Reframing social mix in affordable housing initiatives in Italy and in the Netherlands. Closing the gap between discourses and practices?

European countries are facing rising demand for affordable housing by a widespread and differentiated audience. Both in Italy and in the Netherlands policy-makers and practitioners address this emerging need by implementing new social housing projects targeting diverse social groups – such as students, young households, welfare dependents, and refugees – which results in a fine-grained social mix. This paper discusses the development of these initiatives within wider trends in housing policies and in relation to the domestic debate on social mix in the two countries. Drawing on Magic Mix and Housing Sociale projects as case studies, respectively in the Netherlands and in Italy, we aim to explore and unfold the contemporary meanings and the practices attached to the idea of social mix. In so doing, this paper paves the way for a new conceptualization of social mix in the current post-crisis and hyper-diversified European scenario. We discuss traces of continuity and discontinuity between these forms of social mix and the mainstream idea of tenure mix, which has been a cornerstone of area-based urban renewal policy in many European countries. This paper contributes to the existing literature by offering insights into new practices of social mix in housing sphere.     

Causes and Consequences? Exploring the Shape and Direction of the Housing System in the UK Post the Financial Crisis

The impacts of the global financial crisis continue to reverberate around the world. This paper explores its impacts in the UK in general and England in particular in relation to the housing market and housing policy. It examines the underlying trends which were already in place before the financial crisis and the impact of the crisis and the government's policy responses on the housing and mortgage markets. The paper argues that the crisis mainly exacerbated already long established tensions while the current policy solutions have ameliorated, but not fully, resolved these pressures.     

Relations Between the Industrial Output and the Size of Cities in China

Currently, there are controversies onthe development policy for large, mediumand small sized cities. To appraise the ad-vantages and disadvantages of cities of vari-ous sizes from different angles, conclusionscan vary tremendously. Starting from devel-opment productivity, cities in China shouldaim at achieving good output returns. This article tries to discuss the outputreturns of cities of different size from two     

Renovation and Dispersion of the Old City in Shanghai

The principle of urban renovation should be based on general planning,and the aim of it isto guide the implementation of general planning to achieve its goals.Since a city is a massive or-ganic compound system,renovation of its various ports inevitably influence,constrain,or pro-mote the general planning and lead to different results.Planners should make great efforts in guiding the renovation to a right way(a sound-circle instead of the foolish shift of the problemswhile dealing with the city's problems).Planning should not only study on the construction but al-so on the feasibility,and the relevant regulations and management measures leading to success ofimplementation.Only in this way can the planning be effective and become the guide for renova-tion of the city's old areas.Dealing with renovation of old urban buildings,this article makes aprobe into the possibility of solving housing problems by the means of private funding withsubsidization from the Government.Having achieved some experience on this,the author wouldlike to share and discuss with readers through this article.     

Strengths and Weaknesses of the Planning Profession in China

China, as a developing nation, has therare success of maintaining the balance be-tween its rural and urban population toabout 80% and 20%, although the urbanpopulation has actually increased 130%since 1949, which is greater than the increaseof the national population (Zou, 1986).With its modernization effort and theliberalization of the economy, there aregreat demands for additional and improvedproduction space and efficient productionconditions, as well as demands for a betterliving environment which includes housing     

Review and Exploration of the Development of Planning for the Conservation of the Famous Historical and Cultural Cities in China

To comprehend the development of the famous histori-cal and cultural cities in China and their conservation plan-ning, it is necessary to understand, first of all, the back-ground of their history and present condition. This back-ground has taken shape in the historic development of thecities and is influenced by many complicated factors of thepresent time. To discuss these factors in simple way, theycan be summarized as follows:The impact of the historical and cultural ideas;The impact of the physical and environmental condi-tion;The impact of the present socialand economicsituation.The impact of the historical and cultural ideasChina is a country with ancient civilization. TheChinese cultural has been shaped through development, in-heritance and harmony in a history of 5000 years on the ba-sis of the ancient Huaxia Culture with the Yellow River andthe Yangtse River as the main arteries.The rising of ancient cities in China can be traced backto over 3500 years ago. China is a multinational country. Int     

Landscape and the philosophy of aesthetics: is landscape quality inherent in the landscape or in the eye of the beholder?

The paper proposes that landscape quality assessment may be approached on the basis of two contrasting paradigms, one which regards quality as inherent in the physical landscape, and the other which regards quality as a product of the mind – eye of the beholder. These are termed, respectively, the objectivist and subjectivist paradigms. These paradigms underlie the surveys of the physical landscape and studies of observer preferences.Examination of these paradigms through the approaches taken by philosophers from Plato to modern times demonstrates the ubiquity of the paradigms in underlying human perception of landscape. Until recent centuries, the objectivist paradigm provided philosophers with the basis for understanding beauty, including landscape beauty. However, the philosophers Locke, Hume, Burke and particularly Immanuel Kant identified beauty as lying in the eyes of the beholder rather than in the object. The parallels between Kant's aesthetic philosophy and contemporary theories of landscape quality based on an evolutionary perspective are examined. Most philosophers over recent centuries have adopted the subjectivist view of aesthetics.The paper concludes by proposing that only the subjectivist model should be used in research of landscape quality.     

Seeking the Humanities in the Nature——The Planning and Design of Fuxi Park in Yangcheng

On the premise of meeting the basic demand for the diversity of activities,the planning of Fuxi park emphasizes that humanities are integrated with the nature and design are derived from living.With some skillful techniques,the design also integrates forest,water and other natural elements in the base,which focuses efforts on creating a new urban landscape of harmonious symbiosis between the nature and human.     

An Analysis of the Relationship Between the Education Attainment and Economic Status of the Elderly Population in the Towns and Cities of China

Viewed from a macro scope,the cultureof a community is closely related to its econ-omy.Economy being the basis,the level ofeconomic growth determines the level ofcultural development.Conversely,culturecan act as the precursor and cultural devel-opment enhances economic growth.Likewise,the education attainment of an in-dividual reflects the same sort of     

Research and Discussion Held on the Relationship between Reconstruction of Dangerous and Dilapidated Buildings in Beijing and Preservation of the Style of the Ancient Capital

Form Sept.10 to Sept.12,1990,the of-fice of Beijing planning committee invitedover 50 people to hold discussion on the     

Traffic Problems in Our Cities and the Solutions to Them

Ⅰ.The main traffic problems inour cities at present1.The road construction is progressingslowly,the number of motor vehicles shootingup,the passenger transportation growing toofast and the average speed of vehicles decreasingSince the founding of New China,thelength of roads newly constructed has onlyincreased by 1.8 times,while the number ofmotor vehicles rose by 33 times.Thus,withso many vehicles and insufficient roads,     

Greyness and colour desires: the chromatic politics of the panelák in late-socialist and post-socialist Czechoslovakia

The article investigates the function of colour and greyness in relation to housing estates and panel buildings [paneláks] in Czechoslovakia. While the significance of chromatic symbolism to architectural discourse and practice has persisted between the 1970s and today, three different moments of relating colour to the panelák are identified. In late socialism, the discourse of grey registered the critique of the panelák voiced by architects and the nomenklatura. Simultaneously, future socialist alternatives were imagined in colour. Late-socialist desire for colour is interpreted in the context of a wider struggle to reform architectural industrialisation, revive the ideological function of architecture and rehabilitate the living environment of housing estates. In the 1990s the desire for colour surged, but it was geared to leaving socialism behind. The trope of greyness converged with a blanket dismissal of socialism. The article documents that in post-socialism architects gave up on the question, and the reality of housing estates and the process of applying colour to panelák façades moved into the hands of home owners. Their vernacular use of colour had a double rationale: to differentiate one panelák from another and to dissimulate its form and tectonics. In the wake of the recent housing crisis architects took issue with these vernacular patterns. They denounced them as garish chaos and assumed the role of experts who would put this chaos in order. This is interpreted as the beginning of a new moment, in which the panelák is rediscovered as an object of cultural heritage while its social and political determinations are disregarded.     

The Investigation and Analysis of the Situation of the Outflowing Peasants in 24 Villages

Since 1980,sociologists and otherscentists have carried out a large amount ofresearch work on the issue of peasants whohave left their land.Most of them believethat the only way for China to realizemodernization is to allow its peasants to