Contribution and challenges of the private sector’s participation in housing in Nigeria: case study of Akure,Ondo state

Housing inadequacy in Nigeria’s rapidly growing urban centres is manifested in qualitative and quantitative terms. Government’s efforts at mass delivery of houses have failed to achieve the desired result, hence the collaboration between the public and private sector to bridge the wide housing gap. A study into the public–private partnered initiatives at mass delivery of housing in Akure, Nigeria was undertaken. Seven housing schemes of this sort were identified and studied, taking their contributions to bridging the housing gap in the city into account. The achievement is meagre though progressive strides are discernable. The macroeconomic environment, continued dominance of the public sector, bureaucratic bottlenecks, and socio-cultural issues presented serious challenges to active private-sector participation. Affordability is elusive; execution of the projects had some problems while political manoeuvrings impacted on the projects negatively. It is affirmed that participation of the private sector has potential for improving housing delivery; however, the present operation needs to be fine-tuned for future success.     

A tale of two cities – rental housing in Budapest and Sofia in the 1990s

The paper describes the findings of a study conductedduring 1997–1998 on changes to the structure of rentalhousing provision in two post-communist cities,Budapest and Sofia. After nearly a decade of `transition' to market economies, the public rentalsectors have shrunk dramatically and becomeresidualised. Despite the rapid privatisation andassociated growth of owner-occupation there is littlesign that the privately rented sector (PRS) isregaining any of its pre-communist stature as theprincipal form of housing provision. There is almostno company landlordism and 80 percent of thelandlords in both cities let out only one property.They are mainly `incidental' landlords who haveinherited or previously owned the property. Few havebought it as an investment. There are few signs ofinstitutional support for the PRS in either city.Despite this common context, the reasons for thedevelopment of the PRS in the two cities aresignificantly different. In both cities the PRSaccounts for about 4 percent of households. But inSofia nearly half the landlords let out their ownhouse for income, depressing their housing consumptionagainst a back-cloth of poverty and desperate need forincome. `Landlords' move in with relatives or to`second homes'. Thus a large number of landlords arealso tenants in another property. In Budapest, unlikeSofia, new entrants to this market have fallen sharplyin the last 18 months. High taxation, falling realhouse prices and over-supply of property, followingthe rapid privatisation of the state rental housingstock, are the underlying problems inhibiting thegrowth of this sector. There is no sign of a return tothe tenure that was the foundation of their urbandevelopment, although explanations for this differbetween the two societies. The `transition to themarket', at least in housing, continues to be parlousand immature.     

Choice within limits: how the institutional context of forced relocation affects tenants’ housing searches and choice strategies

Whether renewal-induced relocations have a positive or a negative impact on displaced tenants is hotly debated on both sides of the Atlantic. In response, scientists have examined the outcomes of forced relocations and shown that they can be both negative and positive. However, the choice processes and strategies underlying these mixed outcomes have received much less attention in academia. We therefore examined how the institutional context of forced relocation affects displaced tenants’ choice processes and strategies. The results of a qualitative analysis of interviews with 144 displaced tenants from five Dutch cities show that they can be considered active agents because they adopt different choice strategies. Nevertheless, the choice strategies and experienced freedom of choice differed between tenants who were confronted with different relocation regulations. The limits imposed by and the opportunities of institutional contexts steer the choice processes and strategies of displaced tenants, but are by no means deterministic.     

Democracy and non-profit housing. The tensions of residents’ involvement in the Danish non-profit sector

Resident democracy as a special form of participatory democratic set-up is fundamental in the understanding, and self-understanding, of the non-profit housing sector in Denmark. Through a case study, the paper explores how resident democracy is perceived and narrated between residents and employees at a housing association. The study indicates that the meta-story of democracy is disconnected from practice and the lived lives of residents. Three analytical tensions structure the analysis, which relate to the conditions for realizing the democratic ideal embedded in the structure of the sector. The tensions are related to representative versus participatory democracy; collectivity versus individuality; and service versus welfare. The tensions elucidate how resident democracy is squeezed between different logics, which result in an ambiguous setting for practising democracy. Based on the results, the article discusses conditions for prospective democracy in the Danish non-profit housing sector.     

Labour market change and housing market segmentation in south Australia's non‐metropolitan private rental market

Abstract

This paper reports on research into the relationship between labour market change and the private rental market in non‐metropolitan South Australia for the period 1990 to 2000. It finds that there is considerable ‘stickiness’ within the market and that there has been a limited supply response to changing levels of demand. This has contributed to housing and labour shortages in some regions and over‐supply in others. Each circumstance has generated considerable dilemmas for public policy.     

Urban questions in the countryside? Urbanization and the collective consumption of electricity in early twentieth-century Belgium

This paper studies the early phases of the process of electrification in Belgium in order to shed light on the emergence of a distributed model of urbanization. The paper argues that the policies developed to extent the supply of electricity to each and every corner of the national territory is part and parcel of a distributed urbanism which reproduced itself in different forms throughout the twentieth century. Detailed analysis of the policies developed by three Belgian provinces to support the electrification in the interbellum period brings into view the ambiguity of the Belgian policy of dispersion. On the one hand, this analysis shows an eagerness to advance industrial production over the entire territory by making use of existing, rural collective resources. On the other hand, the policies of dispersion, despite their anti-urban motivations, in time produced (a need for) collective structures that facilitate processes of accumulation and differentiation that over time may be characterized as urban.     

Reform and regulation of the Portuguese rail sector. What has failed?

In 1998, and in the context of the European Directives, a reform of the Portuguese rail sector was implemented, through the vertical separation of the two basic rail activities, and an access charging system with economic regulation was introduced. This study sought to understand the Portuguese reform and its outcomes, particularly, at the level of the infrastructure manager's productivity, where losses were detected. Although access charges are being defined under a price-cap regulation regime since 2005, no progress was found in the cost recovery by the infrastructure manager. The paper concludes with suggestions to improve the current regulatory model.     

Input–output analysis of the Chinese construction sector

The construction sector has played a key role in the Chinese economy, which has been experiencing a rapid growth for the past two decades. This development and growth are reviewed in a framework of input–output analysis. The national input–output table (IO table) was used to study the current input–output profile of the Chinese construction sector and the relationship between the construction sector and other sectors. The pull and push effect of the Chinese construction industry to the whole national economy has been estimated. It shows that the pull effect is much larger than the push effect. Furthermore, through the analysis of a series of four IO tables spanning over the last 10 years, it reveals that the pull and push effect of the Chinese construction industry are both getting larger and larger. This means the Chinese construction industry is becoming mature and is in great transition.     

Effectiveness of nondestructive testing for the evaluation of alkali–silica reaction in concrete

This paper deals with the application of various test methods for monitoring the progression of alkali–silica reaction (ASR) in laboratory concrete mixtures. The effectiveness of each method is reported. Concrete specimens were stored at 38 °C in high humidity environment according to the Canadian CSA A23.2-14A standard. Mechanical properties were assessed with conventional destructive test and with nondestructive tests (ultrasonic pulse velocity, dynamic modulus of elasticity and nonlinear acoustics). Petrographic examination was performed to confirm damage associated with ASR.Compressive strength and ultrasonic pulse velocity were slightly affected by ASR expansion. Both static and dynamic moduli of elasticity were significantly affected by ASR expansion. Nonlinear acoustics yielded the best correlation with expansion.The ultimate goal of such study would contribute to develop a universal procedure for the evaluation of the state of ASR in a structure. This paper does not answer this issue but is a first step toward that goal.     

Intervening in the cycle of poverty,poor housing and poor health: the role of housing providers in enhancing tenants’ mental wellbeing

Journal of Housing and the Built Environment - Poverty, poor housing and poor health are complexly interconnected in a cycle that has proven resistant to intervention by housing providers or policy...     

Engineering the Rural Idyll: Road Construction and the Peri-urban Landscape in Belgium, 1925–1940

As in many other Western countries, the road network in Belgium was subject to an extensive modernisation project during the interbellum period. This paper analyses how this project affected the relationship between the road and landscape. In the absence of a comprehensive landscape project for road construction from the government, other parties played an important role in defining the road's relation to the landscape. Through their publications, images and discourses, an idealised image of landscape—a rural idyll—became interwoven with the narrative of the modern road. We will first position this Belgian project vis-à-vis other road projects abroad, and describe why landscape was a non-issue for the Belgian government and its engineers. Subsequently, we will examine how other parties—the road association, the construction industry, urban planners and architects—appropriated fragments of landscape to frame or support their own projects.     

Beyond the public–private controversy in urban water management in Spain

This paper critically analyzes the Spanish privatization model of urban water management implemented over the last three decades. The high concentration of private participation in the industry, the absence of competition, and regulatory deficiencies appear to have put the interests of water customers at risk. Improvement of governance is not guaranteed simply by changing water-system management from public to private. In Spain, an array of institutional reforms are needed to rationalize a change in management structure for this service, reorganize technical operations, improve the administrative framework, increase transparency, and promote citizen participation. This paper moves beyond the simple public–private controversy and contributes to the literature by using fieldwork conducted by the authors to assess private participation in the management of urban water services in Spain; by identifying gaps in the privatization processes as well as failures in the industry; and, above all, by proposing reforms to Spain's institutional and regulatory frameworks for the industry.     

Thermoeconomic analysis of energy utilization in the residential–commercial sector: An application

Thermoeconomic analysis is a very useful tool for investigators in engineering and other disciplines since its methodology includes the quantities such as mass, energy, exergy and cost. This study deals with this analysis of energy utilization in the residential–commercial sector (RCS). In this regard, the relations between capital costs and thermodynamic losses for subsectors in the RCS are investigated. In the analysis, Turkey is taken as an application country based on its actual and projected values for the years 1991, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2000 and 2001, and for the year 2020, respectively. It is observed from the results obtained that the maximum exergy destructions in the system particularly occur due to the utilization of the large-cost and high-quality energy sources like petroleum, natural gas carriers in the low-energy needs. In conjunction with this, the values for the total exergy losses are found to vary from 486.43 to 2797.28 PJ, while those for the improvement potential are obtained to range from 58.80 to 1870 PJ in the Turkish RCS for the analyzed years. The ratio of thermodynamic loss rate-to-capital cost values is also calculated to be in the range of 0.76–1.01. It is expected that the results presented here would be beneficial to the researchers, government administration and engineers working in the area of modeling the subsectors of countries using thermoeconomic analysis method.     

Renewal of housing from the 1940s and 1950s from the tenants’ point of view

Taking the ideal of free play in a creative environment as a point of departure, the author examines how this ideal is met in Swedish homes and neighbourhoods. Children's indoor and outdoor activities are described as well as general environmental qualities in different types of housing developments. Housing requirements, neighbourhood improvement programmes and planning practice are outlined. Differences in housing conditions and play patterns according to class are pointed out. The conclusion is that rather than growing up in creative environments, children live on adult premises, meaning environments that are formed and designed according to adult concepts of use, form and content of space. Finally, some ways out of this dilemma are pointed at.     

Institutional logics and organisational hybridity: English housing associations’ diversification into the private rented sector

State withdrawal combined with challenges in raising private finance has led not-for-profit housing organisations in a range of countries to diversify into commercial activities as means to generate additional income streams and cross subsidise their core social operations. Within England, an increasing number of housing associations (HAs) has looked for new forms of investment, notably from private rental housing, to generate additional cash flows and fill gaps in the housing market. Drawing on the concepts of institutional logics and organisational hybridity, the paper uses organisational archetypes to examine the different hybrid financing, governance structures and housing products that two pioneering London-based HAs have employed to undertake private rental activities alongside their social businesses. The paper argues that the trends identified are indicative of wider institutional change, with not-for-profit housing organisations facing difficult strategic choices about how to fund their core business in a world of lower public subsidy and uncertainty over future sources of private finance.     

Local labor markets in U.S.–Mexican border cities and the impact of maquiladora production

Shift-share decompositions of employment positions created over 1990–2002 at U.S.–Mexico border cities show that El Paso employment change has been overwhelmingly attributed to national forces, while local and national forces roughly match employment creation at Brownsville. With such fast growing U.S.–Mexico border area as background, we implement time series labor demand models to these cities (El Paso and Brownsville) and compare movements in Mexican maquiladora production against U.S. employment and wages. Cointegration methods confirm that local shocks are more important in Brownsville than in El Paso. Specifically, 10% increases in Juárez maquiladora production lead to increases of 1.21% in El Paso’s government employment and of 0.88% in overall employment. Similar increases in Matamoros lead to gains of 1.59% in Brownsville’s trade, transportation and utilities employment and of 1.41% in overall employment. These results support shift-share findings and are generally consistent with a more diversified industry-mix promoting higher employment creation.

Greening the post crisis. Collectivity in private and public community gardens in València (Spain)

Unlike other Western European countries, community gardens have appeared very recently in Spain, and they have rapidly increased during the last decade. Community gardens have adopted different forms –rental, municipal and associative– with contrasted managerial practices. This paper analyzes collectivity of community gardens in València (Spain), including private initiatives, through semi-structured interviews conducted in different gardens of the València Metropolitan Area. Results show how the financial crisis has acted as a catalyst for urban greening latent demands, causing the expansion of community gardens. Despite the different structure, practices and rules of private and public gardens, all of them share aims and actions related to urban greening, food sovereignty, organic farming and community building, and show similar benefits to those observed in other countries. Moreover, the rental gardens allow farmers to expand their services and to engage directly with consumers.     

Technology watch in the construction sector: why and how?

‘Technology watch’, like ‘innovation’, is a process term. Large corporations in high-tech industries use technology watch regularly to facilitate the adoption of innovations, where it is associated with parallel ‘watch’ activities in social, legal and environmental areas. The information (yielded by technology watch) is either unrefined or refined to give it added value for decision making. The technology watch process involves steps of collection, analysis and dissemination, implicating a watch team and domain experts. In small and medium enterprises (SMEs), particularly in the construction sector, special problems arise because of the lack of interest in innovation and because of the shortage of resources, suggesting the creation of ‘relay stations’ in the technology watch process. Current changes in the organization of the construction process, however, are changing the industry's structure, suggesting that there may be a new need for the kinds of information that technology watch can provide. e Veille technologique f comme e innovation f sont des termes de processus. Dans le secteur des industries de pointe, les grandes entreprises font régulièrement appel à la veille technologique pour faciliter l'adoption d'innovations, associant ainsi les activités de veille aux domains social, juridique et environnemental. Les informations qui découlent de la veille technologique peuvent être brutes ou affinées afin de leur donner une valeur ajoutée qui sera particulièrement utile lors de la prise de décisions. La veille technologique consiste à recueillir, analyser et diffuser des données - ce qui implique un travail d'équipe et le recours à des experts. Dans les PME, notamment dans le secteur de la construction, surgissent des problèmes particuliers du fait du manque d'intérêt pour l'innovation et de la pénurie des ressources; cete situation suggère la création de stations-relais dans le processus de veille technologique. Actuellement on observe des changements dans l'organisation des processus de construction qui modifient la structure de cette industrie ; il est possible que cette nouvelle donne suscite un nouveau besoin pour le type d'information que la veille technologique peut fournir.