditions. With the introduction of these tenures, associations aim to contribute to their social objectives by improving tenants' satisfaction with their dwellings and to improve the market position of their stock as well. Our paper discusses innovative types of tenure that have been developed by the Dutch housing associations and their benefits and risks for tenant and landlord. We focus on the ‘Client's Choice’ programme that has been developed by the association WoonbronMaasoevers, which is recognised as a front-runner in offering households a wide range of choice in tenure and which is also illustrative of many of the benefits and risks of the innovative tenures.

We conclude that many of the innovative tenures, including the Client's Choice programme, can contribute to tenant empowerment and freedom of choice. However, low-income households will mostly have to keep relying on (social) rented housing and other forms of empowerment. For the landlord, the Client's Choice programme has the benefit of increasing cash flow, which can be used for (social) housing investments. However, there are also substantial financial risks, concerning the rate of sales, the development of market values and the potential costs of having to buy back all the dwellings at the end of their economic lifespan. Thus, the implementation of the Client's Choice programme on a large scale should be accompanied by measures to control or provide for these risks.     

Changing modes of reasoning in spatial choice analysis

In the development of regional science methodology we observe an increasing series of trends from aggregate towards disaggregate, deterministic towards probabilistic and static towards dynamic modes of reasoning. This paper attempts to discuss some major aspects of these types of transition in the field of spatial choice analysis where particular emphasis is laid on issues which have been addressed in papers presented in the sessions on Recent Methodological Developments in Spatial Analysis.