Opportunities and Constraints in State Housing Policy: The Example of Tasmania's ‘Affordable Housing Strategy’

The lack of Commonwealth government funds for public housing has encouraged state governments across Australia to develop ‘Affordable Housing Strategies’ to address the problems that result from the shortage of housing available for low-income households. However, to date there has been limited discussion of the implications of these affordable housing strategies and their significance as a form of policy intervention. This article highlights the Tasmanian Government's ‘Affordable Housing Strategy’ as a case study to illustrate the obstacles that confront state housing policy makers. These include difficulties in securing partnerships with the private sector, an inability to influence macro-economic policy settings, fluctuations in the property market cycle and a reliance on small and uncertain budgetary allocations. However, there is limited scope to address some of the problems that have undermined previous state and Territory housing policy initiatives by reaching agreements with local government to ease planning controls for social housing, boosting the capacity of the community housing sector and using additional budgets judiciously.     

Rural Migrants’ Residential Mobility: Housing and Locational Outcomes of Forced Moves in China

This paper analyses the residential mobility of China’s rural–urban migrants in light of evidence from Yangzhou, a medium-sized city in Jiangsu province. To evaluate the effects of forced moves induced by demolition-led redevelopment, these outcomes are compared to those of voluntary moves. The evaluation is specifically concerned with dwelling attributes and location characteristics. Dwelling attributes consist of tenure and housing facilities, while commuting distance, distance to the city centre and the length of a child’s trip to school comprise the location characteristics. Logistic regression of data from a 2012–2013 survey shows that a voluntary relocation and the intention to move prior to notification of intended demolition are likely to result in positive outcomes. The migrants’ relocation strategy involves making a trade-off between better dwelling attributes and a better location. When housing improvement is their major concern, they tend to move to peripheral areas. However, it seems that children’s educational opportunities are being factored into the trade-off. In that case, migrants purchase an apartment in a specific school district or at least move closer to it. For the sake of their children, they relegate other motives to second place.     

Housing context and legitimacy in the transformation of a stigmatized estate: the case of Rosengård

Large housing estates built in the post second world war era have been the object of extensive debates and research in Europe and in North America, due to their social and maintenance challenges but also their high symbolic value. A wide range of regeneration strategies has been employed in addressing issues of segregation and stigmatization of these estates. This paper examines the role of local housing and public management in the selection of regeneration strategies. The paper starts from the concept of housing context as means of explaining the selection of regeneration strategy. The paper is informed by a case study of regeneration efforts in Rosengård, where a minor regeneration effort, the Bokals, led by the municipal housing company, crystalizes a new integrated approach in regenerating the estate. This sets the stage for subsequent developments. We argue that legitimacy, in the sense of management being perceived as a credible agent of change, is critical in the cumulative strengthening and shaping of the regeneration strategy in Rosengård. We put forward the notion of legitimacy trading to capture the mutual and instrumental public support of the main actors. The main contribution of the paper is to demonstrate how including aspects of management legitimacy can develop the concept of housing context, by extending the range of applicability and broadening the range of regeneration strategies that can be accounted for.     

Wage-based evidence of returns to external scale in China’s manufacturing: a spatial analysis

Wage-based evidence of returns to external scale in China??s manufacturing in 2004 is assessed using county-level units of observation. Two models are used: one with population and percent manufacturing employment as measures of urbanization and localization, respectively, and the other with population density and total manufacturing employment. Global results estimated from spatial error models and local results from geographically weighted regressions indicate that urbanization economies of scale, measured in terms of population but not population density, and localization economies of scale, measured in terms of percent of employment in manufacturing or total manufacturing employment, are apparent??but only when internal scale of production is not included as an explanatory factor in the models. Economies of scale are still outcomes of the models, but only when the urbanization, localization, and internal scale factors are considered in combination. The results not only illustrate particular characteristics with respect to recent returns in China??s manufacturing, they are also interesting with respect to schools of thought concerning increasing returns as externality effects.     

Towards a synergy between ‘content’ and ‘process’ in Dutch spatial planning: the Heuvelland case

Spatial planning in the Netherlands is shifting from regulatory toward more developmental modes of planning. This paper explores the background of these changes and discusses current approaches to developmental planning, especially in rural areas. It combines views reflected in planning theory with the accumulated experiences of a project in the southern part of the Netherlands, called Heuvelland. The Heuvelland project is aimed at the mobilisation of market parties for spatial developments. It is an attempt to circumvent the path-dependency in which many current spatial innovation projects get caught up, owing to established institutional planning and policy arrangements. We argue that in order to stimulate innovation and create a new economic base for rural spatial developments, new economic actors and new public–private structures and networks must be mobilised. We consider how this can be done, taking into account the importance of sustainable regional development.     

‘Houston,we've got a problem’: The Political Construction of a Housing Affordability Metric in New Zealand

Since the global financial crisis, housing affordability has assumed increased policy significance in a number of countries around the world. At a national level, housing policy formation is subject to certain path dependency processes and embedded institutional structures. In this paper, I argue that housing policy formation in New Zealand is increasingly subject to global flows of policy ideas and that the development of new housing affordability policies draws upon networks of global policy agents, housing experts and private consultants. In particular, this research examines the manner in which a US-based private consultant's metric of housing affordability, and analysis of the causes of housing unaffordability, has been incorporated into policy-making and new legislation in New Zealand.     

Housing intermediary services in China: the rise and fall of ‘Fang Wu Yin Hang’

Housing reforms in China are often conceived to have engendered a gradual shift towards a market system. New institutions have been introduced to enable decentralized, monetarized and privatized allocation of housing units. This study explores the emergence, growth and downfall of an intermediary service (known as ‘fang wu yin hang’) created spontaneously by real estate agents to facilitate housing transactions in the Chinese cities. Although this new institution looked capable of strengthening the rationality, efficiency, transparency and impersonality of China’s housing market, it was abandoned soon after its inception. The failure of this transient service suggests the presence of some social institutions, which could have blocked China’s progress towards a full-fledged market system in the housing sector.

New Housing in Old Beijing:a Comparative Survey of Projects Completed to Date——Beijing’s Old and Dilapidated Housing Renewal(Part.V)

This article summarizes a study of eight neighbor-hood renewal projects implemented in the old city of Beij-ing The survey aimed to review the actual constructionand inhabitation emerging from Beijing’s housing renew-al program.The selection of project case studies was bas-ed on their being partially or fully completed and occu-pied,thus allowing signeficant observation of the envi-ronment as actually used and discussed by the residents.They include examples of early experimental pilot proj-ects completed before 1991 as well as large projects builtunder Phase I of the broadened renewal program.Inmost cases,later phases of the projects are still underconstruction.Despite the early and incomplete status ofthe program,certain trends have emerged.This articledraws attention to some critical differences between theinitial expersmental approach and the more recent,larg-er—scale approach reflected in the Phase I projects com-pleted so far.     

“It’s a Great Idea for Other People”: Cohousing as a Housing Option for Older Australians

Older Australians face housing challenges including supply, accessibility, affordability, security of tenure and isolation. This article examines the potential for cohousing to address these challenges. In interviews, professionals indicated that cohousing promises benefits for older people, but identified financial and planning barriers. In contrast, focus groups with older people found significant resistance to the concept of shared living; many participants did not see value in cohousing. Resistance stemmed from negative associations with cohousing and cultural lack of familiarity with shared living arrangements. Cohousing has an image problem in Australia that needs to be overcome if it is to thrive.     

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...     

Tempo-spatial characteristics and influential factors of rockburst:a case study of transportation and drainage tunnels in Jinping Ⅱ hydropower station

Jinping Ⅱ hydropower station is located in a high in-situ stress region in Southwest China. During the excavations of the transportation and drainage tunnels, more than 460 rockburst events were recorded in the transportation tunnel and 110 in the drainage tunnel, which has a serious and negative influence on the tunnels' construction and the safety of staff and equipment. In the paper, the characters of rockburst patterns are analyzed for the transportation and drainage tunnels. The results are illustrated...     

Towards a location sensitive R&D policy. Local buzz,spatial concentration and specialisation as a challenge for urban planning – Empirical findings from the life sciences and ICT clusters in Vienna

Against the background of the increasing relevance of international co-operation and knowledge networks, the relevance of local buzz for R&D activities is being called into doubt. This has implications for urban R&D policies, as local milieus, face-to-face contacts and proximity are key factors of an urban economy. Based on the case of Vienna, it is the intention of this paper to explore the extent of spatial proximity and the role of urban R&D policy. When examining the spatial structure of 1363 R&D units, two relevant clusters (life sciences and ICT) can be identified by a quantitative GIS analysis. Furthermore, a qualitative survey gives insights into the relevance of R&D policies and their spatial implications. The findings clearly show that urban stakeholders have to consider the location sensitivity of R&D actors as well as the need for specialisation in academic niches.     

Sense of place: using people’s experiences in relation to a rural landscape to inform spatial planning guidelines

This paper explores the interplay between people and a distinctive rural locality namely Vredefort Dome World Heritage Site, South Africa to inform spatial planning guidelines. A transdisciplinary, qualitative research methodology was followed. First, participants’ experiences in relation to the rural landscape were obtained using photographs, interviews and focus groups. Experiences related to physical and emotional safety, relaxation and tranquillity, hope and curiosity, and relational experiences with people and a divinity emerged. Drawing on these interactional experiences, participants (divided into multi-disciplinary groups) made visual collages of how to maintain the sense of place. Guidelines developed included two-dimensional site planning guidelines: (i) a sense of arrival; (ii) development zones; (iii) conservation zones; (iv) compatible land uses; (v) a low density, spatially dispersed development pattern and (vi) footpaths. Three-dimensional design guidelines included: (i) unity in style with a diversity of detail designs; (ii) restricted buildings sizes; (iii) building heights of maximum two storeys; (iv) specified building materials and (v) prescribed colour codes. The paper contributes to existing sense of place research by proposing an integrated, contextual and participatory approach as a possible way forward to make the sense(s) of place explicit by integrating these in spatial planning guidelines.     

Re-examination of Zipf’s law and urban dynamic in China: a regional approach

Recent efforts have been made to interpret spatial-temporal evolution of urban system using Zipf??s law. The debates remain whether Zipf??s law holds true for large and diverse countries with long urbanization history, and how varied geographical settings with different socioeconomic conditions affect city-size distributions. This research investigates China??s urban system dynamics through expanded Zipf??s law at national and regional level. First, the paper revisits urban system dynamic theories and recent applications of Zipf??s law. The city data from 1960 to 2000 are then used to analyze rapid changes of urban systems in China through Zipf??s plots of cities over the entire nation and in six macro regions, respectively. The paper also examines top ten city rank changes nationally and regionally to examine temporal trajectories of key cities and the impacts on urban systems over space. Three types of Zipf??s law reflections are found over six China??s macro regions, based on the similarities of temporal dynamics of urban systems.     

Accurate determination of Cd, Cr, Cu and Ni in woodlice and their skins--is moulting a means of detoxification?

Cd, Cr, Cu and Ni were determined in two different species of woodlice: Porcellio scaber and Porcellio dilatatus. Both P. scaber and P. dilatatus were cultivated under standardized conditions in a climatic chamber. Moreover, skins of the cultivated animals were collected and analysed separately to examine whether moulting is a way of detoxification from these elements. After drying and grinding both animal and skin samples, they were pooled to obtain enough sample material for each species. The pooled samples were digested in pure concentrated nitric acid using microwave-assisted high pressure digestion and, finally, analysed by ICP-OES. Special emphasis was given to quality control. To match the matrix of the samples very closely, the reference materials Dorm-2, Dogfish Muscle (Squalus acanthias) and SRM 1577b Bovine Liver were used to evaluate the whole analytical process including sample digestion. Analyses of the elements in the reference materials were carried out using three different wavelengths for each element simultaneously to check for spectral interferences and to select the wavelengths which were best suited for the analyses. Concentrations of Cd, Cr, Cu and Ni in woodlice and their skins indicated that moulting is a possible means of detoxification in the case of Cr and Ni.     

Hitler's ‘Generalsiedlungsplanung Ost’: a case only for Poland? A forgotten dimension of national-socialist spatial and town planning in the former Czechoslovakia

Adolf Hitler constructed his Nazi ideology as a universal worldview aimed at the German Reich's eastward expansion; the ‘Generalsiedlungsplanung Ost’ programme was officially launched in 1940. The forcible establishment of multiple administrative units in 1938/1939 created the conditions for an architecture that would serve the totalitarian regime. Thus began an enormous planning process and the targeted institutionalization of urban development and spatial planning and research. This programme included not only German government agencies and research institutions specifically established or reorganized for this purpose, but increasingly also involved communal politics and independent or government architects. The author pursues the thesis that this Germanization concept, formulated within the framework of the ‘Generalsiedlungspläne Ost’, allowed the relevant agencies to increase their influence or eliminate any opponents. From this basis, the study identifies the role that GBI (Generalbauinspektor) for Berlin Albert Speer, his architects, and local architects played in the planning process in Czechoslovakia and Poland, and analyses the architectural evidence of the Nazi rulers’ Germanization and colonization policies. The initial comparison of the urban planning models applied in ‘Großreich Deutschland’ with those in the annexed regions in today's Poland and Czech Republic offers relevant arguments related to this far-reaching sociological and architecture–historical topic.     

The Biopolitics of Thirdspace: Urban Segregation and Resistance in Puerto Rico’s Luis Lloréns Torres Public Housing Project

The public housing programme in Puerto Rico was highly influenced by a culturally engrained logic of colonialism that aimed to achieve a behavioural transformation of the residents of public housing based on white “criollo” norms and conducts. To this day, the process of Othering with which these bodies are understood and viewed has recurrently been reproduced and redeployed utilizing the island’s old racial/colonial hierarchies. Criminality and drug-related activities are the main discursive agents employed to stigmatize the communities that live inside public housing in Puerto Rico. It is constantly inferred that most of its residents break with the behavioural norms that the rest of the population abides by. This argument is constantly utilized to perpetuate the cultural lens that views these sectors as lazy, unruly and dangerous. This highly prejudiced misconception justified the police occupations and the fences that were erected in and around public housing premises during the 1990s. However, most of these communities rarely view themselves as victims, and it is this paper’s argument that they are constantly and collectively enacting political and physical spaces of dissent, resistance and encounter that – however momentarily – are able to overturn some of these powerful ideological and spatial constructs.     

The spatial dispersion of economic activities and development trends in China: 1952–1985

This paper reviews and analyzes the spatial dispersion of economic activities in the Peoples' Republic of China for the period of 1952–1985. The purpose of the paper is to shed light on the future prospect of spatial development in China. Specifically, the paper examines the relationship between spatial dispersions of economic activities and the central government's policy for economic development in past decades. Received: July 1998/Accepted: August 1999     

Perspectives in planning history: planning and the dream of a better city in a global world – reflections on Helen Meller’s ‘Imagining Culture and the City in Planning History’

In the last decade of the nineteenth century, Bombay City was rocked by a series of events that undermined the systems of rule patched together over the course of the preceding century and triggered a crisis of the colonial ‘information order’ on which these were based. Saliently, these developments led to significant changes in the modes of colonial urban governance, in which a new planning agency played a key role. Integral to this shift was a reappraisal, on the part of the colonial state, of its mechanisms of information gathering and the growing recognition of the need for more knowledge about the swiftly expanding city and its rapidly diversifying population. The census of 1901 reflected, to a large extent, these new imperatives of colonial governance.