Metropolitan Housing Development in Urban Fringe Areas-A Case Study of Three Metropolitan Cities of South Africa: Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane

Purpose:The metropolitan cities of Johannesburg,Ekurhuleni and Tshwane play an important role in the economy of the Gauteng province in South Africa.The region constitutes to 22.4 percent of the total population of South Africa and has a strong presence and contributes in areas of manufacturing sector,financial and business services,retail and wholesale trade,etc.The rapid urban population,increase in the informal settlements and socio-economic opportunities has resulted in considerable urban sprawl in and around the urban fringe areas of these metropolitan cities.The urban fringe areas of these metros often come under the influence of rapid urbanization process and pressures.Coupled with the economical and potential land dynamics and lack of priority of spatial development guidelines,these areas attract rapid and haphazard development from communities and developers.Research Design/Methodology:This research is based on a qualitative approach through a comprehensive literature review that included content analysis of key documents on housing sector such as IDPs(Integrated Development Plans),Municipal Annual Reports,Growth Development Strategies,and among other sectoral documents on housing sector.Some of the key priority issues considered in the housing sector included:eradication of housing backlogs,spatial restructuring of housing,provision of choice in terms of location,tenure and housing typology.Findings:The current paper discusses the approaches of metropolitan housing development processes in three metropolitan cities of South Africa from Gauteng region,namely:Johannesburg,Ekurhuleni and Tshwane.The paper discusses the existing housing sectoral scenario along with the fringe areas in three cities with focus on:formal and informal settlements,housing segregation and the backlogs,current institutional arrangements,role of public private participation,and scope for alternate mechanisms.The paper concludes in discussion on sustainable development options for housing development in urban fringe areas.

Industrialization,Efficiency and Social Housing:Sustainable Prefabrication for the Colombian Social and Cultural Context

This research aims to generate processes of industrialization and qualification of social housing in Colombia through prefabrication,low energy consumption and high environmental quality to reduce the current deficit and improve the quality of life in communities with fewer economic resources.Modular coordination and the use of materials with thermal behaviors,appropriate to the country’s climatic characteristics,reduce production costs,avoid waste and improve the architectural and environmental quality of social housing.Passive cooling strategies,such as controlling solar incursion and generating natural cross ventilation eliminate energy consumption and allow reaching desired standards of comfort.In a context in which traditional construction systems have still not resolved the social housing deficit in Colombia and which generate high costs for energy consumption in the search for thermal comfort,industrialized and efficient construction with high environmental quality provides solutions according to the economic,geographic,social and cultural context in Colombia.

Living in a Condominium Regime:Neighborhood Conflicts in Low-Income Housing,Tijuana,Baja California-A Secondary Publication

This paper analyzes neighborhood conflicts arising from the condominium property regime,under which social housing promoted by Mexican government institutions and private developers is acquired.This regime has facilitated access to housing for the salaried population,but it is far from contributing to the attainment of the right to housing.The research takes as case studies housing complexes located in the city of Tijuana,Baja California,Mexico.The analysis included a mixed methodology.Firstly,similar case studies were analyzed;secondly,a review of the Condominium Property Regime Law was carried out in order to understand its implications.In view of the pandemic situation,a virtual survey was applied to the inhabitants of these areas,as well as interviews with presidents of neighborhood committees of these complexes.From the above,it was found that this form of ownership generates conflicts,reflected in the dissatisfaction of the inhabitants with their housing,disagreements and controversies in their organization and coexistence.The inhabitants have to collectively solve the problems they face,related to the maintenance and use of common areas,insecurity,and cleanliness,among others.In addition,there is a lack of support from local authorities.With this,it is concluded that although the inhabitants have a space that solves their housing problem,it does not manage to be a space that adequately guarantees their right to housing.

A Triple Nexus Water-Energy-Housing (WEH) Framework Modelling towards Improved Decision-Making in Humanitarian Operations

Given the challenges facing most humanitarian operations worldwide, a change of approach is needed to ensure greater sustainability of humanitarian settlements right from the planning stage. Some studies attribute unsustainability to inadequate provision of basic resources and highlight the apparent bottlenecks that prevent access to the meaningful data needed to plan and remedy problems. Most operations have relied on an “ad hoc ism” approach, employing parallel and disconnected data processing methods, resulting in a wide range of data being collected without subsequent prioritization to optimize interconnections that could enhance performance. There have been little efforts to study the trade-offs potentially at stake. This work proposes a new framework enabling all subsystems to operate in a single system and focusing on data processing perspective. To achieve this, this paper proposes a Triple Nexus Framework as an attempt to integrate water, energy, and housing sector data derived from a specific sub-system within the overall system in the application of Model-Based Systems Engineering. Understanding the synergies between water, energy, and housing, Systems Engineering characterizes the triple nexus framework and identifies opportunities for improved decision-making in processing operational data from these sectors. Two scenarios illustrate how an integrated platform could be a gateway to access meaningful operational data in the system and a starting point for modeling integrated human settlement systems. Upon execution, the model is tested for nexus megadata processing, and the optimization simulation yielded 67% satisfactory results, demonstrating that an integrated system could improve sustainability, and that capacity building in service delivery is more than beneficial.

E-house箱体及吊具的吊装过程受力数值计算

预装式变电站(E-house)作为电网重要的电能传输枢纽,已经被广泛应用。在安装施工过程中,箱体质量、吊具结构、吊装速度等因素均会引起箱体形变的发生,导致设备的损坏。为了解决该问题,对所设计的9.8 m×3.2 m尺寸的E-house箱体及吊具结构进行吊装受力分析,并利用有限元方法分析了吊装结构和箱体的应力变形,确定了吊具和箱体易变形损坏部位。计算结果表明,为减少轴向压力对吊具的影响,钢丝绳安全夹角应控制在60°以内,安全的吊装速度应控制在1 m/s以下。研究结果可以为后续的箱体结构设计与优化提供理论参考。

The Challenges in Providing Affordable Housing in Nigeria and the Adequate Sustainable Approaches for Addressing Them

Despite multiple schemes implemented by various governments around the country, affordable housing remains elusive to the average Nigerian. Because the situation is comparable to that of other developing nations, it remains a key concern in these countries’ socioeconomic development. Over 52% of Nigeria’s population has been claimed to live in shanties, squatter communities, and informal settlements. This article, therefore, reviews the challenges to the provision of affordable housing in Nigeria and the Sustainable approaches to address them. The article’s findings were based on a thorough examination of the literature. The article’s findings indicated that sustainable approaches for addressing Nigeria’s affordable housing barriers may best be examined through the economic, ecological, social, institutional, and technical factors. The paper urges the present regime, investors, lawmakers, and private developers in Nigeria to implement these approaches for affordable housing provision. The findings from this article will add to the current body of knowledge by providing important information on affordable housing provision and re-directing research interest towards affordable housing in Nigeria and other developing countries.

The Benefits of Solar Energy on the Provision of Sustainable Affordable Housing in Nigeria

Solar energy is the most abundant form of energy on Earth. Solar energy brings impactful benefits and products that are expected to make homes more reliable, sustainable, and affordable. Thanks to technological advancements like the solar cell, we can gather this energy and turn it into electricity. The construction industry has an exceptional chance of benefiting from this sustainable energy. Many recognised benefits have been spelled forth in the construction industry, such as providing homes with clean energy with no trace of ozone depleting material emission. There are many people in Nigeria who are not linked to the public electric grid, and the energy sector produces and generates less than 58% of the entire amount of energy required. As stated in the Nigeria’s National Energy General Plan, the Sustainable Energy programme aims to enhance the country’s use of solar electricity. This paper focuses on the role of solar energy in the provision of sustainable affordable housing in Nigeria. It considers the description, method, and utilisation of solar energy with a focus on residential and commercial buildings.

Assessment of Compliance to Building Energy Efficiency Strategies in the Development of Housing Estates in FCC, Abuja Nigeria

Compliance to local energy efficiency strategies can significantly reduce energy consumption in buildings and promote sustainability. However, Nigeria Building Energy Efficiency Code (BEEC) seems to be just paper work without enforcement or compliance. Assessment of Compliance to Green Building Energy Efficiency Strategies in the Development of Housing Estates in FCC, Abuja Nigeria was carried out. The compliance of estate buildings to BEEC in the study area was assessed;and the aspects of the building energy efficiency strategies with more compliance were determined. Data were mainly from primary sources such as questionnaire survey, interview with key informants and observation. The study population included all estate developers and building construction professionals. Data were gathered from one hundred and fifty (150) building professionals through questionnaire administration. Data collected were analysed using Z score and ANOVA and presented in tables. Results show that only 18% of respondents agreed that building complied with BEEC, and the Z score for positive affirmation is below average score. There is a significant difference in the integration of different energy efficient management strategies in the estates’ construction at 95% confidence level. The integration of measures such as window to wall ratio and window shading’ were significantly higher than other BEEC strategies such as roof insulation and minimal air condition unit (≤EER/COP of 2.8). Thus, the development of estates in FCC Abuja did not achieve energy efficiency.

An Assessment of Housing Market Renewal in East Lancashire

The paper analyses the impact of the Government Housing Market Renewal(HMR)programme in the UK.It focuses on Burnley,East Lancashire,and on the inner-city neighbourhood of Burnley Wood.The aim of the programme was to rebalance the housing market in places suffering shrinkage.The intention was to renew failing housing markets and reconnect them to regional markets,to improve neighbourhoods and to encourage people to live and work in these areas.One of these was East Lancashire and the author visited Burnley,one of its principal towns,in 2005,as part of a CABE study.The paper describes the Pathfinding policy,the actions being taken and the community's reaction.The author recently returned to Burnley and spoke to some of the same people reported in 2005.This paper documents what has been achieved in the past 7 years.

Identifying Spatial Heterogeneity in the Effects of High-Tech Firm Density on Housing Prices:Evidence from Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area,China

Innovation capitalization is a new concept in innovation geography research.Extant research on a city scale has proven that innovation is an important factor affecting housing prices and verified that innovation has a capitalization effect.However,few studies investigate the spatial heterogeneity of innovation capitalization.Thus,case verification at the urban agglomeration scale is needed.Therefore,this study proposes a theoretical framework for the spatial heterogeneity of innovation capitalization at the urban agglomeration scale.Examining the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area(GHMGBA),China as a case study,the study investigated the spatial heterogeneity of the influence of high-tech firms,representing innovation,on housing prices.This work verified the spatial heterogeneity of innovation capitalization.The study constructed a data set influencing housing prices,comprising 11 factors in 5 categories(high-tech firms,convenience of living facilities,built environment,the natural environment,and the fundamentals of the districts)for 419 subdistricts in the GHMGBA.On the global scale,the study finds that high-tech firms have a significant and positive influence on housing prices,with the housing price increasing by 0.0156%when high-tech firm density increases by 1%.Furthermore,a semi-geographically weighted regression(SGWR)analysis shows that the influence of high-tech firms on housing prices has spatial heterogeneity.The areas where high-tech firms have a significant and positive influence on housing prices are mainly in the GuangzhouFoshan metropolitan area,western Shenzhen-Dongguan,north-central Zhongshan-Nansha district,and Guangzhou—all areas with densely distributed high-tech firms.These results confirm the spatial heterogeneity of innovation capitalization and the need for further discussion of its scale and spatial limitations.The study offers implications for relevant GHMGBA administrative authorities for spatially differentiated development strategies and housing policies that consider the role of innovation in successful urban development.

Architecture as a Means of Developing Social Exchange:Learning from a Danish Case Study of Refurbishment and Urban Transformation in a Disadvantaged Housing Area

Disadvantaged housing areas from the postwar period typically consist of relatively monotonous and monofunctional multi-storey blocks and have a separate traffic system rendering the areas isolated enclaves in the urban fabric.It is argued that this spatial isolation contributes to social isolation,and current refurbishments are therefore aimed at linking the housing areas with the surrounding neighbourhoods to enable social exchange between the residents and people from the surrounding areas.Based on a case study in a Danish social housing area,this paper discusses to what extent architectural development and urban strategic transformations can contribute to enabling social exchange in disadvantaged housing areas.Do neighbours enter the disadvantaged housing area as intended?If so,how does this influence their perception of the housing area?The analysis shows that architectural development and urban transformations are interdependent in establishing a social mix in disadvantaged housing areas.It is argued that refurbishments can reduce the stigma surrounding the housing area and its residents.However,the applicability of such strategies is highly dependent on the local context of the housing area.

Characterization,identification and life prediction of acoustic emission signals of tensile damage for HSR gearbox housing material

Purpose-This study aims to ensure the operation safety of high speed trains,it is necessary to carry out nondestructive monitoring of the tensile damage of the gearbox housing material in rail time,yet the traditional tests of mechanical property can hardly meet this requirement.Design/methodology/approach-In this study the acoustic emission(AE)technology is applied in the tensile tests of the gearbox housing material of an high-speed rail(HSR)train,during which the acoustic signatures are acquired for parameter analysis.Afterward,the support vector machine(SVM)classifier is introduced to identify and classify the characteristic parameters extracted,on which basis the SVM is improved and the weighted support vector machine(WSVM)method is applied to effectively reduce the misidentification of the SVM classifier.Through the study of the law of relations between the characteristic values and the tensile life,a degradation model of the gearbox housing material amid tensile is built.Findings-The results show that the growth rate of the logarithmic hit count of AE signals and that of logarithmic amplitude can well characterize the stage of the material tensile process,and the WSVM method can improve the classification accuracy of the imbalanced data to above 94%.The degradation model built can identify the damage occurred to the HSR gearbox housing material amid the tensile process and predict the service life remains.Originality/value-The results of this study provide new concepts for the life prediction of tensile samples,and more further tests should be conducted to verify the conclusion of this research.

Probabilistic Pre-requisites Contributing to Successful Housing Association Partnering

The necessity to achieve value for money(VFM)has been paramount during the current economic climate,with reductions in investment inducing Housing Associations(HAs)to minimise waste and pursue the maximisation of value.Differing characteristics between HAs and private sector clients have a bearing on the pre-requisites associated with a successful partnering outcome.The purpose of this paper is to assist HAs maximise VFM by increasing the likelihood of a successful partnering outcome through gaining an understanding of the most important pre-requisites to be implemented into the arrangement from a HA perspective.A quantitative analysis was adopted to identify the level of importance placed by HA on the probabilistic pre-requisites that contribute to a successful partnering outcome.The results highlight the most important probabilistic pre-requisites from a HA perspective.The research concluded that the three most importantly ranked pre-requisites that contribute to a successful partnering arrangement,perceived exclusively by HAs,were mutual trust between parties;stakeholder commitment and mutual objectives.The plethora of construction partnering research is predominantly based on the construction industry generally.This research focuses on the specific needs of HAs.The findings therefore enable HAs to differentiate between the most and least important pre-requisites identified within the literature.This will increase the probability of a successful partnering arrangement through the unveiling of the pre-requisites that HAs should focus on implementing.Subsequently,the research will assist HAs maximise VFM during the challenging economic period where investment into social housing has been reduced.

Mass Customization and Design for High Density Indemnificatory Housing in China

The use of computer in architectural design shouldn’t sacrifice the pursuit of a human-oriented built environment.The technological applications should be legitimated by the objectives and motivations in multiple dimensions,but not abuse its generative power against the social and cultural interests.This article is based upon our synthetic computational design research for high density indemnificatory housing in China(Fig.1),which challenges the conventional standard design for large scale social housing in the Industrial Era,and reflects our exploration for innovative,multi-disciplinary,systematic and synthetic design in the new design paradigm of computation.It also promotes to shift the privilege of cutting-edge design techniques and avant-garde concepts from the“High(end)Architecture”to the ordinary architecture during the unprecedented built-environment development in China.Architectural design should have no discrimination between the Olympic stadiums in the capital and the social housing in the subordinate developed cities,as they both need to be innovative and meaningful.The final design research outputs address sustainable transformation initiated by the residents during the whole life span of the housing.We believe that the human factor(including stakeholders,users,designers and builders)is even more important in architectural design,city planning,urban design,landscape and interior design while technology development is accelerating.Conceptualization,imagination and systemization would become significant pacemakers which perpetuate design innovation.

某旅游商业综合体开发Live House音乐街区项目的可行性分析

音乐产业作为实现文旅赋能商业的重要元素,已成为各地政府及市场的重点打造对象。本文针对某城市旅游商业综合体提质增效、文旅赋能转型的发展需要,提出开发Live House音乐街区项目,从市场环境出发,基于SWOT分析理论对项目开发可行性进行分析理论及项目效益分析,并就项目运营发展策略提出思考建议。

Weak influence of natural vegetation in urban green spaces compared to agricultural ecosystems on House Martin populations:Insights from nationwide citizen science data in the Czech Republic

The House Martin(Delichon urbicum)is a common farmland bird species in the European landscape,yet its population numbers are currently in decline.However,it is not yet sufficiently explained why this long-term decline occurs.To fill this gap in our knowledge,we investigated how land cover composition affects the abundance of House Martins on the landscape scale by using nationwide citizen science data.Utilizing a generalised linear mixed-effect model(GLMM),we evaluated 12,094 records from the Czech Republic spanning 2009-2017.Our analysis underscores the significance of land cover type in shaping House Martin abundance.More specifically,our results indicate that within agricultural land covers“naturally managed arable lands”exhibited significant positive effect,while forests,orchards,and vineyards were deemed less favourable for House Martin populations.Within urban land covers,we found a clear distinction in the impact on House Martin populations,with a positive effect observed in urban infrastructure,development areas,and post-industrial sites(i.e.,UrbanAreas),while an indifferent impact was noted within urban green spaces and landscaped areas(i.e.,GreenUrban).Notably,our findings suggest that the simple spatial,age,and species structure typical of forests in Europe,and similarly,the uniform structure of parks and gardens,may be responsible for the decline in the abundance of the House Martin.We advocate for the preservation or enhancement of urban greenery,expansion of natural vegetation in rural areas and adoption of ecological management practices in orchards and vineyards to mitigate further declines in House Martin populations.

Properties and Characterization of Two Clays Raw Material from Mountain District (West of Côte d’Ivoire) for Use in Low-Carbon Cements

This work was devoted to the study of the physico-chemical properties of two clay minerals from the Mountain District (West Côte d'Ivoire) referenced ME1 and ME2. These samples were characterized by the experimental techniques, such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Infrared spectroscopy (IR), Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-AES), Differential Thermal Analysis and Thermogravimetry (DTA-TG), Brunauer, Emett and Teller method (BET), laser particle size analysis and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The main results of these analyses reveal that the two clay samples mainly contain quartz (52.91% for ME1 and 51.72% for ME2), kaolinite (36.60% for ME1 and 41.6% for ME2) and associated phases, namely goethite and hematite (13.47% for ME1 and 11.00% for ME2). The specific surface values obtained for samples ME1 and ME2 are 34.78 m2/g and 29.18 m2/g respectively. The results obtained show that the samples studied belong to the kaolinite family. After calcination, they could have good pozzolanic activity and therefore be used in the manufacture of low-carbon cements.

‘Happy Chinese New Year'Concert China National Opera House Performs in Latvia,Uzbekistan and Austria During 2024 Chinese New Year

At the beginning of 2024,Liu Yunzhi,President of China National Opera House,and nearly 50 artists from the Opera troupe,Choir and Symphony of the Opera House held"Happy Chinese New Year"concerts in Latvia,Uzbekistan and Austria,in"the simplest and most friendly way to convey the sound of cultural exchanges",which added impetus to the cultural exchanges between China and the world.

Does China's digital economy contribute to low-carbon transition?

The digital economy,as a new emerging economic form,has become an important power for realizing Chinese-style modernization and promoting green development in China.This paper measures the digital economy and low-carbon transition index based on the data of 30 provinces in China from 2013 to 2020 and analyzes the mechanism and path of the digital economy affecting low-carbon transition using the fixed effect panel data model and the threshold effect model.It is found that,(1)The digital economy and low-carbon transition in China are various in different regions,with characteristics of being unbalanced and insufficient.(2)The digital economy significantly promotes low-carbon transition,with the greatest influence in the Central region,followed by the Eastern region and the Western region.Under different dimensions,the development of informatization and digital transactions promote low-carbon transition,but the development of the internet plays an inhibiting role.(3)The higher the degree of urbanization and environmental regulation,the greater the influence of the digital economy on low-carbon transition.

Effect of ZrC Modified Graphite on Structure and Properties of Low-carbon Al_(2)O_(3)-C Refractories

To address the issues of reduced performance and shortened lifespan during the low-carbonizating process of Al_(2)O_(3)-C refractories,nano-crystalline ZrC modified graphite was prepared using Zr powder and flake graphite as raw materials,with NaCl and NaF mixed salt serving as the medium.The flake graphite was gradually replaced by ZrC modified graphite in the preparation of Al_(2)O_(3)-C refractories,and its impact on the material’s structure and properties was investigated.The results indicate that,compared to samples with only flake graphite,the introduction of 1 mass%to 5 mass%nano-crystalline ZrC modified graphite can significantly enhance the mechanical performance of low-carbon Al_(2)O_(3)-C refractories.When 5 mass%ZrC modified graphite is added,the mechanical properties of the samples are optimal,with the cold modulus of rupture and elastic modulus reaching 22.5 MPa and 65.0 GPa,respectively.