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.

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.

城市间房价分化的影响因素研究

面对一二三线城市房价增速的分化走势,“因城施策”逐渐成为主基调,为此需要准确识别不同城市房价分化的主要因素。本文综合使用XGBoost等机器学习方法以及SHAP值解释性方法,基于2009—2019年全国70个大中城市面板数据,测算并分析一二三线城市房价分化的主要因素。结果表明:(1)预期因素在多轮房价分化期间都起到重要驱动作用;(2)货币政策本身并不是房价分化的主要因素,但可以通过影响预期导致房价分化;(3)需求因素和供给因素本身也不是房价分化的主要因素,但也可以通过影响预期导致房价分化。有鉴于此,“因城施策”的关键在于稳定公众对房价的预期:一线城市应在控制土地成本的前提下适当增加住房供给,削弱由于供不应求所带来的房价上涨预期;二三线城市需进一步完善基础设施,提高教育、医疗和环境质量,改善居民购房需求,防范人口外流带来的房价下跌预期。

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.

“住有所居”对流动人口定居意愿的影响--基于非正规产权房的视角

流动人口及其家庭在城镇安居是新型城镇化进程中流动人口市民化的重要内容,探索影响其定居城镇的决定因素具有十分重要的理论和现实意义。基于2017年中国流动人口动态监测调查数据,从住有所居的视角出发,探讨非正规的产权住房--小产权房对流动人口定居意愿的影响。研究发现:第一,小产权房通过其价格低廉化和在购买后形成的事实性占有提高了流动人口的定居意愿,但在现实中仍应高度警惕和重视小产权房对流动人口完整市民化和正规房地产市场健康运作带来的诸多负面挑战;第二,小产权房对流动人口定居意愿的“锁定”效应存在显著的群体异质性,在法律意识淡薄和对廉价住房需求高的“初中”“收入低”“老一代”流动人口群体中的影响作用更加明显,说明经济地位偏低和法律风险感知能力弱的流动人口在面对小产权房的低廉性时更容易作出“非理性”选择。这一结果预示着提供可负担的保障性住房和稳定城市住房价格,将附着在小产权房上的“廉价保障房”功能剥离开来,可能是解决小产权房问题行之有效的方式;同时,在治理和整顿存量小产权房时,要对蜗居其中的弱势流动人口群体予以充分的人文关怀,找寻保障弱势流动人口群体的住房权益与解决小产权房问题之间的平衡点和兼容性。

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.

征迁改造居民的“知情意”——风险感知、政府信任及焦虑情绪对政策支持意愿的影响

以人为核心、关注民情、尊重民意是推进新型城镇化征迁改造的核心理念。已有研究主要关注居民的多元理性认知对征迁改造意愿的影响,对于情绪在认知与意愿的关系中发挥何种作用仍缺乏解释。运用质性研究方法,开发涵盖生计风险、适应风险和利益风险3个维度的征迁改造风险感知多维构念,以焦虑情绪为中介,建立征迁改造风险感知和政府信任对政策支持意愿影响的“知-情-意”模型。通过对18个新型城镇化改造试点地区居民的大规模实证调查发现:焦虑情绪在征迁改造风险感知对支持意愿的负向影响路径中发挥部分中介作用;政府信任通过直接方式以及减弱焦虑情绪的间接方式正向影响支持意愿,且直接效应显著大于间接效应。将焦虑情绪这一重要中介因素纳入居民意愿形成的分析框架,从及时评估并缓解居民焦虑情绪、面向不同群体实施差异化征迁改造政策、打通民意的“最先和最后一公里”以及提升基层政府公信力等方面为推动新型城镇化建设、避免群体性事件提供政策启示。

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.

夏热冬冷气候下太阳能住宅装配式设计实践

为推动我国村镇领域技术创新,建设绿色宜居村镇环境,针对夏热冬冷地区住宅的太阳能利用,从材料到构造,到建筑设计层面,完成与其配合的一体化技术设计策略研究及节能策略的应用探索。借助国际太阳能竞赛的契机,从前期设计的策略选取到后期项目的完成结果,总结实践经验,对比预期和实践的差距及原因。结果表明,前期平面、结构、材料、构造等都满足了对于太阳能利用技术的一体化设计,同时考虑了自然采光、隔热、遮阳等策略的应用,以减少能量损耗,取得了相应的效果,并对未达到预期效果的原因作出评判。

我国住房制度演进历程:成效、问题及改革

本文回顾了我国住房制度从福利分房到市场化改革的基本历程。在此基础上,对改革的成效、深化改革的建议作了阐述。回顾历史表明,在坚持市场化和“房住不炒”的总体原则下,无论是“九八”房改提出的基于不同收入人群的分类供给思路,还是党的十九大提出的多主体供应、多渠道保障、租购并举的住房制度,改革的目标都是住房供应体系的多层次、广覆盖、可持续,实现方式都是围绕这一住房制度,在土地、财税、金融等方面的综合配套,系统推进。

基础教育空间资本化效应与空间优化策略

受限于优质教育资源的有限性及其分配机制,基础教育的数量、质量与获取机制会显著影响土地和住房价格,形成具有时空间异质性的资本化效应,从而影响教育均等化与可及性。如何理解这种资本化效应的理论基础、测度方法与影响机制,采取有效策略降低教育资本化效应,推动基础教育均等化与可及性,成为新型城镇化亟需解决的重要问题。基于此,系统研究基础教育资本化效应的理论基础、研究过程、实证方法与结果,以及差异化结果的影响因素,并从学区分配制度渐进改革、溢价捕获工具使用、保障住房多层优化配置等提出促进教育起点公平的政策建议。这对推动基础教育资源优化分配,实现基础教育资源获取的均等化与可及性,具有一定的理论和实践价值。

“认房认贷”政策放松对房地产市场影响效应分析——基于住房交易挤出的视角

明晰需求端政策调控对二手房和新房市场的影响效应具有重要的现实意义。本文以“认房认贷”政策作为研究对象,运用时间断点回归模型,分析2022年部分二三线城市“认房认贷”政策放松对二手房和新房成交量价的影响以及两个子市场的联动规律,并进一步检验政策放松的空间挤出效应。研究发现,“认房认贷”政策放松显著增加了二手房的成交量,并减缓了二手房成交价格的下行趋势,但政策生效存在1~2个月的时滞。然而,二手房市场流动性增强挤出了新房市场的改善性住房需求,使得大户型新房成交量显著减少,并带来当期新房成交价格的下降。此外,高能级城市“认房认贷”政策的放松对周边低能级城市住房交易有较强的挤出效应,对小中大户型的新房交易均有持续显著的抑制效果。据此提出要因城施策引导刚性和改善性购房者分流。