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We use a unique dataset of land parcels and forest cover, before and after subdivision development, to examine outcomes of Maryland's Forest Conservation Act (FCA). Focusing on the spatial configuration of homes and forests, we compare subdivisions created before and after FCA implementation in 1993. We found minimal impacts of FCA on forest outcomes we considered: houses were as likely to be built in forest before and after FCA, and forest metrics showed increasing fragmentation with development unchanged by FCA regulation. However, the FCA led to a greater proportion of forest located away from houses after development. Other regulatory efforts, particularly zoning and riparian buffer regulations, were consistently related to outcomes we studied. FCA has been successful in preserving forest cover, but a stronger emphasis on connectivity and conservation of large forest patches, particularly for parcels with extensive forest cover, will be helpful in reducing fragmentation and disturbance with development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housing vacancy is a significant issue in developed countries' decaying and densely populated cities. Comparisons are made between the number of 'vacant housing' and 'homeless people' stressing the existence of inequalities in access to housing. The reasons for addressing vacancy are manifold, ranging from mitigating urban blight to mobilising latent resources in tight markets. Little attention is paid to vacancy in municipal housing strategies. Still, mapping vacant units appears to be complex and resource-demanding, likely discouraging municipalities from planning further operations against vacancy. Given the lack of methodological support in the literature, this paper discusses how to identify housing vacancy units. Through a case study in Wallonia (Belgium), this paper highlights the benefits of combining visual surveys and processing data provided by utilities and registered addresses. Our results suggest that housing vacancy is underestimated through official statistics and that data mining would help mitigate the administrative burden related to identification and help to prioritise operations designed to reduce housing vacancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housing inequality is far more than a housing matter. To discover how housing inequality has been used across disciplines, and how this may inform future housing research, we performed a systematic scoping review. We found that housing inequality provides multiple understandings as well as a variety of uses, for example, as a measurement tool, a conceptual device, or as subject matter. To draw together useful lessons from this conceptually diverse body of work, we identify four principle uses of 'housing inequality' in the literature – an outcome, an experience, a product, and a construct. These four framings offer a level of conceptual clarity for thinking about, and researching, the different expressions of housing inequality. It contributes to housing research by providing an approach for taking into account the multiple and complex roles of housing, and its distribution and impacts across society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housing inequality in (post-)socialist societies has attracted much academic attention. Prior studies have shown that reform policies mostly favored previous redistributive elites, suggesting that political elites' housing advantage in the pre-reform system would persist in the post-reform regime. However, recent studies have also documented that political elites' housing advantage declined with deepening marketization. While most studies have examined the power persistence theory using intra-generational analyses, we propose to evaluate it through an inter-generational perspective. Empirically, we examine the impacts of parents' political and human capital on children's housing assets in post-reform urban China. We find both types of capital make significant contributions. However, while the effect of parents' human capital can be fully mediated by children's own socio-economic status, their political capital exerts a more direct influence. Political elites' housing advantage is not limited to their own generation, but has an enduring impact on their offsprings' housing status and reproduces in (post-)socialist regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing housing literature in the Global south suggests housing development processes are linear and do not appear to incorporate unexpected events such as land conflicts, which cause destructions, stoppages, and setbacks to housing development. This paper argues that the nexus between land conflicts and housing development can best be conceptualised as fragile and compromised housing. This concept draws attention to the highly violent politics of land and its impact on the housing process, the housing product, and the well-being of the housebuilder. Using evidence from peri-urban Accra and drawing on interviews, the study unpacks the lived experiences of individual housebuilders in navigating through land conflicts to build. The study found that the impact of land conflicts on housing development manifests in complex ways including multiple financial commitments, capital lockdown, cyclical building, compromised housing, and compromised wellbeing. Arguably, these findings highlight the contemporary perspectives to understanding incremental and piecemeal housing in peri-urban Accra and by extension, the Global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The housing construction industry can address sustainability issues by developing its business practices. This requires a shift from a firm-driven business logic to a consumer-inclusive approach where consumers and businesses together enhance sustainable development. By analyzing data from focus group discussions with both industry experts in the wooden multi-storey construction business and consumers residing in novel wooden buildings, this study examines how businesses can engage consumers in the development of sustainable housing. The results are presented as an iterative dialogue process that acknowledges consumers as important actors to whom innovative housing solutions should be appropriately introduced and whose lived experiences need to be understood. The findings indicate that consumer experiences can feed the creation and uptake of innovations that enhance sustainability in the construction sector. The study fosters the material aspect of sustainable housing and, by highlighting consumer participation and communication, proposes tools for its consumer-inclusive co-development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article illustrates how the stigmatization of public housing in Australia has been co-constituted by material and symbolic forces over several decades. Drawing on discourse analysis in conjunction with historical-institutional analysis of housing policy trajectories and the place of housing within political-economic change, it shows how territorial stigmatization can be understood as the product of media, policy and social scientific discourses which problematize public housing as well as histories of policy reform and political-economic restructuring which shape its social, material and institutional conditions. The discursive problematization of public housing estates in particular works to obscure the role of restructuring and reform and thus present demolition and redevelopment as a 'common sense' response, even as a form of destigmatization. The understanding of stigmatisation that this article advances—as a recursively symbolic and political-economic process—is therefore conceptually significant and important for critically evaluating government interventions in the context of stigma, including claims of destigmatization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We are currently observing an international trend towards the establishment of nonprofit-oriented, collaborative and self-managed housing models. In this respect, ideas have been circulating globally and initiatives mutually interacting. The SchloR and Bikes and Rails syndicate projects in Vienna, the focus of this paper, bear witness to this development. They belong to the Austrian umbrella association habiTAT, founded in 2014 along the lines of the German Mietshäuser Syndikat. Against this background, the present paper explores the ways in which mobilized housing commons are implemented in new locations and the role that translocal networks play in this context. The results of our analysis, which is based on 30, partly network-graph assisted, problem-centered interviews, reveal that the housing projects have made explicit use of translocal networks at national and international scale and that vertical linking is a key condition for those projects today. Moreover, way beyond their own needs, they contribute to set up a translocal European knowledge and expert network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses housing and accommodation challenges for refugees in Flanders, a region in Belgium by merging the author's distinct disciplinary perspectives—architectural and sociological. It builds upon two core concepts in housing literature: 'housing pathways' and 'home-making'. Integrating results of several research projects, the article explores the entire housing pathways of refugees from their arrival up to their settlement in private housing in Flemish cities. We analyse how the Belgian system, in which asylum applicants are mainly housed in large, socially isolated and anonymous accommodation centres, obstructs refugees' ability to find integrated, affordable and decent housing once their application has been approved. Combining our research insights, the article formulates a policy critique. We contend that home-making processes of refugees in Flanders are problematic because their housing pathways are severely interrupted due to policy gaps related to Belgium's complex, multi-level government structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article illuminates Frederick Law Olmsted Jr.'s use of racially restrictive covenants in his firm's residential subdivisions. Given his prominence in planning for urban development during the first three decades of the twentieth century, examining Olmsted Jr.'s legacy to the role of planning in perpetuating racial segregation can provide an important missing piece of planning history. This study utilizes a particularly rich collection of restrictive covenants (circa 1900–1930) from the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site to document the scope, variety, location, timing, and language of racial restrictions applied in numerous Olmsted Brothers firm projects across America. In doing so, it considers the relationship between developers, designers, and homeowners in contributing to the segregation of American residential subdivisions still prevalent today. This research demonstrates the commitment of the Olmsted firm to advancing residential segregation in newly created communities throughout the nation during the first half of the twentieth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Off-campus housing remains a major issue related to studentification in African cities. This study analyses the perspectives of landlords and students on off-campus housing supply and utilization in Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe. The study was qualitative and adopted a case study research design. Interviews were conducted with purposively selected key informants, while textual and content analysis was used. We argue that studentification is a potential catalyst for housing development in Chinhoyi, yet the municipality fails to formulate relevant housing policies. The study contributes to studies on student housing in African university towns by highlighting the perceptions of the different stakeholders towards off-campus housing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large‐scale housing developments (LHD) are increasingly being used to accommodate population growth in (sub)urban Aotearoa, but their market‐oriented and delivery‐focused approach raises questions about whether resulting housing supplies meet residents' expectations for a healthy living environment. Based on a mixed‐methods survey with expert and non‐expert residents in the Wellington Region, this research critically examines LHD and underscores the pressing need for a stronger emphasis on health promotion in rapidly growing (sub)urban environments. The study reveals a strong desire among study participants for more social infrastructure in LHD and greater responsibility on the part of LHD developers towards communal values and community engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inclusion of affordable housing in transit-oriented developments (TODs) is necessary for addressing the mobility and shelter needs of transit-dependent and low-income populations. Affordable housing in TODs, however, remains scarce despite state-level policies, interest group advocacy, and developer enthusiasm. We used a multiple case study method and focused on TOD areas in communities with disadvantaged populations in Southern California to examine barriers to and opportunities for affordable housing. We examined the contents of specific plans adopted by local governments to facilitate TODs around 10 selected transit stations in Los Angeles and Orange counties and conducted interviews with planners, policymakers, and developers involved in achieving affordable housing. Our findings indicated that although TOD specific plans permitted higher-density developments, they neither prioritized affordable housing nor presented a coherent vision for an inclusive transit community that would address the needs of different types of households. Moreover, onerous requirements for securing subsidies, patchwork financing, uncertainties in the approval process, and competition from market-rate housing inhibited affordable housing development. Although we did not analyze community opposition to TODs, it was hinted at by our interviewees. Targeting affordable housing in TODs, providing incentives, and strengthening the institutional framework are critical to achieving inclusive transit communities. The development of TODs in a politically fragmented region like Southern California necessitates a lead organization to procure affordable housing investments and strengthen the housing–transportation nexus. We note broader implications of the findings beyond California. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing studies neglect the state-society relations in urban greening, particularly as mediated by residential greening practices. This article fills this gap by investigating the Taichung City Liveable Building (TCLB) programme as a case study of municipality-led eco-housing development, detailing how a municipal government and the real estate sector may collaborate to develop specific housing complexes that incorporate abundant vertical greenery into their built forms. Drawing upon the territory, place, scale, and network (TPSN) framework, this study explores how stakeholders negotiate the politics of greening interventions able to balance competing interests, and it parses out housing-facilitated greening strategies informed by the planning and development of TCLBs. This article reveals the polymorphic power relations deployed around the regime and practices of eco-housing production, suggesting how heterogeneous stakeholders with seemingly disparate aspirations can indeed collaborate to negotiate urban greening through housing development. The conclusions reiterate the significance of this case study and summarize policy takeaways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Degradation of natural and semi‐natural habitats is often initiated and facilitated by expansions in anthropogenic infrastructures. Identifying and reducing the impact of anthropogenic structures on the wildlife that these habitats support is vital for biodiversity conservation. In Iceland, the number of summer houses has increased over the past two decades, from ~10 000 to 15 000, and >7000 additional plots for summer house construction have been approved. Most of this housing infrastructure development is in the Icelandic lowlands, which support internationally important populations of several ground‐nesting bird species. To explore the effects of summer house infrastructure on the distribution of ground‐nesting birds, we conducted surveys at 292 points within 71 sites with varying density of houses and associated infrastructure (tracks, decking, etc). Significant reductions in abundance with increasing housing density occurred in five (Golden Plover (Pluvialis apricaria), Black‐tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa), Redshank (Tringa totanus), Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) and Meadow pipit (Anthus pratensis)) of the seven study species, while one species (Snipe (Gallinago gallinago)) showed no change and one (Redwing (Turdus iliacus)) increased. The differences in abundance between plots with no houses and plots with high house densities (>0.5 houses ha−1) ranged from 34 to 95%, despite the housing infrastructure covering only ~6% of the area of these plots. These findings suggest that even relatively low densities of anthropogenic structures in natural or semi‐natural areas can have substantial impacts on wildlife in the surrounding areas and highlight the urgent need for effective planning regulations to limit the expansion of anthropogenic structures into currently undisturbed habitats, particularly in areas of high biodiversity value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Translocation is an increasingly used tool in conservation management, but there is a risk that source populations are overcollected. The risk depends critically on the detection probability and the source population size. We quantified this risk for a wingless grasshopper population in a patch of remnant habitat in suburban Melbourne that was condemned to be cleared for housing development. We collected ∼2000 grasshoppers in five samples spread over 1 month and used the results to estimate the initial population size (∼3400) with high confidence. Despite our perception of substantially depleting the population, we removed only an estimated 60%, and this relatively high fecundity (∼50 eggs per lifetime) annual species had recovered by the following year to near its original density. Wild‐to‐wild translocation is likely to be a low‐cost and effective strategy in the conservation of many invertebrates, and our findings highlight the feasibility of using natural source populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Definition: Research on sustainable, affordable housing is evolving. Yet, its conceptual efficacy in light of the changing needs of today's cities and targeted low-to-middle-income households remains unknown. In today's rapidly urbanizing world, understanding the conceptual relevance and importance of land use planning tools such as vertical subdivision to the delivery of sustainable housing is tenable. In response to this knowledge gap, this entry inquires, how can the delivery of affordable housing be configured in a manner that leverages the potential of a redefined vertical subdivision development to optimize densities and ensure that housing affordability is sustainable? Here, this entry re-defines vertical subdivision development as a housing planning and design tool that allows for the segregation of air spaces into individual volumetric land parcels that mimic the environmental features of the land-on-ground, such that housing construction within such volumetric spaces is a function of the contextually relevant needs of occupants. This entry demonstrates a paradigm shift from existing housing infrastructure planning models and narratives to one that responds to and addresses all three dimensions of sustainability: economic (sustainable affordability), environmental (sustainable densities), and social (occupant wellness) in the housing infrastructure planning and delivery process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows how residential high-rise developments in London deteriorate the living conditions for existing residents and set a legal precedent for distributing harm unevenly across the population. The paper unpacks the contentious decision-making process in one of several local planning applications in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets that ended in a spur of high-profile public planning inquiries between 2017 and 2019. The Enterprise House inquiry shows how, among other things, a loss of daylight, sunlight and outlook, and an increased sense of enclosure, affect already marginalised residents in neighbouring buildings disproportionately, elevating light to a legal category for assessing harm and addressing social injustice in the vertical city. The paper adopts a forensic approach to interrogate four instances during the public inquiry, in which numerical evidence of material harm resulting from a loss in daylight, sunlight and outlook was made to appear and disappear. The translation of scientific evidence into legal evidence is performed through the act of claiming 'truthful' representations of 'real life experiences' of light in digital visualisations. By revealing how material harm resulting from vertical development is normalised and thus naturalised in the planning inquiry, the paper demonstrates how 'light' violence is exercised in vertical development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demographic changes have prompted the development of 'age-friendly' housing design standards in several countries, but there has been limited exploration of whether older prospective homebuyers would prefer to purchase homes with accessible and adaptable features. This exploratory study used a stated choice experiment to explore whether prospective homebuyers in England aged 50 and over would prefer homes with accessibility and adaptability attributes. Respondents were significantly more likely to select dwellings with step-free access and adaptable bathrooms than properties without these features and were willing to pay significantly more to purchase them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Providing electricity remains challenging in informal settlements. The relationship between electrification and the physical environment is critical but under-developed. I examine the temporary implications of electrification on the physical environment of Thembelihle in Johannesburg, South Africa. The results indicate that electrification has improved Thembelihle's physical environment by improving the street grid and strengthened its social cohesion by increasing resource equity. In-situ upgrading could be used to develop settlements in areas unsuitable for residential development. Still, it must be adopted carefully, considering the opposed visions of the residents and local government and the foreseeable future relocation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"The Decorated Tenement: How Immigrant Builders and Architects Transformed the Slum in the Gilded Age" by Zachary J. Violette and "How the Working-Class Home Became Modern" by Thomas C. Hubka are two books that provide insight into the lives of ordinary people in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States. These books challenge the dominant narrative that focuses on the wealthy and their lavish homes, instead exploring the housing conditions and changes experienced by the working class and poor. Violette's book specifically examines the tenements in New York City, highlighting how immigrant builders and architects adapted these structures to meet the needs and desires of the new American residents. The books also discuss the tensions between housing reformers and tenants, with reformers often imposing their values on lower-class immigrants who were satisfied with their homes. The text mentions that Violette criticizes reformer Jacob Riis for his views on tenements, while Hubka focuses on the middle 60% of the income distribution and their housing improvements. It notes that Hubka's book lacks a racial analysis, but praises Violette for addressing the anti-Semitism faced by Jewish immigrants. Both books demonstrate the improvement in living standards for working-class people during this time period, with Hubka's book specifically examining the modernization of homes and its impact on people's lives. [Extracted from the article]

As cities and economies grow, energy demands also grow, especially in developing countries, given the material production, construction, and operational processes of buildings and cities. Since the recent Powerhouse standard assumes that a building can generate as much energy as it will require during its lifespan, the present study aimed to implement this building standard in the Andean equatorial climate. For this purpose, a building energy model (BEM) integrated into a building information modeling (BIM) process design method was proposed, developing a prototype with vernacular technology, high solar potential, and local or regional data on embodied energy in accordance with a life cycle assessment (LCA) from cradle to grave. Solar potential estimations were complemented by system advisor model (SAM) tool projections. Because of the low energy content of the vernacular architecture proposal and prototype development with a high generation capacity, this standard can be met six times faster in the Andean equatorial climate than in extreme seasonal climates (8.53 years versus 60.0 years). The main goal of our research was to propose a methodological approach that integrates the BEM tool with vernacular concepts and materials and architectural formal criteria for high solar exploitation that, with background data from the literature, makes it possible to decipher the capability of the proposed energy standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite numerous studies and measures that quantify the extent of the shortage in affordable housing for low-income renter households, few studies address potential neighbourhood-level mismatch between affordable housing supply and demand. To fill this research gap, this study investigates whether neighbourhood-level imbalance exists between the number of low-income renters and the number of rental units that are affordable and available to them within the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the USA. It also explores under which metropolitan-level conditions, such an imbalance (measured using the dissimilarity index between low-income renters and rental units affordable to them) is likely to be most severe. The study found that certain neighbourhoods within each metropolitan area contain rental unit surpluses affordable to a particular low-income group and such units substantially decline as the study considers the availability of these affordable stocks. Multivariate analyses reveal that certain metropolitan-level contexts contribute to the imbalance in affordable rental units across low-income groups. These findings imply that various efforts, such as reducing the mismatch between low-wage jobs and workers, providing affordable housing in suburban areas or relaxing local regulatory environments for residential development, may be effective in improving housing affordability imbalance across low-income groups at the local level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

UK planning policies clearly state that well-designed places support the creation of sustainable places that generate positive economic, environment and social outcomes. Yet, for decades, the design value of ‘new build’ housing development has remained stubbornly low. Using data from a multiple case study of new housing developments across the UK’s four nations, this paper asks why this persists and explores how it might be overcome. It models nine key stages in the planning, design and development process for new housing illustrating where the ‘critical points of design governance intervention’ lie. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the light of the Covid-19 pandemic, its mutations, concealment by people and the resistance to vaccines against it, it is relevant to examine the outbreak of bubonic plague in colonial Lagos during the early twentieth century and the response by the British colonial authorities. The methodology applied to this study is historical, drawing information from medical, sanitary, land use and physical planning documents accessed from various archives as well as some secondary sources. It is clear that the colonial government’s housing and public health regulations, which allowed authorities to inspect people’s homes for cases of infectious disease, drove people to escape into the hinterland, increasing the spread of the plague. Consequently, the colonial authorities carried out a massive structural and physical reorganisation of towns and villages. They also embarked on large-scale land reclamation, decongested overcrowded houses and introduced sanitary measures to make the environment more habitable. This paper argues that through effective political governance structures the colonial government strategically eliminated the bubonic plague in Lagos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study was conducted to investigate the impact of different housing systems on the development of equine behavior through variations in serum cortisol concentrations. N=120 x TBP (Thoroughbred Pakistan) of three different groups (A=40 horses 2years not gelded, B= 40 age 3 years and C= 40 four years gelded) and four distinct types of housing systems. Single Housing System No Interaction (SHSNI), the horses didn't have any interaction among them, Single Housing System Limited Interaction (SHSLI), Double Housing System (DHS), a pair of horses were kept in house and Group Housing System (GHS), where (n=40) horses were having complete interaction among them, were considered in the study. The study was conducted on Remount Depot Mona (known as Home of Horses) which is in Mandi Bahuddin, Punjab, Pakistan. The duration of study was 120 days and conducted in four phases (Phase-I SHSNI, Phase-II SHSNI, Phase- III DHS and Phase- IV GHS were used) and each phase was comprised of 30 days duration. Before shifting to any housing system, the blood was collected to measure cortisol concentration at zero day and then after every 30th day again blood was collected prior to shifting to next housing system. Blood was collected from each horse for serum cortisol analysis through Cortisol kit. Competitive Enzyme immunoassay (CEIA) was used for quantification of cortisol in samples by using commercially available cortisol ELISA kits. Analysis of variance by considering randomized complete block design was performed for statistical analysis. The cortisol concentration exhibited no significant fluctuations within the groups, but a noteworthy disparity was observed between the housing systems (P<0.05). The cortisol concentration measured at 0th day was 1.53 µg/dL which was decreased 0.58 µg/dL in SHSNI and increased 0.59 µg/dL in SHSLI reached slightly above the average value at 0th day, then it decreased (0.57 µg /dL) in DHS and again increased in GHS (0.58 µg /dL) and reached to 1.55 µg /dL. The study concludes that SHSLI is a more suitable housing system than all others, needed to be adopted for the better welfare of the horses than other housing systems. This house has maximum social interaction, less stress and stereotypes with limited injuries as compared to alternative housing systems. Further investigation can be performed to standardize that type of housing which maintains the minimum stress level of Thoroughbred horses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article highlights the pressing issue of workforce housing shortages, exploring challenges like surging costs, inadequate supply, and economic disparities that hinder access to affordable housing. Topics discussed include the impact on talent retention, recruitment, and economic well-being. It emphasizes the pivotal role of economic development organizations in advocating policy reform, fostering partnerships, and championing data-driven solutions to address this crisis.

The honking of the geese going south was beginning to get on his nerves. How to work with that going on. And the library was getting colder. The day had been grey, the soil damp, the air raw and feeling like snow. It might snow tonight. Not a long walk home though—and the apartment was at least warm. If it wasn't for the people upstairs, creaking, stamping (or that's what it sounded like), and shouting—but maybe just talking given the thin walls. Maybe they were using Skype—his own had long since ceased to connect. Needs a new password, or better, someone to call. He had felt the walls this morning—damp and a little soft— old plasterboard, wooden panels slightly buckled from heat and damp in that order. How could they let the housing get so run-down? But that was how monasteries worked, and this, all said and done, was a sort of monastery. Without the religion of course. But religion was there all right—under the radar, couched in academic formulae, a kind of ersatz nonbelief in belief. He had heard it at lunch—the endless parroting of rehashed research, of half-baked theories, of platitudes about how good the food was, or how much better the food was yesterday, or how interesting the mixed cold vegetarian salad was, or that you couldn't count on anything these days, or you are new here aren't you? Kindly inquiries, sensitive overtures, only half-listening to the replies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores ways to incorporate regulatory requirements into affordable housing construction contracts. Topics discussed include federal, state and local regulations that apply to a prime construction contract, applications for funding, grants or loans such as the Low Income Housing Tax Credits program, HOME Investment Partnerships Program and Housing Development Grant Funds, and supplementary conditions of the owner for affordable housing.

With mega state housing projects needing large land parcels and that are often located in the periphery, this paper investigates what impact relocating residents to Golden Gardens housing development has had on the quality of life and their financial wellbeing. Using primary data obtained from residents living in the Golden Gardens housing development, the findings show that respondents' access to and quality of physical and social facilities, such as refuse services, water, and electricity, has improved. Respondents were also unanimous that staying in their Golden Gardens homes has significantly improved their security. However, many residents currently living in Golden Gardens used to live closer to work and social activities than they do now, which means that they used to spend less each month on transport than they do now. The high-commuting cost has increased household expenses, meaning that the respondents' financial wellbeing has been negatively impacted. These results imply yet unmet long-term objectives of human settlements as envisaged in various government policies and programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars across disciplines frequently employ data on housing developments subsidized by the National Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC). We find that the geographic coordinates for these developments, generated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), are frequently inaccurate. Using both the population of data from California and a national sample, we find that HUD-provided geocodes are inaccurate nearly half the time while Google-generated geocodes are almost always more accurate. However, while Google's geolocation is more likely to be accurate, when it is inaccurate, it deviates from the true location by a much greater distance than HUD. We therefore recommend that scholars use Google-generated geocodes for most research applications where the localized environment matters; however, in studies where observations are aggregated to a larger area, researchers may prefer to use HUD geocodes, which are more frequently inaccurate but typically by smaller distances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cabo Pulmo National Park (CPNP), within the East Cape of Baja California Sur, Mexico, is the location of a highly productive rocky reef ecosystem that was likely attractive to people throughout the Holocene. AMS radiocarbon dates from sites along the coast and faunal data from two excavated sites, D20 and D27, indicate people were present in the region by at least 7120–6755 cal b.p. (D34), but evidence of persistent occupation and possibly higher population densities postdates 2110–1945 cal b.p. (D27, Unit 1). The most prominent sites with intact stratified archaeological deposits appear to be focused adjacent to prominent rocky points, where assemblages include a variety of marine mollusks, fish, birds, terrestrial and marine mammals, and sea turtle remains. At both D20 and D27, there is evidence people targeted small fishes including sardines, likely with nets. This study highlights the strong archaeological potential in CPNP to address questions about human coastal adaptations and population history during the Holocene, emphasizing the importance of protecting cultural resources in an area at risk from growing tourism and residential development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on a systematic assessment of the impact of development projects on different performance areas, with an emphasis on social. In the context of the ever-evolving digital era, development projects are becoming a key element for achieving competitiveness and sustainability in all sectors. The aim of this paper is to analyze how development (housing) projects affect economic growth, firm efficiency, social interaction and sustainable development from a theoretical knowledge perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, the Los Angeles Police Department has experimented with a unique model of community-oriented policing called the Community Safety Partnership (CSP). The program places a dedicated set of CSP officers in select housing developments and neighborhoods to engage with residents to better understand and ultimately address the root causes of crime. This study examined the first four waves of the program to assess whether, and the extent to which, the program reduced violent crime. Results reveal significant variation in program effects, with the first wave yielding crime reductions while subsequent waves experienced little to no change in violent crime. Supplemental analyses suggest that the null results for the final three waves of the program were not confounded by increases in crime reporting and reveal that crime reductions following the program's first wave were not achieved through increases in traditional enforcement (e.g., arrests). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Arab Emirates has adopted environmental sustainability agendas for urban development and housing levels. In response, the urban design of public housing has been transformed from a low-rise urban sprawl housing typology into more compact urban forms and recently into vertical urban forms. While the social aspects related to Emirati families have been carefully preserved in the designs of all these public housing typologies, the environmental sustainability aspects have not been rigorously assessed in these designs, especially at the urban scale. To address this, this study was aimed at assessing the energy and ecological performance of a recent pioneering vertical public housing project in comparison with two case studies representing the most-compact low-rise urban form and the conventional low-rise urban sprawl public housing. The assessments of the three cases were compared with local benchmarks to evaluate how close their environmental performance was to these benchmarks, especially for the vertical housing design. As for the research method, these assessments were performed by calculating the expected average annual operational energy and embodied environmental impacts using the Urban Modeling Interface design tool for reliable simulations. The simulation results for the three urban housing case studies revealed that the average annual operational energy per square meter [energy use intensity (EUI)] for the pioneering vertical housing project, with its high urban compactness floor-area ratio (FAR) of 1.34, reached 104 kWh/m2. By comparison, the most-compact form of low-rise urban public housing, with a FAR of 0.41, had an EUI value of about 120 kWh/m2, with the urban sprawl case study having an EUI value of about 157 kWh/m2. The estimated average total embodied energy per square meter over 50 years was 1,070.79 kWh/m2 in the vertical residential building, a decrease from the 1,331 kWh/m2 for the compact low-rise housing and the much higher 1,527.67 kWh/m2 for the urban sprawl public housing. In addition, the recorded average annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per square meter over 50 years significantly decreased, from 147.37 kgCO2/m2 in the conventional urban sprawl and 129.83 kgCO2/m2 in the compact low-rise housing to only 105.35 kgCO2/m2 in the vertical public housing project. Despite the notable enhancement in energy performance in the vertical public housing when compared with the low-rise urban forms, there is still a desperate need for more-efficient and sustainable design strategies for the vertical public housing typology to make it comply with the local benchmark for sustainable residential buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The estimation of construction quantities is a critical aspect of any construction project, and accuracy in the quantity takeoff (QTO) process is an integral part in achieving project success. Accuracy can be improved by automating the QTO process. However, one of the gaps in automated QTO is found to be the lack of a platform-ignorant computing algorithm regarding different building information modeling (BIM) authoring tools. Available BIM-based commercial cost estimation software programs such as Autodesk Naviswork, Autodesk QTO, iTWO CostX, Innovaya Visual QTO, ConstrucSim, and so forth, are limited in terms of full automation, largely because full interoperability across all the different applications has not yet been achieved. This paper explores interoperable QTO algorithms using industry foundation classes (IFC)-based BIM. To evaluate the IFC-based QTO algorithms, a case study was conducted on a residential development project in Kalamazoo, MI. Comparing with commercial software used in practice, the IFC-based QTO algorithms showed consistent results, whereas were more powerful regarding their independence from BIM authoring tools in extracting the volumetric and areal quantities of building components. The IFC-based QTO algorithms processed the different types of building element configurations in the residential development project smoothly. Furthermore, the QTO algorithms are expected to reduce the manual input required in generating QTO through interfacing with IFC data which is the ISO international standard for BIM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers often use daylight and glare analysis to measure visual comfort for daytime inside a built space. However, residential environments include both built and unbuilt spaces. Recently, unbuilt open spaces like courts are gaining equal importance in architectural designs. The literature review revealed very little research on visual comfort analysis in these intermediate open spaces. Therefore, this study proposes a method to analyze visual comfort in identified intermediate open-to-sky courts of clustered residential development. First, by conducting the point-in-time analysis, the study compares field measurements against simulation results to validate the software's ability to simulate accurate daylight and glare values in these courts. Later, the study analyses visual comfort in identified courts by conducting an annual glare analysis using the calibrated simulation model. The outcome confirms the use of annual and point-in-time glare analysis for visual comfort analysis in courts of residential areas. The results exhibited visually uncomfortable views at the corresponding time. Additionally, simulation experiments highlight the importance of such spaces' shape, size, and orientation in visual comfort analysis. These outcomes will help future visual comfort research of intermediate open spaces in low to mid-rise residential environments with tropical climatic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National housing systems increasingly combine three main types of housing: the private property sector (home ownership and private rental), social and public rental (public and non-profit sectors) and cooperative (social or civil economy). The dominant private type has facilitated housing speculation, which in many countries has become a critical source of economic inequality and instability. The cooperative housing type can be a viable alternative with a socio-spatial cohesion effect. This article compares the phenomena of socially oriented cooperative housing in three European countries (Denmark, The Netherlands and Spain). The analytical focus is on the public policies and regulations, and the societal and collective action factors that foster the development of housing cooperatives. The three cases present different institutional settings and ways to develop a socially oriented cooperative housing sector. The research findings contribute to mutual learning processes in searching alternatives to the commercial and very expensive private urban housing provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While cities can use their power to enact zoning ordinances and create historic preservation districts, these preservation ordinances vary widely across the United States, from allowing almost any type of development to strictly limiting any new development that does not match existing height, density, and use patterns. Within this framework, state legislatures have often limited the types of regulatory actions cities may take, as cities are merely political subdivisions of the state. Some states--known as "Dillon's Rule" states--restrict cities from taking novel legislative approaches to existing policy issues, such as affordable housing, unless those powers are expressly provided to the municipalities by the state legislature. "Home rule" states, on the other hand, grant broad legislative authority to cities to act on any local issues not preempted or foreclosed by the state legislature. The current affordable housing and homelessness crises in cities across the United States cause some scholars to argue against traditional historic preservation broadly, as it often results in overinclusive or unnecessary preservation that hinders efforts to develop more densely. In fast-growing places like Nashville, Tennessee, with strong music and entertainment scenes, there is a tension between preserving notable music landmarks and the pressure to develop housing in higher densities. These cities need the power and means to generate innovative methods of determining which sites to preserve while upzoning surrounding areas. Cities tend to over-prioritize either preservation or new development without creating a logical method for preserving only those sites with continued relevance and use while facilitating new development on other sites. Where applicable, states should legislate to make it easier for Dillon's Rule and partial or limited home rule cities to create innovative preservation schemes prioritizing sites of importance without preserving entire swaths of neighborhoods or districts unnecessarily and for aesthetic reasons alone. Cities should use existing means to develop zoning schemes with a more individual site analysis approach, allowing for the preservation of individual buildings while increasing density around them with incentives for housing development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]