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.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

Collapsed spring observations in arson investigations: A critical metallurgical evaluation

Observation of collapsed coiled (steel) furniture springs has been utilized for several decades or more by arson investigators as an indicator of whether an accelerant or smoldering source (such as a cigarette) caused a fire. This paper cites the contradictory literature, synopsizes metallurgical phenomena operative when coiled steel springs are subjected to fires, and presents empirical data from U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Laboratory testing. It is concluded that observation of the collapsed state of coiled furniture/bedding springs is not a reliable indicator of whether a fire was initiated by a smoldering cigarette or accelerated by the presence of a hydrocarbon.     

Activity analysis in wildland management

Conclusion The complexity of the production process and the importance of nonmarket or intangible inputs and outputs pose special problems in the allocation of wildlands resources. By restricting the production possibilities to a finite number of management alternatives, the land manager can use activity analysis to develop operational plans. The systematic use of constraints within the frame-work of activity analysis can bring a measure of analysis to the allocation of nonmarket resources. Ultimately, the manager must rely upon his intuition in selecting a particular plan-whether he selects one of the efficient bundles of outputs maximizing net revenues, or he assigns values to outputs and maximizes the social value of his activities. In either case, by formalizing the planning process, the manager can assess policy alternatives systematically and can widen his grasp of the potential of his resources.     

Bestandsaufnahme Grundwasser nach der EU-Wasserrahmenrichtlinie im Koordinierungsraum Mulde-Elbe-Schwarze Elster

Kurzfassung Die Wasserrahmenrichtlinie regelt den Schutz von Grund- und Oberflächengewässern und fordert eine nachhaltige Wassernutzung. Sie legt einen Zeitplan fest, um bis zum Jahr 2015 für alle Gewässer einen guten Zustand zu erreichen. Der erste Schritt ist eine Bestandsaufnahme der Gewässer. Für das Grundwasser besteht diese aus einer erstmaligen Beschreibung, einer weitergehenden Beschreibung und der Prüfung der Auswirkungen menschlicher Tätigkeit auf das Grundwasser. Die Wasserrahmenrichtlinie wird unabhängig von administrativen Grenzen innerhalb von hydrologischen Einzugsgebieten umgesetzt. Im deutschen Teil des Flusseinzugsgebietes der Elbe wurden 5 Koordinierungsräume gegründet. Der Koordinierungsraum Mulde-Elbe-Schwarze Elster (MES) wird vorgestellt. Beispielhaft für die angewandten Methoden wird die Beurteilung diffuser Stoffeinträge in das Grundwasser bei der erstmaligen Beschreibung erläutert. Die Ergebnisse der Bestandsaufnahme Grundwasser im Koordinierungsraum MES werden präsentiert. Von 54 Grundwasserkörpern ist für 25 Körper aufgrund der Belastungen durch Punktquellen und diffuse Quellen, wegen des mengenmäßigen Zustands oder sonstiger anthropogener Einwirkungen die Zielerreichung nach der Wasserrahmenrichtlinie unklar/unwahrscheinlich.

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Status review groundwater for the Water Framework Directive in the coordination zone Mulde-Elbe-Schwarze Elster

Abstract The Water Framework Directive (WFD) governs the protection of groundwater and surface water and promotes sustainable water use. It sets up a timetable to ensure that a good status of all waters will be achieved by 2015. The first step is a status review of the waters. For groundwater, this procedure is divided into an initial characterisation, a further characterisation and a review of the impacts of human activity on groundwater. The WFD is to be implemented independently of administrative boundaries within hydrological river basins. In the German part of the Elbe river basin district five coordination zones have been established. The Mulde-Elbe-Schwarze Elster (MES) coordination zone is introduced. As an example for the applied methods, the assessment of the pressures of groundwater by diffuse sources (initial characterisation) will be explained. Then the outcome of the status review groundwater in the coordination zone MES will be presented: From the 54 individual bodies of groundwater 25 bodies will probably not achieve the environmental objectives of the WFD because of the pressures point sources, diffuse sources, quantitative status or other anthropogenic impacts.

     

Dynamic forecasting of travel demand,residential location and land development

TheChicago Area Transportation/Land-Use Analysis System (CATLAS) is a large scale urban simulation model which synthesizes location rent analysis from urban economics with travel demand analysis from transportation planning. This paper describes the theoretical formulation, empirical estimation and policy application of CATLAS to the evaluation of CBD-oriented rapid transit projects in Chicago.