Social implications of housing diversification in urban renewal: A review of recent literature

British and Dutch urban policies have advocated housing diversification and social mix in neighbourhoods subject to urban renewal. Question marks have been placed against the evidence base for the assumed social effects of diversification. This paper provides a review of research into the actual consequences of diversification in Great Britain and the Netherlands. After a brief policy discussion, the paper identifies five issues for which evidence is reviewed: housing quality and area reputation, neighbourhood-based social interactions, residential attitudes towards social mix, the role-model effect, and problem dilution. The review shows ambivalent results that necessitate modest expectations, especially with regard to area reputation, cross-tenure social interaction and residential attitudes. This ambivalence is partly due to unclear policy goals and policy terms as well as vagueness about the relevant spatial level. Moreover, the influence of tenure mix is often superseded by other, more important factors in residential satisfaction, such as lifestyle. The paper also argues that positive role-model effects in neighbourhoods have not yet been adequately studied and therefore remain based on conviction.     

Mechanism of fiber/matrix bond and properties of wood polymer composites produced from alkaline‐treated Daniella oliveri wood flour

The effects of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) concentration and time of treatment on the mechanism of fiber/matrix bond and functional properties of Daniella oliveri reinforced wood polymer composites (WPCs) were investigated. The WPCs were evaluated using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, mechanical testing, scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and differential scanning calorimetry. The fiber/matrix adhesion mechanism could be attributed to the disruption of hydrogen bonding in the D. oliveri wood fiber network structure and the removal of lignin, wax and oils covering the external surface of the fiber cell wall. This leads to an increase in desirable functional properties as alkaline concentrations reached 4 wt%, but subsequently reduced at higher concentrations, while they increased with treatment time. Analysis of the fractographs of the WPCs suggests optimization of interfacial fiber–matrix adhesion and functional properties when D. oliveri wood fiber was treated with a 4 wt% solution of NaOH for 150 min. POLYM. COMPOS., 37:2657–2672, 2016. © 2015 Society of Plastics Engineers