What do we mean by ‘flexibility’ and ‘variability’ of systems?

International usage highlights interesting differences in interpreting the terminology commonly associated with building systems, says the author, who here suggests a more unified interpretation.     

What is ‘architectural design research’?

The September 2007 Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Research Symposium was particularly and perhaps unexpectedly well attended this year. This review speculates on the context for this renewed interest in research in architecture. The audience was swelled by many more practitioners than the organizers expected, architects interested in understanding more about ‘reflective practice’. This evocative term, credited to Donald Schon, was given new force on the day by keynote speaker Leon von Schaik's account of his Melbourne Masters Architecture initiative. Subsequent speakers reported here included Piers Gough, Sean Griffiths, Kathryn Findlay, Jane Rendell, Deborah Saunt, Alex de Rijke, and Susan Francis who tackled, from various directions, the principal question emerging on the day: ‘What is design research as applied to architecture?’ Speakers presented built and unbuilt projects as ‘design research’. In one notable case, the designer denied absolutely any research dimension to his work, anxious that an increased level of consciousness would dismantle inspiration. How might what the general academic research community considers as research, rigorously applied methodology, and unprejudiced analysis, have affected the projects shown? Is it helpful for design to be cast as research? Is there a missing third category, a funding stream for gathering innovative design work to add to those of ‘teaching and learning’ and ‘research’? Might this new stream stimulate more than self-reflection, a much-needed innovative design programme outside conventional practice, but within academic institutions collaborating closely with practice?

Le Symposium de septembre 2007 du RIBA (Institut royal des architectes britanniques) consacré à la recherche a rencontré cette année un succès particulier et quelque peu inattendu. Cet article s'interroge sur le contexte de l'intérêt renouvelé pour la recherche en architecture. Les participants comptaient dans leurs rangs beaucoup plus de praticiens que les organisateurs n'attendaient, des architectes cherchant à mieux comprendre la pratique restrictive. Ce terme évocateur, attribué à Donald Schon, a reçu le soutien du principal orateur, Leon von Schaik, évoquant son initiative Melbourne Masters Architecture initiative. Parmi les autres orateurs, on notait Piers Gough, Sean Griffiths, Kathryn Findlay, Jane Rendell, Deborah Saunt, Alex de Rijke et Susan Francis qui se sont attaqués sous des angles différents à la principale question de la journée: « Qu'est-ce que la recherche conceptuelle appliquée à l'architecture?». Les orateurs ont présenté des projets construits et non construits en matière de ‘recherche conceptuelle’. Dans un cas remarquable, le concepteur a rejeté toute dimension de recherche dans son travail, insistant sur le fait qu'un niveau de conscience plus élevé détruirait l'inspiration. Comment ce que la communauté des chercheurs académiques en général considère comme recherche, méthodologie rigoureusement appliquée, et analyse sans préjudice pourraient affecter les projets présentés? Est-il utile que de la conception soit classée dans la recherche? Existe-t-il une troisième catégorie manquante, un flux de financement pour rassembler les travaux de conception novateurs et les ajouter aux travaux d'enseignement, d'apprentissage et de recherche? Ce nouveau courant pourrait-il stimuler davantage que l'autoréflexion, un programme de conception novateur très nécessaire en dehors des pratiques classiques, mais au sein d'institutions universitaires collaborant étroitement avec les praticiens?

Mots clés: pratique architecturale, recherche conceptuelle, politique publique, pratique réfléchie, programme de recherche, stratégie de recherche     

Beyond ‘What do I get?’ Functional and procedural sources of Dutch citizens’ satisfaction with local democracy

This paper deals with a dual question: (1) How important are procedural value orientations (pertaining to the democratic quality of decision-making) and functional value orientations (pertaining to the governmental performance in solving problems and delivering services) for Dutch citizens’ ideas about what constitutes good local governance? (2) To what extent and how do these functional and procedural evaluations affect Dutch citizens’ overall satisfaction with local democracy? These questions will be answered on the basis of data collected through a survey amongst 1060 Dutch citizens.     

What did the Germans ever do for us? A century of British learning about and imagining modern town planning

This article uses contemporary sources to trace the recurrent ways in which the British planning movement has drawn on its German equivalent from the early twentieth century to the present day. As with most such European links, the resultant learning has varied. In some cases British references to German planning have been merely to inform or more generally to inspire emulation or occasionally avoidance. But often the learning has provided specific ideas, practices or techniques that have been directly adopted or more usually hybridised or synthesised into the British planning repertoire. German influences have been apparent in aspects of British planning such as land use zoning, city extension, regional planning, housing design, motorways, pedestrianisation, traffic calming and sustainable eco‐suburbs. What, however, has made the British planning movement’s long‐term and mainly admiring engagement with German planning so intriguing is that it has evolved alongside major conflicts and long term suspicion of the German nation itself. The prevailing popular and political imagination within Britain has seen Germany as an especially problematic country from which to learn, more so than, for example, the USA or Scandinavia. This makes British planning’s German connection an instructive case study of cross‐national learning and lesson‐drawing and the factors shaping these processes. It shows the limitations of more conventional conceptualisations of them as rational searches for ‘good practice’. This article shows that they also must be seen as explorations in imaginative geography, concerned with real places, ideas and practices, but viewed through particularly powerful ideological and cultural lenses.     

‘Oh,the planners did their best’: the planning films of John Betjeman

The development of British town planning in much of the twentieth century was situated within the modern movement and characterized by the ascendancy of a professional élite who possessed vision, rationality and the desire to bring about change for the good of society. These ‘planning wizards’ championed planning’s cause, promoted the professional basis of the discipline and were central to debates and projects about the physical restructuring of British cities. At the same time, the introduction of early television in Britain enabled the arts and factual programmes to be communicated to a wider audience. Broadcasters found such subjects as planning difficult to convey to a mass audience and various approaches and innovative programming were attempted. One artist who played a pivotal role in developing broadcasts on planning and development was the poet John Betjeman (1906–1984). Betjeman possessed a background in architecture, had been a regular performer on broadcasts on the radio and utilized the new medium of television to campaign for subjects that interested him personally: Georgian and Victorian architecture, old railway stations and the last vestiges of Edwardian Britain. As a skilful player of television and someone who was totally at ease in front of the camera, Betjeman turned many of his television broadcasts into personal statements containing passion and intense irony on those issues he perceived as threatening Britain, and against those in charge of restructuring the state. He may, therefore, be viewed as some sort of alternative planning expert. Attention is paid to two of his television series from the 1960s as brief case studies and the debate is broadened to assess implications for planning and the use of film to convey emotions about planning and places.     

What do you want from the 2001 census? Results of an ESRC/JISC survey of user views

"The author describes the results of a survey of user views about the next Census of Population in the United Kingdom, to be held in 2001. Some 140 respondents reported their views, which included strong support for a question on income, endorsement of the new one number census methodology and support for postcode-based outputs. The author sets these views in the context of the Census Development Programme being carried out by the U.K. Census Offices and the proposals for outputs which are being discussed with the main census user sectors of central and local government, business, the Health Service, and the academic community."     

Affordable housing finance companies in India: how do they ‘differently’ serve the underserved?

Abstract

Over the years, the importance of access to affordable finance has inevitably been recognized as a critical component of developing the third world. Against the backdrop of huge under-penetration of the housing finance sector in India, this study reflects on the functioning of Affordable Housing Finance Companies (AHFCs), which are among the important stakeholders providing affordable housing loans to the low-income segment households. However, the process through which these new entrants have been able to down-market housing finance remains a black box till date. In light of this research gap, this study proposes a conceptual model that succinctly captures the business process of AHFCs across three main dimensions: Outreach Approach, Lending and Underwriting Practices and Risk Management Interventions. This model reflects on the kaleidoscope of process innovations that the AHFCs have embraced to cater to the housing finance needs of the low-income customers, while achieving profitability and social impact.     

How feminist is the ‘feminist capital’?

San Jose, in California's Silicon Valley, is the self-proclaimed ‘feminist capital of the United States’ and, along with Santa Clara County, has a female majority on its council. This article describes the rise of San Jose's women to positions of power and their impact on public policy.     

What should housing vouchers do? A review of the recent literature

This paper challenges the assumption that housing vouchers help recipients move from crime-ridden inner-city areas to ‘good’ lower-poverty neighborhoods and, in turn, to achieve self-sufficiency. A review of the American and European literature on housing mobility programs and on mixed-income communities fails to support this belief. Efforts to maintain, and expand, the voucher program should be based on the program’s proven ability to provide decent and affordable housing rather than on unproven claims that it promotes poverty deconcentration and family self-sufficiency. I find considerable evidence that voucher recipients cluster spatially and that this promotes social decline in neighborhoods already vulnerable to change. Policymakers need to monitor voucher settlement patterns and to address programmatic weaknesses that cause negative neighborhood effects and voucher controversies.     

Conservation of historical landscapes: What signifies ‘successful’ management?

This paper focuses on the management of an industrial heritage site in Sweden, which local stakeholders and heritage planners have claimed to be successful. This status of excellence is investigated in relation to the general, county-wide applied heritage planning. The results show that key factors for successful management of the industrial heritage site are not related only to conservation work, but also to personal engagement, sense of responsibility, and well-being among participants. However, heritage planners generally lack methods to address immaterial values and socio-economic benefits of engaging in heritage activities, resulting in a separation between physical and communal aspects of heritage planning. The results highlight the issue of professional legitimacy and the challenges for heritage planners to address regional policy objectives, such as finding ways to utilise historic landscapes in destination-driven strategies and to simultaneously support civil engagement in heritage-related issues.     

What price the components?

Are bricks cheaper in France than in, say, Denmark? Are metal partitions more expensive in Western Germany than in, say, the Netherlands? An attempt to answer such questions has been made by a study published in France. Despite all the usual reservations about such exercises, including the fact that the originating data is now probably a year or more old, the figures may be of interest.     

Keywords in planning: what do we mean by ‘community resilience’?

In this paper, we critically explore the combination of a dynamic, multilayered understanding of community with an open-ended, ‘emergent’ understanding of resilience, and highlight the relevance for planners. We argue prevailing planning policies and practices on community resilience tend to work with rather simplistic, one-dimensional understandings of both ‘community’ and ‘resilience’. The multiple layers of meaning that are embedded in the word community are ignored when it is treated as an add-on intended to give underlying ideas about resilience planning greater public appeal. Apart and together the concepts of community and resilience bring into play a host of tensions between, for example, continuity and change, resistance and adaptation, inclusion and exclusion. This paper offers a framework for ensuring that these important considerations are openly negotiated within transparent normative frameworks of planning policy and practice.     

Cedric Price: From the ‘Brain Drain’ to the ‘Knowledge Economy’

Stanley Mathews looks at Cedric Price's Fun Palace and Potteries Thinkbelt as polemics addressing the changing economic and social character of postwar Britain moving into a period of deindustrialisation, with the expansion of higher education, and the emergence of information technology.     

Is There Something Beyond ‘Outside of the Box’?

Here, architectural and scientific researcher Rachel Armstrong questions whether the definition of ‘experimental’ green design presented here goes far enough. She urges architects to not dwell on evaluation processes, performance and ‘strategies’ and to seek a far more radical solution to sustainability, which abandons the current emphasis on industrial technologies and the existing educational and professional frameworks. In its place, she envisions employing biology as a driver for wholly new living materials and systems. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Decolonizing the Boundaries between the ‘Planner’ and the ‘Planned’: Implications of Indigenous Property Development

ABSTRACT

This paper examines Indigenous property development, drawing on research into the development of treaty settlement lands in Manitoba, Canada, and Canterbury, New Zealand. It highlights two contradicting ways of understanding this work: Indigenous peoples as self-determining, with authority to develop their own urban planning approaches, and Indigenous peoples as conventional property developers, subject to the same rules as any other private interest. This contradiction is used to expose a need for alternative, decolonial ways of understanding relationships between the ‘planner’ and the ‘planned’, grounded in the recognition of overlapping governance roles and responsibilities which Indigenous peoples are now (re)claiming in the urban environment.