Residents’ Preferences for Rural Housing Disaster Insurance Attributes in Central and Western Tibet

Understanding the heterogeneous preferences of individuals for disaster insurance attributes is critical for product improvement and policy design.In an era of global environmental change,the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is a hotspot of natural hazards.Improving the capability of rural housing disaster insurance to foster local residents’disaster resilience is of great signifcance but remains under addressed.We used a discrete choice experiment approach to provide the frst estimates of rural residents’preferences for rural housing disaster insurance attributes in central and western Tibet.We estimated residents’preferences and willingness-to-pay for the sum insured,subsidy rate,insured object,and perils covered.The potential impacts of increasing the sum insured,expanding the insured object,and lowering subsidy rates were evaluated.Our results suggest that residents prefer products with a high sum insured,high subsidy rate,and a complete list of insured objects.Residents who have experienced specifc hazards tend to prefer the corresponding perils covered.Females and residents who have a closer social network are more likely to purchase insurance.Product improvement and policy simulation results suggest that,while lowering the subsidy rate,increasing the sum insured and expanding the insured object could promote participation and improve residents’welfare.Our results could improve the understanding of the preferences of households in remote regions and support policy implementations.

The coupling characteristics and mechanism of farmland and rural housing land transition in China

Land use transition refers to the changes in land use morphology （both dominant morphology and recessive morphology） of a certain region over a certain period of time driven by socio-economic change and innovation, and it usually corresponds to the transition of socio-economic development phase. In China, farmland and rural housing land are the two major sources of land use transition. This paper analyzes the spatio-temporal coupling characteristics of farmland and rural housing land transition in China, using high-resolution Landsat TM （Thematic Mapper） data in 2000 and 2008, and the data from the Ministry of Land and Resources of China. The outcomes indicated that： （1） during 2000-2008, the correlation coefficient of farmland vs. rural housing land change is -0.921, and it shows that the change pattern of farmland and rural housing land is uncoordinated; （2） the result of Spearman rank correlation analysis shows that rural housing land change has played a major role in the mutual transformation of farmland and rural housing land; and （3） it shows a high-degree spatial coupling between farmland and rural housing land change in southeast China during 2000-2008. In general, farmland and rural housing land transition in China is driven by socio-economic, bio-physical and managerial three-dimensional driving factors through the interactions among rural population, farmland and rural housing land. However, the spatio-temporal coupling phenomenon and mechanism of farmland and rural housing land transition in China are largely due to the ＂dual-track＂ structure of rural-urban development.

Architectural typology of rural housing in Jaen,Peru

Jaén is one of the most important cities in the northern highlands of Peru due to its strategic location,commerce,and agricultural activities.Jaén has more than 185 thousand inhabitants,of which 48%live in rural areas,representing approximately 31 thousand rural housing.This research aims to determine the types of rural housing in Jaen,showing the possible variations and architectural manifestations due to the territorial and cultural characteristics.A field observation sheet has been used to study the rural dwellings of populated centres previously classified by altitudinal regions.The results show six architectural types of rural housing classified into two groups:"rural-residential housing"and"rural-agricultural housing"'These architectural types are generally located near water sources,within agricultural plots,and on hillsides.The architectural program is characterised by agricultural activity and family composition,which has grown over time.The most commonly used construction systems are"pirca"and"quincha"',using natural materials such as"ichu"and adobe.There is also evidence of cultural traditions rooted in the construction,such as"cambio de fuerzas""paracaico",and"minga".Therefore,the relevance of Jaen's rural housing is its geographical reading of the territory through the architectural and cultural legacy of these buildings.

The Urban and Rural Housing Reform under Its Way in China

By April 1989,the total population inChina had been up to 1,100 millions.Underthe circumstances of such a heavypoputation,backward economy,and eco-nomic and social differences from one re-gion to another,how to solve the

Estimation of rural housing structure and its vulnerability in China

The damage of dwelling houses constitutes the primary cause of casualties and asset loss in seismic disasters that occurred in Chinese rural areas. The structure of houses is crucial for assessing the vulnerability of rural houses. However, at present, available data on rural housing structure are incomplete and their spatial scales are inconsistent. This paper estimated the amount and ratio of rural houses in five structures, namely ＇wood＇, ＇brick＇, ＇mixed＇, ＇reinforced concrete＇, and ＇other＇, for 2380 counties across China. With the percent- age sampling census data in 2005, four accuracy levels were specified. Then, a set of down-scaling models were established, where the impact of climate, economic development level and ethnic minority cultural factors on rural housing structure, as well as the spatial autocorrelation of neighboring spatial units were considered. Based on the estimation results, a database of county-level rural housing structure was established, based on which the vul- nerability of rural houses in different areas was clarified.

Analysis on the Layout of Villages and Towns and the Characteristics of Residential Buildings from the Perspective of Rural Revitalization in Liaoning Province

Rural houses in Liaoning Province have a long history and distinctive regional characteristics.Rural houses are designed in combination with family agricultural production habits to meet their production and living functions,and the building materials are mostly local materials.With the full implementation of the rural revitalization strategy,the countryside of Liaoning Province has become the main battlefield for rural revitalization.Based on a large number of field investigations,the layout of villages and towns and residential buildings in Liaoning Province were analyzed from three levels of villages,courtyard forms to residential functions,aiming to provide a basic theoretical reference for the renovation and renewal of rural residential buildings in Liaoning Province.

Energy-saving Technology of Vent in Passive Solar Wall of Rural House of Severe Cold Region

This paper aims at solving the problems of low thermal collection rate,inconvenient maintenance,hindering indoor using during the application of passive solar technologies in rural houses in severe cold region.All these defects prevent the passive solar houses' further development. This paper chooses trombe wall,which has higher thermal efficiency of the passive solar house,as research object. The traditional vent is improved into a new type of ventilation device. This improvement overcomes the shortcoming,which traditional vent loses huge heat,and simplifies the construction of vent. Comparing with traditional trombe wall,the energy saving rate is 15. 69%.

Dwelling Houses In Rural

People who canafford it have theirbeams and pillarscarved and painted,and have the upper part ofinner walls painted withthree colorful stripes andlower part with yellow oriight green color. On thewall are paintings,such asHarmony and Longevity.The corridor walls behindthe front gate are pastedwith portraits showing peo-ple subduing tigers and theGod of Wealth driving anelephant.

Dwelling Houses IN RURAL TIBET(Ⅰ)

Atotal of 28house founda-tions werefound in theKarub Ruins in Qamdo.They take the shape of acircle,half underground.They are dwelling housesbuilt as early as some 5,000years ago when Tibet wasexperiencing the New StoneAge.

Study on the challenge and influence of the built thermal environment on elderly health in rural areas:Evidence from Shandong,China

Elderly health is increasingly recognized as a worldwide challenge with the continuous social aging trend.This study aimed to investigate the thermal conditions of the elderly in rural areas of Shandong,China.The thermal sensation and physiological response performances of elderly participants were examined in their own houses.Results show a clear seasonal pattern in cardiovascular disease mortality,cold stress increases the cardiovascular disease risk.The coal-based stoves serve as the main source of home heating and their limited coverage of the room area gave rise to poor quality of thermal comfort.The analysis of skin temperature for those under 65 and above did not reveal any significant difference in response to different indoor temperatures.The regression results confirm that a colder home leads to a rising value of the elderly’s systolic blood pressure,rising by more than 1 mmHg for every 1℃decrease in indoor temperature and thus posing a greater risk of cardiovascular diseases.The systolic blood pressure value of older subjects rise more when they are exposed to decreasing indoor temperatures,possibly due to an age-related decline in their ability to maintain stability of blood pressure.It is noteworthy that the average blood velocity of older subjects reduces less in response to decreasing indoor temperatures,indicating a weakened capacity to resist cold stress and its associated high risk of hypertension.This investigation provides evidence in favor of improving the thermal environment of the elderly and reducing their risk of cardiovascular diseases.

External wall structure of green rural houses in Daqing, China, based on life cycle and ecological footprint theories

Daqing is situated in one of the severely cold resions of China. The livin8 environment in this region is extremely poor because of the harsh climate and the backward economy. The external wall is an important component of the external envelope of buildings, and it greatly contributes to the indoor thermal environment. By taking the external wall as the research object, this study summarizes the characteristics of the external wall structure and analyzes the common materials used in existing rural residences. Specifically, we combine life cycle theory and ecological footprint （EF） theory and introduce the green external wall structure, as well as its application in practice, in accordance with the local ecosystem. Results show that anecotosical residence offers a better environment and greater economic benefits than a traditional residence. The annual energy consumption, C02 consumption, and EF of the ecological residence in this study are lower than those of the traditional residence by 69.61%, 17.5 t, and 99.47%, respectively.

Rural houses with appropriate strategies in northwest China:a practice of ecological houses in Ningxia Province

The severe problem of rural vernacular houses in northwest china is low thermal comfortableness with high consumption of energy in winter.Under such circumstance,the appropriate technologies that create comfortable living environment under the inclement local weather by low cost should be encouraged.In Ningxia Province,Jianfuqiao village,the ecological technologies are presented.By comparing with traditional buildings,the testing and thermal environment analysis verified the effectiveness of the passive used solar technologies.

Application of the ground cooling system for rural houses air conditioning in northeastern China

This study developed an appropriate ground cooling system that can be used for indoor cooling during summers in rural houses in northeastern China.To apply this system,a traditional rural house was selected and a heat exchanger was designed(PE pipe,32 m in length),manufactured,and installed according to the cooling load(2206 kJ/h)of one room of the experimental house.According to the experiment,the temperature of Room 1 equipped with the cooling system was 3℃ lower than that of Room 2 without the ground cooling system during the same time period.The temperature reduction effect of this system was confirmed through this study.When the ground cooling system was used in rural houses in Northeast China,it was found that a burial depth of 1.5-2.0 m for the ground heat exchanger is appropriate for considering workability and frost line.The use of the ground cooling system for indoor cooling during summers for rural houses in the northeastern region of China would reduce not only environmental pollution and the use of fossil fuels but also ease farmers off a certain amount of financial burden.