Low-Cost Housing (Architecture)

L’articolo riporta una serie di riflessioni dedicate all’accezione dei termini “costo” e “qualità” in relazione dell’edilizia dedicata al Social Housing dai programmi di ricostruzione postbellica al periodo attuale. Ciò avviene anche in riferimento all’esigenza di sostenibilità del costruito studiata durante il Workshop della laurea magistrale in costruzione tenutosi nel giugno 2010.

Housing is the most important tool of social security and it should be ensured by durable and strong
construction practices along with affordability.
In Indian reference the housing problem has been compounded by the fact that 59% area of our country is
disaster prone, to one or other kind of natural calamity. Of all the natural calamities earth quake does not give
any reaction time what so ever for hazard avoidance and mitigation. The suddenness makes earth quake most
feared natural disaster.
Settlements housing weaker sections of society are more vulnerable to such disasters as their houses are
poorly engineered and constructed with locally available material and technology, having very low score on
disaster resistance and sustainability count. A general feature of low cost housing concepts is maximum
replacement of cement and steel with locally available materials and vernacular technology. Avoidance of steel
and concrete increases the construction mass which increases the amount of seismic impact on such structures.
In Indian socio-economic context, low cost housing proposals do not get acceptability with common man, due to
lack of durability.
In the present paper a pre-engineered pre-cast design for rural mass housing, utilising most versatile and
durable building materials, concrete and steel as main constituent is proposed. This is less massive but
technology and labour intensive. The design and construction methodology adopted, results in light and quick
construction.
The proposed design incorporates base isolation through horizontal decoupling and seismic energy
dissipation through friction, flexibility. A collapse proof failure mode has been devised, which can avoid loss of
life and property. This design may be used with great advantage in aftermath of a seismic calamity, when after
shocks are still being experienced, by virtue of being light, quick to construct, disaster resistant, and
economical. The design is superior on sustainability parameters also.

Housing is one of the basic needs of human. Population in Malaysia is increasing and expected to reach up to 35 million in year 2020. This phenomenon creates high demand for housing.
To tackle the squatter problems, the government introduces low-cost housing. Low cost house is known as the government house, where the price is cheaper but still comfortable. Although there are many of low-cost housing projects have been completed to cope with the need of the citizen especially
for low-income group. However, census report reveled that these is huge demand of low-cost housing. This demand might be because of various factors which are very essential to identify in order to meet the required demand of low cost houses. Hence, this study is carried out to assess the demand of low cost housing in Melaka, determine the significant factors affecting demand of low-cost housing, and establish PLS-SEM model for assessing factors affecting low-cost housing demand. In this study, data are collected by distributing questionnaire in Melaka state. The collected data from survey was analyzed using statistical software SPSS and presented in graphs and chart. Further, factors affecting low cost housing demand in Melaka were modeled with the SmartPLS v2.0. The model shows the relationship between low cost housing demand and its indicators. The finding of the study showed that most significant indicators affecting the demand of low-cost housing in Melaka are the economic factors which include housing stock, inflation rate and Gross Domestic Products (GDP). The
Goodness of Fit showed that the model has substantial explaining power for the assessing factors affecting low cost housing demand in Melaka which the values is 0.481. This means that the economic factor has a great influence on the low-cost housing demand in Melaka.

Título:
HABITAÇÃO PARA IDOSOS EM LISBOA: DE COLECTIVA A ASSISTIDA. O CASO DE ALVALADE

A população portuguesa (e mundial) está a envelhecer a um ritmo muito acelerado — Lisboa era já em 2001 a capital europeia da UE15 mais envelhecida, realidade que se agravou desde então.
Esta tendência demográfica de quase inversão da pirâmide demográfica significa que é urgente encontrar uma solução habitacional para os idosos, que constituem o único grupo etário em crescimento. Significa também que as cidades serão progressivamente habitadas por mais idosos, pelo que o quotidiano urbano (em espaços públicos e privados, livres ou construídos) será cada vez mais condicionado pelas restrições dos mais velhos, em termos de acessibilidades ou outros aspectos funcionais.
Objectivo
Para evitar a panaceia da institucionalização em lares de idosos, é urgente propor um novo paradigma habitacional para as pessoas mais velhas: envelhecer em casa.
Metodologia
Sendo Lisboa maioritariamente constituída por edifícios de apartamentos, estudou-se o funcionamento e características das “residências assistidas” de diferentes iniciativas (privada, estatal, IPSS) e dimensões (grande, média e pequena).
Desse estudo retiraram-se ensinamentos que permitissem a sua aplicação aos edifícios normais de habitação colectiva, transformando-os desse modo em edifícios-residência, onde os moradores possam naturalmente envelhecer, em apartamento adaptados ou adaptáveis às diferentes etapas da vida.
Seguidamente estudaram-se edifícios de apartamentos cujas características permitissem encontrar soluções aplicáveis ou extrapoláveis para outros conjuntos habitacionais.
Para cada um dos edifícios existentes que foram seleccionados desenvolveu-se um projecto de adaptação do edifício e dos apartamentos de modo que, com intervenções e custos mínimos, permitisse a sua conversão em condomínio assistido.
Resultados
O Bairro de Alvalade, pela repetição sistemática dos seus edifícios-tipo, permitiu seleccionar seis casos concretos para aplicação de diferentes soluções, no sentido de que passem a funcionar como condomínios assistidos para os seus moradores envelhecidos, evitando (ou adiando) a sua institucionalização.
As soluções projectadas para estes seis edifícios têm a possibilidade inerente de replicação, podendo ser aplicadas a dezenas de edifícios, centenas de apartamentos e milhares de moradores, apenas no Bairro de Alvalade.
Conclusão
Com os modelos de intervenção propostos caso a caso, verificam-se vantagens habitacionais, humanas e urbanas: ganham-se apartamentos mais flexíveis, adaptáveis às diversas fases da vida; os moradores podem envelhecer em casa e no bairro, na companhia de vizinhos e comerciantes que conhecem e em quem confiam; torna-se mais fácil e cómodo para os familiares manterem as rotinas das visitas à casa de sempre; os espaços exteriores públicos tornam-se mais amigos dos idosos (e como tal amigos de todos), com acessibilidade universal; o convívio intergeracional é promovido, dentro de casa, no edifício e no bairro; a flexibilidade do novo modelo permite a renovação natural das gerações dos seus habitantes e novamente o seu envelhecimento em casa, sem segregação edificativa nem estigmatização social — a cidade envelhece e renova-se continuamente.

Low cost housing is a different concept which helps in reducing cost through the use of locally available materials and technology with the help of improved skills without losing the power, performance and life of the structure. There is a huge misconception that low cost housing is suitable for only subnormal works and they are built by using cheap building materials of low quality. The low cost housing should be done by proper management of resources. Cost of reduction in construction is achieved by selection of more efficient material or by an improved design.

A historical analysis of the geopolitics of real estate with settler-colonialism on the one side and the rise of über-wealthy foreign real estate investors on the other. Individual foreign investment in Western nation states is a long-standing geopolitical issue. The expansion of the middle class in BRICS and Asian countries, and their increased activity in Western real estate markets as foreign investors, have introduced new and revived existing cultural and geopolitical sensitivities.In this book, Dallas Rogers develops a new history of foreign real estate investment by mapping the movement of human and financial capital over more than four centuries. The book argues the reconfiguration of Asian geopolitical power has ruptured the conceptual landscape for understanding international land and real estate relations. Drawing on assemblage theories (Latour, Deleuze and Guattari), assemblage analytical tactics (Sassen and Ong) and discursive media theories (Kittler and Foucault) a series of vignettes of land and real estate crisis are presented. The book demonstrates how foreign land claimers and global real estate professionals colonise, subvert and act beyond the governance structures of settler-societies to facilitate new types of capital circulation and accumulation around the world.

A concise research paper conducted examining the Irish housing market in context with key American cities which have resorted to micro communities and apartments as a solution to overpriced housing markets. Socioeconomic conditions, housing market conditions, demographics and statistical analysis are conducted and compared with the American and Irish housing markets. Interviews with micro housing developers and case studies of four types of smaller dwellings are analysed and proposed as a partial solution to overheating housing market conditions that are pricing home buyers and renters out of the housing market in Ireland.

This paper describes the methodology and results obtained after productivity improvement work conducted on two consecutive building construction jobs.  The first one was used to evaluate production rates and productivity, current construction methods, potentials and lacks of construction equipment, current construction planning methodology, and existing tools to asses productivity.  These are briefly discussed in this paper. The second job was preplanned based on the experience and detailed documentation obtained in the first one. Work was conducted in order to “design” construction methods in detail, develop a detailed production planning based on the construction methods developed, select crew components and select their specific tasks, and design communication and control tools. Although the second job’s schedule and budget were originally calculated using standard methods (i.e. historical production rates), new schedule and budget were calculated based on the preplanning effort. Construction performance was measured against these values.

Gandhi and Architecture: A Time for Low-Cost Housing chronicles the emergence of a low-cost, low-rise housing architecture that conforms to M.K. Gandhi’s religious need to establish finite boundaries for everyday actions; finitude in turn defines Gandhi’s conservative, exclusionary conception of religiosity.  Drawing from archival and field materials, the book begins with an exploration of Gandhi’s religiosity of relinquishment and the British Spiritualist, Madeline Slade’s creation of his low-cost hut, Adi Niwas, in the village of Segaon in the 1930s. Adi Niwas inaugurates a low-cost housing architecture of finitude founded on the near-simultaneous but heterogeneous conservative Gandhian ideals of pursuing self-sacrifice, and rendering the pursuit of self-sacrifice legible  as the practice of varnashramadharma.
At a considerable remove from Gandhi's religious conservatism, successive generations in post-colonial India have reimagined a secular necessity for this Gandhian low-cost housing architecture of finitude. In the early 1950s era of mass housing for post-partition refugees from Pakistan, the making of a low-cost housing architecture was premised on the necessity of responding to economic concerns and to an emerging demographic mandate. In the 1970s, during the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries crisis, it was premised on the rise of urban and climatological necessities. More recently, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, its reception has been premised on the emergence of language-based identitarianism in Wardha, Maharashtra. Each of these moments of necessity reveals the enduring present of a Gandhian low-cost housing architecture of finitude and also the need to emancipate Gandhian finitude from Gandhi's own exclusions.
This volume is a critical intervention in the philosophy of architectural history. Drawing eclectically from science and technology studies, political science, housing studies, urban studies, religious studies and anthropology, this richly illustrated volume will be of great interest to students and researchers of architecture and design, housing, history, sociology, economics, Gandhian studies, urban studies and development studies.

A lecture for ARCH 325 (Environmental Design & Society) on the Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy's effort to design and build a village for 7,000 displaced Egyptian peasants--the Gourni. Though the village of New Gourna  was never completed, Fathy's work is one of the earliest examples of self-help housing and has considerable value for building shelter for the displaced people of the world today.

During the 1950s, Latin American capitals were facing the emergence of squatter settlements. In Peru, architects working for the government built and tested new strategies to improve and urbanize the barriadas, the squatter settlements in Lima’s outskirts. This work would
eventually become a model for other third-world cities. The challenge was to incorporate the industrialization and standardization of construction, and the spatial organization of modern architecture with the spontaneous houses of the squatter settlements. It was at this time that architects recognized the impossibility of achieving the total modernization of cities and societies, and accepted the need to work collectively with the “ordinary” and the “everyday” in the uncertainty of urban development vis-à-vis the design of the city. The Proyecto
Experimental de Vivienda-PREVI housing competition was promoted by the Peruvian Government and sponsored by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) as an experimental project in 1969.  Its goal was to find new solutions to the overwhelming informal urbanization in developing cities, as well as the lack of affordable housing in developing countries.  The PREVI-Lima project produced a new kind of collective housing model: a new generation of unidades vecinales (neighbourhood units) with spatial and formal qualities able to ultimately achieve social change and to create a sense of community through the dwellers’  transformation of houses and the appropriation of public spaces. PREVI housing architecture succeeded in changing and challenging Peruvian society, and opened up many possibilities for a different kind of life.

Iraq oil rich country is in the condition of economic chaos and confronting an intense scarcity for the low-cost housing in the capital as migration from the surrounding cities flooded where country poor economic condition has pushed the housing price hiked in cities. Therefore, this study is conducted with aims to determine critical factors affecting the affordable housing in Iraq. Quantitative study consisting close ended questionnaire of four sections cover all critical factors and randomly distributed questionnaire among the construction industry players to determine the objectives of the study. The questionnaire was translated into Arabic/local language so the every responded understand the questions, total distributed questionnaire is 175 and in response 134 received and data is analysed using SPSS software. Study findings shows that sustainable land management, easy and low interest rate loan arrangement to overcome on the financial constraints are the critical problem followed by unsteady or interpreted supply of construction materials, pricing control significantly help to keep lower the cost of affordable housing. Study also concluded that smaller size houses are no longer the key barriers of acceptance to the Iraqi community. Thus, study strongly recommend government stakeholders to develop framework and properly manage the land for housing purpose. Lastly, steady supply chain management for all the essential construction materials such as steel, technology, cement, electrical and sanitary appliance also control the pricing so low-cost housing dream of the people become true.

This project focuses on how  one makes  a  case  for the using RE as alternative building technology  for  social  housing in  informal  settlements in SA.To make  a  strong  case,  it  is important to establish the credentials of RE as a sustainable alternative option using EPD data.It  is  important  to  consider  why RE has  not  been used  given that the  climatic,  soil and  other conditions seem favourable.The study focus is South Africa and the housing situation for the urban  poor.  I  also  look  at  the  policy  and  legal  framework  for  informal  settlements  to understand  the  conditions,  opportunities  and  challenges present.  The report also provides information, history and typologies of RE walls. Using multiple methods to get qualitative and quantitative data  to  address  specific  parts  of  the  project  was  important to  compensate  for weak data  from  some  methods. The  variety  and  cost  of  RE  walls  means  that there  are implications on the cost for the poor to build with RE.The variation of location and conditions and materials  make  it  difficult  to  choose  just  one  prototype  wall.The  biggest  challenge  for building  in  informal  settlement  is  a  requirement  for  insitu  development.  This presents challenges for sourcing materials especially water and can affect costs. Despite the problems, RE could create a comfortable living space for the poor and address the demand for housing urban areas.  The findings of the project can add to the ongoing discussions in South Africa and across Africa about sustainable building materials for social housing.

The United Kingdom has been facing a housing crisis since 2008, contributing to the record levels of working families living in debt. In spite of this, the number of affordable houses being constructed has dropped to its minimum level for nearly 25 years (RTPI, 2017).
Housing prices continue to rise whilst demand for social and affordable housing far exceeds supply, the typical response to this by developers is to focus on quantity at the expense of design quality.
This dissertation has the objective of addressing the housing shortage by finding ways to simultaneously increase the quantity but also the quality of social and affordable housing by taking the inhabitants and their environment into consideration.
The methodology is to first identify the main limitations on the supply of both social and affordable housing, and then to determine possible solutions based on successful case studies that have been analysed to demonstrate how they have achieved the goal of producing quantity and quality.
The investigation reveals that the housing crisis is a complicated matter and involves many actors including landowners, local authorities, planners, architects, developers, housebuilders, buyers, etc. Therefore, the solutions are multifaceted and consider economics, planning, design, and policy.
The outcome of the study provides a comprehensive understanding of the housing crisis and offers recommendations to everyone involved in the housing sector to help them achieve better living places and thus better communities.

The significance of this study will be to compare various ways of constructing green buildings / more sustainable housing schemes. There have been proposals for these types of constructions however the efficiency of current proposals requires exploring. It would also benefit to review current Environmental Impact Assessment compared with International Assessments if there are any loops holes in the current South African schemes.

Research Aim:
• What is currently being proposed by government
• Explore various design options of sustainability
• Compare these options with current proposals
• Conclude with recommendations based on these analyses for a possible streamlined approach for future proposals

Research Objectives:
1. Where is South Africa in the sustainability journey of development?
2. What are the cost comparisons between current construction and sustainable construction?
3. What are the current Environmental Impact Assessment tools being used in South Africa and compare them to International tools?
4. How would a sustainable housing scheme improve the livelihood of the locals?
5. Is sustainable development financially viable in low incoming areas?
6. Is retrofitting worth considering for already established areas?

Since Myanmar has opened up toward a more urban, industrial, and service-based economy, more people from rural areas leave their hometowns and migrate to big cities to attain formal education and higher-paying work in urban centers. Yangon, the capital city, has had the highest level of migration since 2008. An UN-Habitat study identified 423 informal settlements covering a land area of 1822.31 acres, approximately 1.23 % of the city’s total land area. Consequently, the ugly truth of the capital’s growing proliferation of informal/squatter settlements and poor living conditions has become evident.
This study focuses on determining how architecture attempts to address these informal settlements by exploring the characteristics of better living environments in resettlement areas.
Thus, the thesis question is:  What kind of new system and typologies can create new affordable housing for informal settlers' resettlement both financially and economically?  In this context, affordable low-cost housing is defined as a housing unit that is affordable to low- to moderate-income households, is cost-effective, and can be adopted within a household’s long-term installment budget. Based on the on-going projects and relevant literature, the study of housing with a vernacular identity, informal settlements, and resettlement housing can advance the research on affordable housing. It can help provide a solution to the informal settlements in Myanmar by establishing guidelines for resettling different squatters' different types into their respective locations.
This study can also help to address the squatters according to their needs and desires from a location. While architecture cannot solve everything and has many political, social, and economic problems, this study explores its extent in this particular scenario.
Keywords: Affordable housing, Cost-effective, Informal/Squatter resettlement, Traditional practice,
Vernacular identities, Resettlement housing

Abstract

In the architecture world, there has always been an evaluation of and a comparison between works of architecture and the constructions built with traditional methods. Although samples of vernacular architecture are not considered as works of architecture, they have been meeting the sheltering needs of people for centuries. The importance and value of these buildings have been handed on to the architecture world and societies through the efforts of institutions such as Aga Khan, Ciam and Europa Nostra, researchers like Rapoport as well as architects like Geoffrey Bawa, Sedat Hakkı Eldem and Hassan Fathy.

These products, which have sometimes been of secondary consideration, meet the needs of the users in accordance with the conditions of the period as well as the region. They not only make a thorough evaluation of all the characteristics of the region, basically climate and materials, but also reflect the knowledge, experience and traditions handed on.When constructions in a certain region and of a certain typology are analyzed, a number of spatial relationships emerge. However, the principles that determine the spatial order are less in number and these principles bring forth “genotypes”.

The aim of this paper is to analyze the spatial order of the housing stock in Ayvalık district, located in the western coast of Turkey, in terms of form and syntax, and determine the similarities and differences between these constructions.

The analysis will be carried out with the space syntax and shape grammar methods. The gamma diagrams used in space syntax help us to read both the visual and the numerical order of the spatial organization. Moreover, this method also informs us of the social logic of the space. On the other hand, shape grammar is a rule-based design system that generates shape compositions and can be used for different purposes. In this study, it is used as a tool supporting the comprehension of the characteristics of formal order through mathematical definitions. The two-sided analysis in question makes us thoroughly acquire logical and systematic information on the spatial order of traditional houses.

In conclusion, the study reemphasizes the importance of vernacular architecture by reading the spatial order of housing samples in Ayvalık with two internationally recognized methods, thus establishing design data for future practices in the district.

Chandigarh, the first planned city of North-west India saw the growth of slums and segregated growth of the poor settlements in the past. Although Chandigarh has been taking some initiatives to provide housing and basic services to the poor, it was only recently, the city took very drastic steps to enhance the access to housing and basic services to the poor living in segregated settlements. It has implemented an ambitious housing project in the city which has demonstrated positive results. The paper is an effort to highlight how and what kind of efforts have been taken by Chandigarh city to include the excluded by providing housing to the slum dwellers. An effort has also been made to know the perception of the beneficiaries of the housing programme to suggest a suitable strategy for similar initiatives elsewhere.

In Turkey, the Housing Development Administration (HDA/Toplu Konut İdaresi-TOKİ) became a major public actor in the housing market in the 2000s by undertaking nearly ten per cent of the annual national housing production. Going forward, HDA plans to further increase its rate of housing in the coming years with an even wider scale of urban transformation across the country in line with central policies. To date, the implementation strategy for public mass-housing has had an overall prescription, mainly based on the quickest and cheapest means of mass production. However, shortcuts taken to reduce the costs have so far bypassed critical architectural and planning priorities, resulting in friction among different actors and further socioeconomic problems. This study reviews the background of public mass housing and urban transformation attempts in Turkey, concentrating on research and implementation experience of HDA in the 1990s and 2000s with a historical perspective. Taking a closer look at the basic spatial decision-making (SDM) mechanism behind its social housing provision and briefly discussing the controversies of urban transformations it participated in, the study addresses the common shortfalls of the current public housing practice in the light of the existing research and experience in the country. The study calls for the re-establishment of a comprehensive research basis independent from bureaucratic actors to ground the practice on and help sustain the built environment.

With about one in six urban Indians living in informal squatter settlements, the need for an additional number of affordable housing in India is growing exponentially. The Indian department of “Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation” (MoHUPA) launched its ambitious “Housing for All” scheme under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana(PMAY) in September 2015 with the goal to make India slum-free by 2022. This scheme is based on similar former programs and shows promise regarding the number of houses that will be built with the help of the government’s credit-linked subsidies for all incomegroups in India. However, the program has many shortcomings, especially from a people-centered perspective: beneficiaries are often perceived as passive, there are few empowerment measures in the scheme, access to benefits is exclusive, and long term effects are neglected. It is concluded that PMAY 2014 is mainly an image campaign for the government and lacks sustainable elements. Even there are many issues like a private partnership and investment which are neglected in a broader perspective.
This dissertation intends to suggest possible backdrop from this Housing for All scheme and suggest reforms on policy and also to increase private partnership investment in the scheme. The focus lies on potentials found in decentralized municipal policies, public-private partnerships for upgrading existing housing, as well as provide the housing shortage and providing basic facilities, and on beneficiary’s empowerment. These elements are discussed based on an inclusive and people-centered approach to development to speed up the scheme. The results of this discussion, analysis, and inference will then be abstracted into tentative suggestive guidelines on how to approach affordable housing in a developing country with private partnership and investments.

This work presents a low-cost and eco-friendly building material named Agrostone panel. Africa's urban population is growing at an annual rate of 2.8% and 62% of its population will live in urban areas by 2050. As a consequence, many of the least urbanized and least developed African countries' will face serious challenges in providing affordable housing to the urban dwellers. Since the cost of building materials accounts for the largest proportion of the overall construction cost, innovating low-cost building material is vital. Agrostone panel is used in housing projects in Ethiopia. It uses raw materials of agricultural/industrial wastes and/or natural minerals as a filler, magnesium-based chemicals as a binder and fiberglass as reinforcement. Agrostone panel reduces the cost of wall construction by 50% compared with the conventional building materials. The pros and cons of Agrostone panel as well as the use of other waste materials as a raw material to make the panel more sustainable, low-cost and better properties are discussed.

Slum upgradation programmes have evolved
tremendously over the years. Strong political will,
organisation at various levels, community participation,
and flexible designs are essential for the success of these
programmes which not only provide basic services
and infrastructure but also socio-economic benefits to
slum dwellers. In India government schemes such as
JNNURM and RAY have resulted in the increase in such
programmes, out of which the in-situ slum upgradation
programme in Yerwada is the most well-known. There is a
need to find a model of upgradation in the Indian context
which can be applied on a large scale and which provides
maximum benefits with minimum holistic inputs.
The study looks at the process of in-situ slum upgradation
as well as its post-upgradation scenario, in order to analyse
its successes and failure and to study the transformation
of the settlement and the incremental growth of the
dwelling units as a result of this programme. This project
provides low-rise housing options by upgrading the
existing dwelling units and simultaneously keeping the
urban fabric intact. Hence, in order to understand the
impact, the programme had on the settlement and its
residents, certain aspects of the project such as tenure,
incrementality, extended domesticity, complexity,
patterns and informality are studied in detail.

This research attempts to understand the continued paradox of housing availability and housing shortage for the rural poor in India. Scholars and planners have often explained this phenomenon in terms of affordability of the poor. The limited capacity of the very poor to repay the initial loan provided to obtain ownership inhibits many to access the facilities. In addition, some schemes demand that the beneficiaries already possess a piece of land, which can be used to avail the financial assistance for ‘pucca’ construction. In this thesis, we focus on the socio-cultural aspects of the target beneficiaries that plays an important role in the acceptance or rejection of schemes in addition to their affordability. Consequently, we argue that the ‘success’ of providing a safe shelter to the poor depends on both the aspirations of the beneficiaries and an appropriate policy mapped by the provider. By reconstructing the life chances and life styles of two shelter settlements constructed for the economically weaker sections in rural Kerala, an attempt is made to examine the notions of ‘satisfaction’ and ‘success’ as perceived by the beneficiaries.
Most research in this domain is largely appraisal or evaluation conducted soon after occupation and from the policy perspective or provider’s point of view. We therefore find little consensus on defining satisfaction and success when such ‘housing projects’ are discussed. In this thesis, we therefore have adopted a definition of success as:
A housing project can be termed as success when there is an intra-generational upward economic and social mobility of most of the families and they continue to live in the same settlement. 
In order to apply this definition we set out with three main objectives;
    1. To study the role of government policy in affecting the success and failure of housing projects in Kerala.
    2. To analyze the influence of the physical, social and cultural factors such as materials, technology, safety, social status and social interaction on the success of public housing projects for the poor in Kerala.
    3. To understand the inter-relationship between the government policies, physical, social and cultural factors in determining the success and failure of the housing projects for the poor.
To operationalize these objectives, we drew up a list of indicators that reflected the housing policy of the government; the physical modifications beneficiaries make to their houses, and the social and cultural background of the respondents that impact on the design and use of the house. We therefore see the house here as more than the mere provision of a shelter. It is a marker of the individual’s identity and status in the society.
We then selected two comparable projects in Kerala that were constructed about three decades ago and conducted a detailed survey of the respondents. We re-constructed the life stories of each family from the time of moving into the house and their subsequent efforts for upward economic and social mobility. As the objective was to examine the notion of satisfaction from the beneficiaries’ perspective this method of a comparative case study seemed suitable, which enabled us to view a project over a long period of time. The two projects selected were:
    • The Koothatukulam settlement under the OLHS, which was a special programme of the Kerala government to address the rural poor, and
    • The Marianad project constructed by an NGO – Trivandrum Social Service Society
Both came under the ‘Provider Approach’ to housing where the beneficiaries were identified after the houses were constructed. These two projects were selected as they represented some similarities but also some differences. They were located in two different districts of Kerala, one inhabited by a homogenous community (fishermen) the other a heterogeneous group. Both followed the twin house design but with a variation, one was constructed as part of an integrated development effort, the other purely as a scheme for providing shelter. They, thus, presented interesting points of convergence and departure that facilitated comparison. Data was collected from the respondents with the help of a schedule, which was complemented with semi- structured interviews with other stakeholders such as government officials, social workers and local panchayat leaders.
The data collected was classified and the indicators selected from literature were used for analysis. This involved examining the policy indicators such as extent of plot, technology used, beneficiary participation among others. We found that, while the plot size was larger in Marianad (10 cents) it was much smaller in Koothatukulam (4 cents). These ‘given’ by the provider impacts on the modifications, division (partition) among family members and subsequently impacts on the extent of satisfaction  of the beneficiary. Indicators representing physical structure of the house include design aspects and the ‘freedom to modify’ to cite an example. The twin house design of the Marianad house that shared a wall on the shorter side provided greater privacy and more space to modify or extend. In contrast, the Koothatukulam design, which shared the wall through all the three rooms, provided not only limited the possibility of extension but also added to lifestyle problems between neighbours. Poor maintenance on one side easily caused damage to the other side (such as termite attack). To give an example of a cultural indicator, we examined the perception of the house as a symbol of ‘social status’. Our analysis revealed that in the larger society such houses and its occupants are considered low in the social hierarchy. Distance is maintained and even marrying into families who live in such houses is avoided. Therefore, when the fishermen in Marianad were able to improve their economic status, they invested in re-modelling the house using modern materials. Marianad now presents itself as a middle-class settlement. Conversely in Koothatukulam, we found the residents aspiring to sell the house and move out of the ‘colony’ if economic status permits, thus trying to escape the social stigma of living in a ‘colony’.
The main contribution of this thesis has been to provide a framework mapping the inter-play of indicators across the domains - policy, physical and socio-cultural. We argue that satisfaction and success has to be understood in a holistic perspective where due attention has to be paid to the socio-cultural dimensions of the target beneficiaries. Any programme to house the poor has to be both location specific (technological factors to be considered) and community specific. Such an approach, we envisage could ensure the aid to develop the house as an asset in this context. We also observe that though the provider approach has been widely substituted by the facilitator approach to housing the poor, several advantages still remain in a provider approach. The facilitator approach excludes those who do not own a piece of land – such as the poorest but who will be eligible under the provider approach. Or the facilitator approach encourages the beneficiary to make his own decision on design and technology which have led to poor quality construction or ill-planned designs. Our tentative framework hopes to draw the attention of policy makers and other providers to address the salient variables identified while implementing or planning shelter programmes for the rural poor in India.

Negli ultimi quindici anni si registra una ripresa di interesse sul tema dell’abitazione collettiva con uno spostamento di attenzione dal dato quantitativo agli aspetti qualitativi e alla sperimentazione architettonica. L’Housing ruota oggi attorno ad alcuni temi prevalenti: la diversificazione dei nuclei familiari, il prevalere della trasformazione sulla realizzazione ex-novo, la moltiplicazione di usi ed esigenze che spingono sempre più alla creazione di spazi flessibili nel tempo. La riflessione su questo tema non si limita all’analisi di qualità e prestazioni del singolo edificio ma considera l’alloggio nel quadro più ampio dell'abitare contemporaneo. Il volume raccoglie e confronta trenta recenti progetti di abitazioni plurifamiliari, estraendo da essi una serie di principi tipologici e spaziali ma anche insediativi e morfologici. Nella prima parte del volume si inquadra dunque la residenza collettiva nei suoi aspetti più generali: dal significato dell’abitare, alla relazione tra housing contemporaneo e storia dell’abitazione popolare, dal rapporto dell’alloggio con lo spazio aperto, al tema del quartiere residenziale. Nella seconda parte si entra invece nel merito del come si affronta oggi un progetto di residenza collettiva, ordinando e sistematizzando invarianti e singolarità di specifici progetti, attraverso la classificazione, la scomposizione di spazi e schemi distributivi, l’integrazione ambientale tra contesto e architetture, descritte analiticamente nella terza parte.

The article examines the processes of adaptation of the Nenets to new types of dwellings in the extreme east (in the interfluve of the Taz and Yenisei rivers) and the extreme west (in the Kanin tundra) of their territory in the XX — early XXI centuries. The article analyzes the problems faced by economic workers in the 1930–1980s, trying to replace the traditional yurts by introducing artificially designed tents, wagons, and trailers into the everyday life of northern nomads. The processes of a difficult, but natural transition of the Taz-Yenisei Nenets from the yurts to the Dolgan-type gullies, and the Kanin Nenets into tents designed by the Komi-Izhemtsy are shown.
The transition of the Yenisei Nenets to the gullies might not have taken place if not for the construction of collective farms in the North in the 1930s. The Dolgans were the only nomads who lived in the gullies for almost a century before the establishment of Soviet power. None of the peoples who roamed at that time in the immediate vicinity of them replaced the traditional chums with beams. Only the attempts of Soviet workers to voluntarily improve the nomadic life of reindeer herders made this change possible. gullies proved to be the most acceptable type of housing to replace the yurts.
The transformation of the life of the Nenets of the Kanin tundra began in the 1960s-1980s. The Komi-Izhemtsy became the innovators who radically changed the life of the Kanin reindeer breeders. A tent built in the early 1960s by the late 1980s. gradually replaced the yurt. The Nenets resisted this innovation for a long time and gave up only because they saw an important advantage of the tent - the absence of the need to slaughter a large number of reindeer and to engage in labor-intensive manufacturing of skins for tires.
The main conclusion of the study is that it is only the conservative thinking that for a long time did not allow the Nenets to change
anything in their way of life, including the types of dwellings.

The “green” benefits of CFS construction can be re-garded in terms of:
shorter build times;
reduced material waste;
reduced environmental impact;
less noise, airborne contamination and CO2 emissions
reduced overall transport requirements;
less disruption to local services, infrastructure and road closures;
flexibility in long-term use;
greater build accuracy;
ease of extension and adaptation;
safer working conditions in factories for construction workers;
recycling and re-use of the elements.
All these advantages show a construction technology that have left the experimental phase by years and present itself fit by now to be widely used especially in housing sector. Obstacles to an increased utilization of CFS systems are often associated with the ability of the design and construction community to respond to the opportunity and new ways of working rather than to any fundamental shortcomings in light steel framed solutions.

The operationalization of cocoa mass spraying program by the government which has the aim of fighting against pests and diseases in Ghanaians‟ cocoa farms would not just be adequate but rather uncovering the impact of the program on cocoa production is worth considering. It is therefore important to find out the impact of the program in the lives of farmers, chief farmers, and Municipal Coordinator for CODAPEC in Sefwi Wiawso Municipality of Western North Region. However, the study reviewed pieces of literature to find more information and gaps in the existing body of knowledge. Purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used to select cocoa-growing communities benefiting from the program and farmers respectively. Primary and secondary data were the sources of data for the study. Interview and questionnaire were the tools for data gathering. The study involved 100 farmers, 6 chief farmers and one Municipal Coordinator for CODAPEC as its respondents. Descriptive statistics tools such as frequency and percentage distribution tables were used to analyze data through the aid of Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) computer software. One of the major findings of the study demonstrated that accessibility of the program had been troubled by bribery, favouritism, to whom you know, quarrel, spraying team not ready and serious, spraying team demanding money, insufficient supply of pesticides, inadequate supply of fuel for spraying had made it inaccessible to majority of farmers in the study areas. Another major finding was that four times spraying had been stressed by CODAPEC yearly. Other findings were that sprayings were done between July and November; these had brought an increasing rate in cocoa outputs at the study areas. Based on the finding it was recommended that; government through CODAPEC should supply sufficient pesticides and adequate fuel for spraying. Bribery, favoritism, and to whom you know concepts should be prohibited and discouraged from the era of the spraying program and individuals who are caught in such actions should be prosecuted and jailed if the law demands.

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY) is the current and greatest housing programs in India with a funding provision of $28 Billion. It is a multifaceted program offering a variety of options and products to the wide socioeconomic sections of the population. However, the effectiveness of PMAY in meeting the housing shortage is different from fulfilling the housing needs. This paper attempts to assess the PMAY from housing adequacy perspective. The concept of Housing Adequacy as developed by thr IHS Rotterdam permits an appraisal of housing programs beyond the quantitative supply-demand notion. It provides holistic understanding of the effectiveness of housing projects or schemes in not just quantitative aspects but also qualitative aspects. The housing adequacy infers to the idea of housing justice to the beneficiaries.