The Volta River Project: planning,housing and resettlement in Ghana, 1950–1965

This paper investigates the housing schemes proposed in connection with the Volta River Project, Ghana, in the mid-1950s to early 1960s. The Volta River Project formed part of Kwame Nkrumah’s vision for Ghana’s modernisation and industrialisation in the wake of political independence. Three associated worker housing schemes demonstrated somewhat contradictory design and construction methods, from high specification, extensive amenities, and comprehensive servicing, through to self-build ‘core’ houses amounting to little more than single-room dwellings. The paper traces the complex and controversial history of these schemes, supplemented with findings of several field trips to the settlements in question, to unravel the value of the ‘Core Houses’ approach. The most successful project to incorporate indigenous agency and true collaboration was the semi-formal ‘Combined Area’ housing at Akosombo, a positive model for shared agency and collaboration in planning, housing, and facilities delivery. Sitting alongside the carefully manicured plan of Akosombo, with its regulated market, excellent health care and desire to set high standards of cleanliness, the Combined Area has not only provided homes for the lower-paid and labouring workers of the town, but has developed over time into a settlement where professionals and retired government workers are also now residing, not out of necessity but by choice. By actively developing their own homes, shared spaces and amenities there has developed a strong sense of ownership, community, and identity. The success and level of attachment to this settlement clearly extends beyond its material presence and through the shared experience of helping to cultivate a place of one’s own.     

苏北地区农村自建房屋检测鉴定实例分析

近几年,农村自建房屋的安全问题越发显现,其中涉及到对农村自建房屋现状的充分调查与合理检测,并为后期加固或拆除提供依据。通过一批苏北地区农村自建房屋检测鉴定实例,从房屋结构体系分类,房屋检测内容制定,检测项目实施到房屋整体承载能力计算,最终完成房屋检测鉴定工作,对检测鉴定中的普遍难点问题进行了细致、全面分析,探讨了农村自建房屋的检测鉴定方向,对农村自建房屋检测鉴定工作有着一定的借鉴作用。     

Self-build communities: the rationale and experiences of group-build (Baugruppen) housing development in Germany

Group-build housing developments can bring together the cost and customisation benefits regularly attributed to self-build housing with a communitarian ethos associated with ‘intentional’ communities. This paper presents an initial examination of the rationale, motivations and social experiences of group-build housing from Germany, where over half of all new homes are produced independently from volume-build developers. The paper aims, firstly, to test the hypothesis that group-build delivers general ‘community’ benefits; secondly, to contribute to an understanding of the processes leading to successful schemes; and lastly, to demonstrate that by making individual home building dependent on the success of a larger group, collective interests can prevail over personal pursuit. This research draws attention to the motivations, the social experiences through the development process and the social legacy – aspects of particular interest for policy-makers as well as prospective builders – of group-build housing projects.     

Self-esteem and Social Motivation in Age-segregated Settings

This paper is concerned with daily life and social negotiation within sheltered housing. The focus of research was to explore tenants' social interactions as older people and as members of a small community, in order to understand better how such settings affect quality of life and environmental meaning in later life. Research took place in three similar sized London schemes, all within the social rented sector. One scheme is managed by a local authority housing department, the other two by different housing associations. Analysis reveals that sheltered housing has significant social consequences in respect of tenants' experiences of this setting as a communal, age-segregated environment. In particular, exploration of the subject of self-esteem in respect to these aspects of the environment highlights both positive and negative features of social life in sheltered housing. Conclusions are reached that in evaluating this form of housing, and any such provision set up exclusively for older people, researchers and providers must pay greater attention to the subject of social interaction, and its benefits and challenges to older people.     

Privatizing public housing redevelopment: Grassroots resistance,co-operation and devastation in three Dublin neighbourhoods

This article examines variations in residents' responses to proposals to redevelop three public housing neighbourhoods in Dublin using Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) and the outcomes their resistance achieved. It investigates the important role that structures of participation and representation and local social cohesion play in developing effective resident resistance to displacement and gentrification through regeneration. In two of these neighbourhoods community representative structures were strong and although one community co-operated with the PPP plans and the other opposed them, both were broadly successful in achieving their campaign objectives. Community structures in the third neighbourhood were weak however and the imposition of PPP redevelopment devastated this community which is now almost entirely vacant. This article provides some important insights for the literature on grassroots resistance to urban redevelopment, welfare state restructuring and public housing redevelopment. It reveals that, despite their lack of power, residents' resistance can significantly influence public housing redevelopment strategies particularly where community representative structures are strong. However for vulnerable communities, where representative structures are weak, the over emphasis on poverty de-concentration and refurbishing the built environment in public housing redevelopment policy can have devastating consequences. Thus, it concludes that the rationale for grass roots resistance to redevelopment is centred upon a strong place attachment, but also opposition to the privatization of public housing and the desire for poverty to be addressed in an holistic manner.     

Self-help Housing in the Weimar Republic: The Work of Ernst May

This paper examines the work of the architect Ernst May with regard to self-build housing initiatives during the Weimar Republic (1918-33).Among the many attempts to assuage the housing shortage in early 20th-century Germany, self-build housing initiatives were the last resort, emerging only in times of dire economic crisis. During the hyper-inflation years from 1919 through to 1924 and then with the onset of the world depression in 1930, the state encouraged housing authorities to develop self-build strategies, along with experimentsin 'recovered' vernacular building materials and techniques. This paper examines the work of the architect Ernst May with regard to these initiatives. May's career is unique in its productivity,in the inventiveness of his strategies and the relentlessness with which he pursued economising measures. At the same time, it is typical in the types of self-build experiments he developed to deal with the crisis. Further, the paper traces through May's career the formative impact of the political and social context that shaped and delimited the building programme, its meaning and ultimate utility to society self-build programmes in the Weimar years.     

Post-Socialist Housing Systems in Europe: Housing Welfare Regimes by Default?

This article develops a conceptual framework derived from welfare regime and concomitant literatures to interpret housing reform in post-socialist European countries. In it, settled power structures and collective ideologies are necessary prerequisites for the creation of distinctive housing welfare regimes with clear roles for the state, market and households. Although the defining feature of post-socialist housing has been mass-privatisation to create super-homeownership societies, the emphatic retreat of the state that this represents has not been replaced by the creation of the institutions or cultures required to create fully financialised housing markets. There is, instead, a form of state legacy welfare in the form of debt-free home-ownership, which creates a gap in housing welfare that has been partially filled by households in the form of intergenerational assistance (familialism) and self-build housing. Both of these mark continuities with the previous regime. The latter is especially common in south-east Europe where its frequent illegality represents a form of anti-state housing. The lack of settled ideologies and power structures suggests that these housing welfare regimes by default will persist as part of a process that resembles a path-dependent ‘transformation’ rather than ‘transition’.     

十宅,曼谷,泰国

<正>十宅是一个重新定义住宅开发的项目。通常的住宅项目不会留给中产阶级购房者很多设计和建造的选择。他们为了买一栋理想住宅积攒一生工作的积蓄,最终却住进缺乏个性的商业大楼,这实在让人遗憾。为了解决这个问题,一群泰国建筑师在1996年成立了名为"致力于住所与环境建设的建筑师社团"(英文简称CASE)的组织,他们享有共同的梦想,想要为不寻常的住宅项目找到解决方案。CASE探索设计的过程与住户个人创造力的表达之间的基本关系,并增加服务于住户特殊需求的功能。当然,每个家庭都是独一无二的。住宅项目不只由一个     

Planning and Design of Food System in Bajiao Community of Shijingshan District of Beijing under the Background of Healthy Community

Community is basic unit of healthy urban development.As main space of people’s daily life,community carries various functional needs of food,clothing,housing and transportation.Under concept of healthy community development,planning and design of community food system are studied in this paper.A good community food chain plays a positive role in improving people’s happiness and quality of life.In this paper,ArcGIS platform is used to build "food map" network system.Taking Bajiao Community in Shijingshan District of Beijing as an example,influence weight,spatial distribution and accessibility of food source are studied,and optimization strategies and development suggestions for food system planning and design are finally put forward.     

Nostalgia, Community and New Housing Developments: A Critique of New Urbanism Incorporating a New Zealand Perspective

We set out the arguments for and against the concepts and practices of new urbanism and neo-traditionalism that have emerged in the USA and discuss them in the context of Christchurch, New Zealand. Our interpretation of the similarities between new residential neighbourhoods in Christchurch and the aesthetic and community values inherent in new urbanism leads us to the conclusion that in New Zealand, at least, new urbanism is primarily a form of rhetoric designed to sell houses profitably rather than a community development project based on new forms of housing. In support of this perspective we use data from our research in Christchurch to demonstrate how contemporary social life sits awkwardly with the concepts of community and traditionalism associated with new urbanism. We focus on the ways in which the creation of community in new urbanism rests on socio-economic homogeneity rather than diversity; homogeneity created by the people who design, build, regulate and sell housing and reinforced by the cost and appearance of the houses in new neighbourhoods.     

Housing for Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians suffer from less adequate and affordable housing than any other group despite the efforts of national and state governments, especially in the past 30 years, to improve them. Among the reasons for their continued poor housing are their poverty, the different values placed on housing by the more collectively oriented Indigenous people and their lack of control over the housing that has been provided for them. The Community Housing Program, under which government funded housing is provided and managed by local Indigenous housing organisations, has had some success in resolving these problems. A promising solution to the problems of the housing organisations may be found in umbrella organisations that are beginning to develop which can ensure both rent collection and accountability to funding governments and community control over housing design and management.     

Nostalgia,Community and New Housing Developments: A Critique of New Urbanism Incorporating a New Zealand Perspective

We set out the arguments for and against the concepts and practices of new urbanism and neo-traditionalism that have emerged in the USA and discuss them in the context of Christchurch, New Zealand. Our interpretation of the similarities between new residential neighbourhoods in Christchurch and the aesthetic and community values inherent in new urbanism leads us to the conclusion that in New Zealand, at least, new urbanism is primarily a form of rhetoric designed to sell houses profitably rather than a community development project based on new forms of housing. In support of this perspective we use data from our research in Christchurch to demonstrate how contemporary social life sits awkwardly with the concepts of community and traditionalism associated with new urbanism. We focus on the ways in which the creation of community in new urbanism rests on socio-economic homogeneity rather than diversity; homogeneity created by the people who design, build, regulate and sell housing and reinforced by the cost and appearance of the houses in new neighbourhoods.     

Adelaide Court

A modest housing block for a run-down estate in Essex presented London-based Sergison Bates Architects with the opportunity to explore the cohesive effects of an assisted self-build scheme for a group of young tenants. Bruce Stewart describes the practice's strategic thinking behind the project and how the design intentions were, to some extent, frustrated by external forces. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

帮助人民创造自我环境

英国社区建筑运动在居民参与住宅和环境建设方面进行了大量的探索《社区建筑──人民如何创造自我环境》一书对此作了详尽而系统的介绍。本文简要介绍了英国社区建筑运动的起源和发展，通过实例总结了其成功经验和存在的不足，并阐述了其对我国住宅建设的积极影响。     

Meeting first-time buyers’ housing needs and preferences in greater Kuala Lumpur

High housing prices in Greater Kuala Lumpur have made it difficult for potential first-time homebuyers to own a house. As a result, affordable housing schemes were introduced recently to assist potential homeowners. The Malaysian government has launched many kinds of public low-cost housing schemes; however, many housing projects resulting from these schemes have turned into slums that do not provide a wholesome environment for families. To avoid building more slums and to provide more benefits for young buyers, the goal of this paper is to determine the correct housing attributes required for first-time homebuyers in the urban area. Three hundred questionnaires were distributed to young Malaysians in Greater Kuala Lumpur (KL), and 265 questionnaires were returned. The responses to the questionnaire revealed that accessibility and neighborhood environment play a role in the decision to own. It can also be observed that ecologically friendly homes that embrace sustainability are important considerations for prospective homebuyers.     

Tackling poverty through housing investment: An evaluation of a community self‐build project in Glasgow

Community self‐build housing has been proposed as a means of tackling urban poverty in Britain. Advocates believe it can improve access to employment and housing for poor people simultaneously. In this paper, a detailed evaluation is made of a community‐based project in Drumchapel, Glasgow. The project was most successful in physical and organisational terms: a major refurbishment scheme was organised by a partnership of diverse bodies and completed on a tight timescale using unskilled, inexperienced labour. The cost was not much greater than it would have been using a commercial contractor and a trained workforce. Most participants gained a sense of achievement and interpersonal skills from working as a group on a practical project. Yet, not many moved into the flats afterwards and stayed, and few secured jobs straightaway. Overall, the project was a valuable learning experience and there may be scope for wider application of many of the basic ideas. There are also specific lessons for the Drumchapel approach including the need for clear, realistic objectives; careful balance between meeting people's needs for housing, training and broader development; thoughtful selection of the participants and property, and effective community involvement.     

Affordable housing in border cities: The work of Esperanza de Mexico in Tijuana

This paper explores the socio-economic conditions that produce the lack of affordable housing in cities along the U.S.-Mexico border and describes various efforts to tackle this issue. Specifically, the paper evaluates publicly funded initiatives such as Casas Urbi and Homex, privately funded projects, as well as community based initiatives such as the work of the non-profit organization Fundación Esperanza de Mexico in the city of Tijuana. The paper interrogates the use of self-build construction systems, volunteer support, community empowerment, ecological programs, and affordable financing as a framework for future affordable housing developments in the area.     

老龄化背景下的底层住宅适应性设计

目前随着我国老龄化进程加快,老年人的居住问题日趋突出.两代人分居毗邻居住已经成为老年人向往的主要居住模式.针对这些情况,根据老年人的生理和心理需求,本文提出住宅小区底层住宅老人化的规划模式.将多层、高层建筑的底层住宅专供老年群体,与楼上的子女毗邻居住.对底层住宅进行分割设计,使之适合老年人的居住需求,既解决老龄化背景下的老年人居住问题,又减轻了底层住宅的销售压力.     

Community Housing in Tasmania: Who Applies for It?

Community housing is increasingly seen as an alternative to public housing by government. However, little is known about the demand for community housing, the relationship with public housing waiting lists and the flow of people between different housing tenures, such as public housing and private rental. In this article we analyse the demand for community housing in Tasmania. We examine who applies for community housing, why they apply and how their needs may differ from or overlap with demand for public housing. This research is based on 499 applications for community housing in southern Tasmania. Applications were made to a medium sized, non-government housing association—Red Shield Housing Association (RSHA)—between December 1998 and December 2001. Our research suggests that the majority of people applying for community housing were already on public housing waiting lists. Those seeking community housing differ little from applicants for public housing. However, women and sole parents were more likely to apply for both community and public housing while men and single applicants were more likely to apply only for community housing. This could be connected to who is likely or not to get into public housing and perhaps men and singles see less chance of getting into public housing. The implication is that low income earners are primarily concerned with access to affordable housing, which is in short supply, and the majority of applicants will apply for both public and community housing if given the opportunity. We note that the transfer of public housing stock to the community sector does not increase the supply of affordable housing stock or provide a greater choice of affordable properties to low income and disadvantaged households, although it could provide greater choice for some groups who do not perceive public housing to be an option.     

From Squatter Settlement to Suburb: The Transformation of Bathore,Albania

This paper recounts the successful upgrading of Bathore, an informal settlement on government land, located in the outskirts of Tirana, the capital of Albania. Bathore was formed in the early 1990s by poor squatters, mostly from rural northern Albania, a region that became impoverished and lost most services after the fall of communism in 1990. The area that the squatters occupied lacked all infrastructure. However, the squatters built houses that were permanent structures of good quality, often multi-storey. These houses were mostly financed through the remittances of immigrants abroad. In mid-2000s, the Albanian government started taking steps to legalize squatter housing, and, subsequently, to equip the area with infrastructure. Now, Bathore is starting to resemble a middle-class-style suburb, if only in terms of physical appearance. This paper explores the roles of the central and local governments, the international financial institutions, a local NGO, and the local community in this achievement.