house vol.42 no.1 2017 - open house international vol.42 no.1.pdf · malaysian affordability...
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University of Strathclyde / Department of Architecture / James Weir Building | 75 Montrose Street, Glasgow G1 1XJ
openhouseinternational
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ISSN
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01vo
l.42
no.1
201
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A f f o r d a b i l i t y
E n e r g y P e r f o r m a n c e
D e s i g n
H e r i t a g e
L i f e s t y l e
L o w - I n c o m e H o u s i n g
S t r a w B a l e
V a n d a l i s m
V i r t u a l R e a l i t y ( V R )
Authors In this issue: Abdel-Azim, Abdelhameed, Ahmed, Ali, Brojan, Clouston, Dincyurek, Eken, Elsawahli, Elwidaa, Grbić, Hamid, Jusan, Ko, Lee, Lee, Mushtaha, Nikezić, Rahim, Reza, Samad, Shao, Sun, Yao, Zainon, Zavei, Zhen, Zheng.
open house internationalVol 42 No.1 2017 ISSN 0168-2601
a C I B e n c o u r a g e d j o u r n a l
T h o m s o n I S I A r t s & H u m a n i t i e s
E B S C O p u b l i s h i n g
w w w . o p e n h o u s e - i n t . c o m
w w w . o p e n h o u s e - i n t . c o m E l s e v i e r S c o p u s
BOARD OF EDITORS
The journal of an association of institutes concerned with the quality of built environment.The publishing framework is shaped around the forces which act on built environment,which maintain, change and transform it. The content consists of articles which deal withthese issues and in particular with responsive, self-sustaining and re-usable environ-ments which have the capacity to respond to change, provide user choice and value formoney.
w w w . o p e n h o u s e - i n t . c o m openhouse
openhouse
Dr.Iftekhar Ahmed, RMIT University, Australia.
Dr. Zainab F. Ali, University of Damman, SaudiArabia.
Dr. Robert Brown, University of Westminster,London, Great Britain.
Prof.Marta Calzolaretti, Housing Lab, SapienzaUniversita di Roma, Italy.
Dr. German T. Cruz, Ball State UniversityMuncie, USA.
Carla Corbin, Department of LandscapeArchitecture, Ball State University, USA.
Ype Cuperus, Delft University of TechnologyDelft, The Netherlands.
Dr. Ayona Datta, University of Leeds, UK.
Dr.Md Nasir Daud, University of Malaya,Malaysia.
Forbes Davidson, Institute of Housing & UrbanDevelopment Studies, Rotterdam, TheNetherlands.
Diane Diacon, Building and Social HousingFoundation, Coalville, Great Britain.
Prof. Yurdanur Dulgeroglu-Yuksel,Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey.
Prof. Jin-Ho Park, Inha University, Korea
Prof. Bruce Frankel, Ball State University, USA.
Prof. Avi Friedman, McGill University, Montreal,Canada.
Dr. Ahmed Abu Al Haija, PhiladelphiaUniversity, Eng. & Arch. Dep.t, Jordan.
Prof. Keith Hilton, Mansle, France.
Dr. Karim Hadjri, University of Central lan-cashire, UK.
Prof. Nabeel Hamdi, Professor Emeritus,Oxford Brookes University, UK.
Dr. Mahmud Mohd Jusan, Faculty of BuiltEnvironment, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia(UTM).
Ripin Kalra, University of Westminster, and .(WSPimc), London.
Dr. Stephen Kendall, Emeritus Prof. ofArchitecture, 220 West Durand StreetPhiladelphia, PA., 19119
Prof. Bob Koester, Ball State University Muncie,USA.
Prof. Roderick J. Lawrence, University ofGeneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
Dr. Fuad Mallick, BRAC University, Bangladesh.
Prof. Andrea Martin-Chavez, UniversidadAutonoma Metropolitana, Mexico.
Dr. Magda Mostafa, Associate Professor, TheAmerican University in Cairo, Egypt
Babar Mumtaz, DPU, University CollegeLondon, London, UK.
Geoffery Payne, GPA Associates London, UK
Dr. Sule Tasli Pektas, Bilkent University, Turkey.
Prof. Gulsun Saglamer, Istanbul TechnicalUniversity, Istanbul, Turkey.
Prof. Jia Beisi, University of Hong Kong.Dr. Mark Napier, Urban LandMark, Pretoria,South Africa.
Dr. Masa Noguchi, University of Melbourne,Australia
Prof. Ibrahim Numan, Fatih Sultan MehmetUniversity, Turkey.
Dr. Yara Saifi, Al Quds University, Jerusalem,Palestine.
Prof. Paola Somma, University of Venice, Italy.
Dr. Peter Kellett, University of Newcastle uponTyne, Great Britain.
Dr. Omar Khattab, University of Kuwait.
Dr. Levente Mályusz, Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME), Hungary.
Prof. Amos Rapoport, University of Wisconsinat Milwaukee, USA.
Prof. Seiji Sawada, Meiji University, Tokyo,Japan.
Dr. Florian Steinberg, Asian DevelopmentBank, The Philippines.
Dr. Quazi M Mahtab uz Zaman, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK
Prof. H. J Visscher, OTB, Delft Univertsity ofTechnology, Delft, The Netherlands.
Patrick Wakely, Professor Emeritus, UniversityCollege London, UK.
Dr. Christine Wamsler, University ofManchester, UK and University of Lund,Sweden.
: Esra Can, Emre Akbil, Eastern Mediterranean University Mersin 10 - Turkey. [email protected]: C. Punton, P.O Box 74, Gateshead,Tyne & Wear, NE9 5UZ, Great Britain. [email protected]: The Urban International Press, P.O Box 74, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear NE9 5UZ, Great Britain.: Printed by Pikaj Print House, Gazimagusa, Mersin 10, Turkey: Emmanuel Tibung Chenyi, Eastern Mediteranian University, Mersin 10, Turkey. [email protected]
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Aims
Open House International
The Open House International Association (OHIA) aims
to communicate, disseminate and exchange housing and
planning information. The focus of this exchange is on
tools, methods and processes which enable the various
professional disciplines to understand the dynamics of
housing and so contribute more effectively to it.
To achieve its aims, the OHIA organizes and co-ordi-
nates a number of activities which include the publication
of a quarterly journal, and, in the near future, an interna-
tional seminar and an annual competition. The
Association has the more general aim of seeking to
improve the quality of built environment through encour-
aging a greater sharing of decision-making by ordinary
people and to help develop the necessary institutional
frameworks which will support the local initiatives of peo-
ple in the building process.
The journal of an association of institutes and individuals
concerned with housing, design and development in the
built environment. Theories, tools and practice with spe-
cial emphasis on the local scale.
Delft University of Technology
Department of Housing Quality and Process Innovation OTB
Research Institute of Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies
Jaffalaan 9, 2628 BX Delft, The Netherlands
(Henk Visscher) [email protected] www.otb.tudelft.nl
McGill University
School of Architecture, Macdonald Harrington Building
Centre for Minimum Cost Housing Studies, 815, Sherbrook
Street West. Montreal, PQ. Canada H3A 2K6.
(Avi Friedman)[email protected]
www.homes.mcgill.ca
Ball State University
College of Architecture & Planning, Muncie, Indiana, 47306,
USA. (Stephen Kendall) [email protected]
www.bsu.edu/cap
HousingLab
Dipartimento di Architettura, Ateneo Federato delle Scienze
Umane delle Arti e dell'Ambiente, SAPIENZA Università di
Roma, Roma, Italy. (Marta Calzolaretti)
[email protected] http:w3.uniroma1.it/housinglab
The Glasgow School of Art
Mackintosh School of Archirecture MEARU, 176 Renfrew
Street Glasgow G3 6RQ. Great Britain
(Masa Noguchi) [email protected]
www.gsa.ac.uk
Budapest University of Technology & Econ. (BME)
Faculty of Architecture Budapest, Muegyetem rkp. 3.
1111 Hungary. (Levente Malyusz) [email protected]
www.bme.hu
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM)
Resource Development Division, Perpustakaan Sultanah
Zanariah, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) 81310 Skudai
Johor, Malaysia. (Anuar Talib) [email protected]
http://portal.psz.utm.my/psz/
Philadelphia University,
Engineering & Architecture Department, Faculty of
Engineering, P.O Box 1, Jordan. (Ahmed Abu Al-Haija)
www.philadelphia.edu.jo/content/view/448/590/
University of Malaya,
Faculty of Built Environment, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
(Md Nasir Daud) [email protected]
http://www.fbe.um.edu.my
Ajman University of Science & Technology
Ajman, P. O. Box 346, UAE. United Arab Emirates
(Jihad Awad) [email protected]
www.ajman.ac.ae/austweb/index87ec.html?catid=46&langid=2
Qatar University
Qatar University Library, Aquisitons Department,Bldg# B13 /
Office Room # B154
P.O Box 2713, Doha, Qatar. (Farook Ghori)
BRAC University,
Department of Architecture, Dhaka, Bangladesh,
(Fuad H Mallick) [email protected] www.bracu.ac.bd
Universidad Del Rosario,
Calle 14 No. 6-25, Bogotá, Colombia. (Janneth Espitia)
[email protected] www.urosario.edu.co
Birzeit University Main Library
Ramallah, West Bank, P.O.Box: "14", Birzeit,
Palestine(Taghgreed Shihadeh) [email protected]
www.birzeit.edu
Inha University, Department of Architecture, Inha University,
Incheon, Korea. (Jin-Ho Park) [email protected]
www.d-lab.k
Director & Editor-in-Chief
Nicholas Wilkinson, RIBA,
RIBA,AA,Dipl., Publisher
Collaborating Editor
Dr. Ashraf M. Salama,
PhD. FRSA - FHEA
Head of Architecture
University of Strathclyde
Email: [email protected]
Web Editor
Emmanuel Tibung Chenyi
Eastern Mediterranean Univ.
Dept of Comp. Via mersin 10.
TR
Email:[email protected]
International Technical
Editor
Yonca Hurol,
Eastern Mediterranean University,
Department of Architecture,
Mersin 10 Turkey.
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Contents
EDITORIAL: Nicholas Wilkinson
REVIEW ON VANDALISM AND MATHEMATICAL MODELS FOR VISIBILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY INHOUSING DISTRICTS: CASE STUDY SHARJAH CITY.
Emad Mushtaha, Faisal Hamid
A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE BUILDING ENERGY PERFORMANCE OF THERMOTROPIC WINDOWS..
Jian Yao, Rong-Yue Zheng
STRAW BALE BUILDING AND ITS’ ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVE.Larisa Brojan, Peggi L Clouston
CREATIVITY IN THE INITIAL PHASES OF ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN.Wael A. Abdelhameed
WOMEN AND LOW-INCOME HOUSING TRANSFORMATION IN UGANDA.Eiman Ahmed Elwidaa
MALAYSIAN AFFORDABILITY HOUSING POLICIES REVISITED.Diwa Samad, Nurshuhada Zainon1, Faizul Azli Mohd Rahim1, Eric Lou
RESEARCH ON THE THERMAL ENVIRONMENT OF NORTHEAST CHINA’S RURAL RESIDENCES.Cheng Sun, Meng Zhen, Yu Shao
END-USERS' PERCEPTION FROM HOUSING NEEDS BASED ON MASLOW'S THEORY OF MOTIVATION.
Sayyed Javad Asad Poor Zavei, Mahmud Bin Mohd Jusan
COMMUNITY, HERITAGE AND SOCIAL CAPITAL: INFORMAL HERITAGE MANAGEMENTIN OLD DHAKA .
Iftekhar Ahmed
RE-READING CRITICAL INDICATIONS OF METABOLISIM.Cemaliye Eken
THE VERSATILITY OF TERRACED HOUSING İN VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE. CASE STUDY: STEEP REGİONS OF IRAN.
Ehsan Reza, Ozgur Dıncyurek
MEASURED NEIGHBORHOOD ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS RELATE TO ACTIVE LIFESTYLE AMONG ELDERLY.
Hanan Elsawahli, Azlan Shah Ali
LIFESTYLE AS A RESOURCE FOR RE-STRUCTURING ROMANI URBAN HOUSNG. Milena Grbić, Ana Nikezić
TOWARDS CONTEMPORARINESS OF LOCAL ARCHITECTURE: LESSONS LEARNED FROM PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE.
Gasser Gamil Abdel-Azim
A SURVEY STUDY ON THE DEFECTS FOUND IN LOW-INCOME HOUSING: CASE STUDY SEONGNAM CITY KOREA .
Bong-Kuk Ko, Woo-Jung Lee, Jae-Hoon Lee
Open House International has been selected for coverage by EBSCO Publishing, the ELSEVIER Bibliographic DatabaseScopus and all products of THOMSON ISI index bases, SSCI, A&HCI,CC/S&BS and CC/A&H The journal is also list-ed on the following Architectural index lists: RIBA, ARCLIB, AVERY and EKISTICS. Open House International is onlinefor subscribers and gives limited access for non-subscribers at www.openhouse-int.com
NEXT ISSUE: VOL. 42.NO.2 2017: OPEN ISSUE.
Editor:Nicholas Wilkinson, RIBA AA Dipl, Publisher.E-Mail: [email protected]
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open house in te rna t ional march 2017 vo l .42 no .1OPEN ISSUE : Covering.... Affordable housing, Design, Energy Performance, Heritage, Lifecycle, Straw Bale Buidings, Virtual Reality and Visibility, Women and Low-Income Housing.
Editor: Nicholas Wilkinson, RIBA AA Dipl, Publisher.E-Mail: [email protected]
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Previous Issues
Guest Editors: Ashraf M. Salama and David GriersonDepartment of Architecture, University of Strathclyde,Glasgow G1 1XJ, United Kingdom.E-Mail: [email protected]@strath.ac.uk
Edited by Nicholas Wilkinson RIBA, Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus.DPU Associate, University College London, [email protected]
Editorial: David Grierson and Ashraf M. Salama
Morphological-Ontological Analysis of Urban Texture Changing with Dwelling Typologies. Dicle Aydın
Sustainable Plot-Based Urban Regeneration and Traditional Masterplanning Practice in Glasgow.
Gordon Barbour, Ombretta Romice, Sergio Porta
Design for Change: Five Proxies for Resilience in the Urban Form.
Alessandra Feliciotti, Ombretta Romice, Sergio Porta
The Impact of Affordable Housing Developments on Sustainability in Gulf Cities.
Florian Wiedmann, Ashraf M. Salama, Hatem G. Ibrahim
Reframing the Notion of Sustainable Urban Development in the Middle East. Samer Bagaeen
Towards the Development of A Space/Nature Syntax At Arcosanti. Karen Munro, David Grierson
Arcology, Arcosanti and the Green Urbanism Vision.
Ruth A. Rae
Unfinished Business at the Urban Laboratory - Paolo Soleri, Arcology, and Arcosanti.
David Grierson
Assessment of Integrated Performance and Roof Geometry for Solar Energy.
Esteban Zalamea León, Rodrigo García Alvarado, Reinaldo Sánchez Arriagada, Sergio Baeriswy
Envelopment: A Methodological Approach in Structuration of Urban Dialectics. Resmiye A Atun
New Housing Trends in Istanbul. Serpil Özker, Umut Tuğlu Karsli
The Assessment and Impact of Shopping Centers: Case Study Lemar.
Mukaddes Polay, Muge Riza, Mustafa Erbilen
Pedagogy of Architectural Education on Sustainability In Malaysia – Student Perspective.
Nila Keumala, Mohammed Amer Younus, Yong Kuan, Asrul Sani Bin Abdul Razak,
Muhammad Azzam Ismail, Karam M. Al-Obaidi
Vol. 41 No. 4 2016
open house international
THEME ISSUE: Forging Advances in Sustainable Architecture and Urbanism.
Vol. 41 No. 3 2016
open house international
OPEN ISSUE: China....
Visitor Center Design Research Based On Resilience Theory
Ren Hong , Wang Peng , Cai Weiguang , Li Dandan, Du Yongjie, Sun Junqiao, Daniel Abramson
Application of Regional Cultural Elements in Urban Complex-Illustrated By Guizhou, China.
Chen Mingman, Ren Hong, Cai Weiguang, Li Xiaohui, Ren Pengyu, Deson Lee
3d Evaluation Model of Eco-City Planning Based on the Distance Measure. Ren Hong, Du Yongjie, Cai
Weiguang, Ma Xianrui, Wang Peng, Qin Beibei, Chen Mingman
Study on the Construction Innovation of Urban Green Logistics Centers For Agricultural Products Based
on Low-Carbon Idea. Lingyun Zhou, Jie Wu, Dong Mu, Yachao Wu, Zhonghua Gu
Energy Consumption of A Large-Scale Public Building: Improvement of Building Envelope Design Through
Multilayer Feed-Forward Neural Networks. Qiquan Chen, Ji Weng, Stephen Corcoran, Chenhao Fan
Disaster Prevention Strategies: A Study on Underground Commercial Street In Central Areas Of
Mountainous Cities. Qin Yan, Yin Pan
Value of Planning And Design of Buddhist Temples In Hebei Province, China. Jian Jin, Jindi Yao,
Jianxiang Wang
Study on Preservation Strategies of Ancient City Walls In Chinese Longdong Region in the View of
Systematic Perspective. Xiao-Hui YU, Fei Wang, Lina Wang
Design Innovation Evaluation of the Stadia in China. Xuemin Zhao, Xinbao Wang
Design of Building Evaluation System of Ecological Urban Agglomeration in Qinling Mountains of China.
Kanhua Yu
Multiscale Model for Urban Flood Control Planning Based On Microcirculation. Tao Zhang, Wanmin
Zhao, Dongjun Tong
Planning Framework of the Circular Economy Eco-City. Zhuorong Du
AND MORE.........
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Previous IssuesVol. 41 No. 2 2016
open house international
THEME ISSUE: An Expedition into Architecture and .....
Guest Editors: Ashraf M. Salama and David GriersonDepartment of Architecture, University of Strathclyde,
Glasgow G1 1XJ, United Kingdom.E-Mail: [email protected]
Edited by Nicholas Wilkinson RIBA, Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus.DPU Associate, University College London, UK.
Vol. 41 No. 1 2016
open house international
OPEN ISSUE: Covering Floating Spaces,...
Editorial:Nicholas WilkinsonThe Dilemma of Representation Through Facades. Duygu Koca
The Emergence of China’s Housing Finance System: Challenge and Change.Yonghua Zou
Performance Evaluation of Open and Cell Type Design Studios. Umut Tuğlu KarsliA Social Responsibility Design Project for Child-Friendly Interiors. Banu Manav
Urban Aesthetics; Visual Quality Evaluation of "Konya Türbe Önü” The Historical UrbanSquare. Ebru Erdogan
Adapted Design Language for Anatolian Vernacular Housing. Ömer Erem, SelenAbbasoğlu Ermiyagil
A Study on Analysis of Housing Settlements. Guliz OzorhonArchitectural Design Criteria For Multi-Storey Housing Buildings Yong Kuan, Yahaya
AhmadBetween Tradition and Modernity: Determining Spatial Systems of Privacy in the DomesticArchitecture of Contemporary iraq. Ali Al-Thahab, Sabah Mushatat, Mohammed Gamal
AbdelmonemThe Dry Construction Systems on the Rehabilitation of Built Heritage. Pierluigi De
Berardinis, Chiara Marchionni, Marianna Rotilio, Avi FriedmanThe Optimum Energy Saving Measures for Retrofitting Residential Buildings. Rong-Yue
Zheng, Jian YaoEffects of Physical Design Features to Human Comfort on Floating Spaces. Inanç Işil
Duman, Rengin ZengelValue Components of Historic Residential Properties: Evidence from Budapest Real Estate
Market. David KutasiAssessing the Economic Contribution of Ecological Architecture Case Study: Kayseri Kadir
has Stadium. Z. Ozlem Parlak BicerPedestrianization and walkability in a fast developing unesco World Heritage City
Rosilawati Zainol, Chen Wang, Azlan Shah Ali, Faizah Ahmad, Abdul Wafey Mohd Aripin,Hafez Sall
Editorial:Ashraf M. Salama and David Grierson
Towards Socially Integrated Housing in Chile: Assessing Conviviality Through Two Key Housing
Projects . Beatriz C. Maturana, Ralph Horne
From Compound Houses to Villas: The Incremental Transformation of Dakar’s Urban Landscape.
Emilie Pinard
Measuring Liveability By Exploring Urban Qualities of Kissy Street, Freetown, Sierra Leone.
Fodei M. Conteh, Derya Oktay
WOUNDED SPACES: WHEN PLANNING DEGRADED CAIRO’S URBAN MEMORY.
Gehan Selim
The Abject Dream of Neo-Capital: Capitalist Urbanism, Architecture and Endangered Liveability of
the Middle East’s Modern Cities.M.Gamal Abdelmonem
Measuring the Potential for Ecological Citizenship Among Residents in Famagusta, North Cyprus
Buket Asilsoy, Derya Oktay
The Role of Mega Projects in Redefining Housing Development in Gulf Cities.
Florian Wiedmann, Ashraf M. Salama, Hatem G. Ibrahim
A Contextual Framework for the Development of a Building Sustainability Assessment Method for
Iran.Shahrzad Malek, David Grierson
Transforming Lifestyles and Evolving Housing Patterns: A Comparative Case Study.Smita Khan,
Archana Bele
Unsettling Modernity: Shifting Values and Changing Housing Styles in the Kathmandu Valley.
Vibha Bhattarai-Upadhyay, Urmi Sengupta
Affective Perception of Place: Attachment To Kuala Lumpur Historical Urban Places.
Norsidah Ujang
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VR is a new term to me. With a couple of words in brackets immediately after the abbrevia-tion, (Virtual Reality) all is clear and well. Thank you to a colleague of mine. (See manu-script title CREATIVITY IN THE INITIAL PHASES OF ARCHIECTURAL DESIGN. Page 29On the same level use of the abbreviation CD is more well known than the use of its actualmeaning of Compact Disc.
This first issue of 2017 runs through a variety of contexts and subjects more global than everbefore in Open House International. From vandalism to Thermotropic Windows and ThermalEnvironments, Straw Bale Building, Design and Creativity (VR), Affordability, HeritageManagement and building on steep slopes in Iran. With the subjects originating from UAE,Peoples Republic if China, UK,Uganda, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Iran, Romani, Egypt andKorea this issue represents a true open OPEN ISSUE of the journal.
In further elucidation of some manuscripts the first that comes to mind is is vandalism inSharjah City, UAE . Quoted from the abstract is………..The paper examines the current liter-ature reviews on vandalism (including) the main reason behind the increase of the problem,types of vandalism and propose a mathematical model for assessing visibility and accessibil-ity in addition to providing the results of a field study in the UAE. ………The paper furthersuggests…….that visibility of vandalism prone areas through dwellingwindows……..dwelling entrances and recognition of ownership can definitely play a role inmitigating vandalism…..
Straw Bale Building, otherwise known as SBB ( for our VR enthousiasts )..... the accessiblenature of SBB lends itself well to self built and workshop-built housing. It is both relativelyinexpensive and easy to work with for people new to the construction process. A key findingis that self building is economically justified if the projected saving is higher than the cost ofa contractor and if the usually longer time to build is amenable to the investor……….Inbrief the economic perspective is a favorable one.
Nicholas Wilkinson RIBAEastern Mediterranean University, Faculty ofArchitecture, Gazimagusa, Mersin 10, TurkeyE-Mail: [email protected]
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1. Introduction
Vandalism and graffiti constitute the manifestations ofindividual attempts to show that the area has been vis-ited amongst countless other objectives that havebeen and are yet to be identified (Kirrilly et al, 2012).Vandalism has been broadly defined by Van Vliet as‘wilful damage to or destruction of property owned byothers’ (1992), whilst graffiti has been defined aspainting or drawing words or pictures onto varied sur-faces, commonly walls and windows (Vandal Watch,2008). Vandalism is also defined as the wilful or mali-cious destruction, injury, disfigurement, or defacementof property (Miller, 1973, 1980; Coleman, 1995; Faziet al, 2008). Vandalism has been frequently found tooccur in association with other problems such as othercrimes, and most of the relevant studies involve theuse of the same techniques of assessing the effect ofdesign variables on the occurrence and severity ofthese social problems (examples: Coleman, 1985;Hillier and Shu, 2000). Vandalism and graffiti areoften considered as cultural artefacts or products ofcultural influences (Peteet, 1996). In this study, weconsider vandalism as a distinct type of social problemsince it differs from other social problems in terms ofthe type and age of perpetrators, targets of the acts,and motives behind the acts. Several studies havebeen undertaken hitherto on the relationship betweenthese specific social problems and design features ofthe affected architecture, including the height of theblocks of flats, number of dwellings in a block of flats,through-roads, cul-de-sacs, overhead walkways con-
necting blocks of flats, and extent of public spaces.However, these studies focus on the spatial propertiesof the architectural units in relation to the user’s per-ception of public spaces, particularly the visibility andaccessibility (or lack thereof) through overlooking win-dows and doors as well as the lack of recognition ofownership of the various parts of the units, as factorsthat may promote aggressive behaviour or vandalism.However, such spatial properties have not yet beenidentified or investigated as causal factors indepen-dent of the design features. Therefore, this study inves-tigates both the design features and spatial properties.
Vandalism in Developing CountriesVandalism and aggressive behaviour are among theworst social problems that are rampant in the modernhousing environment. Rapid development of U.A.E.cities has led to modernization of urban life, while alsogiving rise to problems associated with urban living.Several newspaper and media reports have highlight-ed the rise and spread of vandalism in U.A.E. cities.This has led to the launching of several official cam-paigns to overcome this problem. However, the stud-ies and campaigns are based on the notion of van-dalism being the outcome of antisocial behaviour car-ried of delinquent adolescents and are considered asa security problem. Accordingly, most of the proposedremedial measures pertain to the strengthening thepresence of police and security forces and legal pun-ishment of offenders. On the other hand, studies havealso suggested that the problem is associated with thedesign features of housing areas and the spatial prop-
Emad Mushtaha, Faisal Hamid
Abstract
In recent times, residential districts in modern cities face certain new and undesired problems related to antisocial
behaviour by adolescents in its urban public spaces. In this study, we investigate the relationship between the design
features of public spaces in residential areas and the problem of vandalism within the districts. This paper examines the
current literature reviews on vandalism, the main reasons behind the increase of in the problem, types of vandalism,
and a mathematical model for assessing visibility and accessibility in addition to proving the results of a field study con-
ducted in a UAE city. We believe that visibility of vandalism-prone areas through dwelling windows, accessibility of such
areas by residents through dwelling entrances, and recognition of ownership of such areas can definitely play a role in
mitigating vandalism. Our findings indicated the following: (1) There is a strong relationship between vandalism and
visibility through dwelling windows. (2) Residents’ accessibility to dwelling entrances and recognition of ownership play
an important role in reducing vandalism. (3) In areas where the visibility and accessibility by residents is low, the sever-
ity of the problem of vandalism increase if there is an increase in the percentage of adolescent residents. (4) The design
characteristics of the housing areas, such as the height of the blocks or the limits of public spaces, do not have any
influence on the occurrence of vandalism.
Keywords: Vandalism, Perception, Housing Design, Housing Management, U.A.E.
REVIEW ON VANDALISM AND MATHEMATICAL MODELS FOR VISIBILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY INHOUSING DISTRICTS: CASE STUDY SHARJAH CITY.
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erties of urban public spaces, among other character-istics. This investigation focuses on the problem ofvandalism in urban public spaces within some resi-dential areas of Sharjah city in UAE. An area in the citywas carefully chosen for a field study to allow the mea-surement of both design features and design proper-ties. The study focuses on three possible causes of theproblem: (1) housing environment, including designfeatures of housing and spatial properties of publicspaces; (2) social characteristics of residents; and (3)methods of management. Therefore, the aim of thestudy is to assess these potential causes independentof each other and determine the extent of the effect ofthese factors on vandalism. The study sought to inves-tigate the relation between visibility and accessibilityand the potential vandals. Lastly, the findings of thestudy are expected to provide guidelines for the designof public spaces in housing areas so as to minimisethe occurrence of vandalism.
2. The Study ObjectivesThe following are the aims of this study:Identify the main claims laid in relation to the plausi-ble causes of vandalism.Assess the effect of design features of housing areasand design properties of urban public spaces on theoccurrence of vandalismInvestigate the effect of the social characteristics ofresidents of housing areas and methods of manage-ment on the problem of vandalism. It is argued thatwith an increase in visibility and accessibility, potentialvandals feel that they are under scrutiny, which acts asa deterrent against vandalism.Form guidelines for the design of housing and publicurban spaces in housing areas so that the occurrenceof vandalism is prevented as far as possible
3. Selected Literature SurveyA considerable amount of literature has been pub-lished over the last century regarding the relationshipsbetween individuals and the environment in generaland between the built environment and antisocialbehaviour in particular. This brief and selective litera-ture survey reviews some of the key literatures relevantto the aforementioned subjects with special emphasison the problem of vandalism. The section concludeswith identifying a number of broad hypothesesdescribing the possible causes of vandalism.
3.1 Vandalism and the Vandal Vandalism is generally defined as the wilful or mali-cious destruction, injury, disfigurement, or defacementof property by cutting, tearing, breaking, marking,painting, drawing, covering with filth, or any suchmeans (Miller, A., 1973; Clarke, R.V. (Ed.), 1992;Wilson, S., 1980; Coleman, A., 1995). Some investi-gators have examined vandalism in relation to othercrimes such as burglary and theft (Coleman, 1995).Graffiti is considered a type of vandalism in the com-munity when it degrades the social status of the com-munity and diminishes the value of the property. Itencourages loitering, littering, shoplifting of materialsneeded for graffiti such as paints and markers, and
other crimes in the community (Hualiang et.al, 2012).In the United States, graffiti vandalism is an
ever-growing and expensive problem. The harmcaused by graffiti will be in terms of property damageand fear of crime, which is the main focus for stateand central government (Callinan, 2002). In U.A.E.,there has been an increase in vandalism, and severalreports are being published in periodicals indicatingtypical acts of vandalism, ranging from graffiti to dam-age to properties such as cars (Gulf News, 2009a).The spread of graffiti in some districts, in particular, isconsidered as degrading to the quality of the urbanenvironment. Localities having a high level of vandal-ism and graffiti are perceived as unsafe by the public(Stafford and Pettersson, 2003). Therefore, officialauthorities in the U.A.E. have launched a ‘security’campaign to combat this phenomenon since theseevents are viewed as a law-breaking crime by theseauthorities (UAE Interact, 2008). The same viewpointis reiterated in the literature since some aspects of van-dalism have been associated with child delinquency(Armstrong, G., and Wilson, M., 1977). Graffiti onpublic properties such as walls, floors, and furnituremay discourage tenants and owners from residing insuch residential blocks. However, in this study, vandal-ism is considered as a manifestation of recklessbehaviour among children and adolescents since it isapathetic and has no clear purpose other than dam-age or defacement of targets. Some cases of acuteand predetermined vandalism could be consideredcrimes despite differing from other types of offences,such as burglary and theft, in terms of the type of per-petrators, their motives, and the target of the acts. Thetargets of vandalism in the built environment are pub-lic and private properties such as street furniture, utili-ty fixtures, walls and windows. On the other hand,crimes such as burglary are generally perpetrated byadults, are principally aimed at stealing, and targetunsecured entries or breaking points of properties inthe built environment. These differences can be inter-preted as differences in the sets of variables that influ-ence the relationship between vandalism and thedesign of the urban environment and that betweencrimes and the design of the urban environment.Although some crimes, such as assault, may sharesome aspects with vandalism in terms of the relation tothe built-environment since both crimes are likely tooccur in isolated locations around buildings, they dif-fer widely in terms of every other aspect. However, theproblem of vandalism has two interacting elements—the vandal and the environment. The study of vandal-ism can be seen as a part of the general study of theinteraction between individuals and the environment(Goldstein, P., 1976). Goldstein considers that theroots of person–environment studies extend to thework of Lewin (1935), and Murray (1938). Accordingto the Lewin formula B=f(P,E), behaviour is considereda function of the person and the environment.Subsequently, a considerable amount of literature hasbeen generated on the person-environment relation-ship, and since the early 1970s, many studies in thisfield have focused on the problem of vandalism. Tygert(1988) studied vandalism in schools and found that
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idthe number of vandals was the highest in the earlyteenage group (12 to 13 years of age) and graduallydecreased thereafter; on the other hand, some inves-tigators suggest that some of the worst vandal dam-age is perpetrated by older adolescents. Vandal havebeen generally found to be of the middle-class or low-income socioeconomic backgrounds. Further,Yankelovich (1975) holds that vandals tend to belower achievers in school, with truancy or school sus-pension records. Further, a high density of children inhousing areas is considered by some as a major con-tributor to the incidence of vandalism, possibly due topossible reckless play by children during the transitionfrom childhood to adulthood (Ward, C., 1973).Studies on the person–environment relationship havefocused on remedial measures to change the personor the vandal. Cohen (1974) proposed three suchmeasures: (a) education, (b) deterrence and retribu-tion, and (c) deflection. Cohen suggests increasingawareness among adolescents regarding the cost andconsequences of vandalism. He also suggests strate-gies relying on the threat of punishment and forcingvandals to repair and restore the vandalize targets.However, the deflection strategy is more profound,and involves attempts to understand and redirect themotives behind the acts of vandalism to non-damag-ing activities. This study focuses on the relationshipbetween vandalism and the environment in terms ofthe design, management and inhabitants of the envi-ronment.
3.2 Vandalism and the EnvironmentGraffiti as a type of vandalism can range from bare,utilitarian scrawls bearing messages to large attractivemurals made using 20–30 cans of paint (Claire-King,2003). Various measures to counter graffiti have beendescribed in literature. Some of these measures, suchas keeping the neighbourhood clean, encouragingcitizen reporting, enforcing anti-graffiti laws, encour-aging and facilitating legal graffiti, and use graffititracker, are more applicable to cities and counties,while others are commonly used by the state DOTssuch as design modifications to control access(Hualiang, 2012). Vandalism is widely reported tooccur most frequently in housing areas comprisingblocks of flats (Coleman, A., 1995; Tylor, P.J., 1978;Bengtsson, A., 1977; Norman, P., 1978; Tabor, M.R.,1966; Moor, R., 1977). However, opinions differregarding the factors promoting vandalism in suchhousing areas. Many investigators, implicitly or explic-itly, recommend that building designs do not suffi-ciently account for measures to reduce vulnerability tovandalism (Tabor, M.R. 1966). However, we believethat causal factors related to the housing environmentinclude both design features of housing area and spa-tial properties of public spaces within the housingareas.
3.2.1 Design Features of Housing AreasColeman claimed, with some statistical evidence, thatsome designs of blocks of flats do not offer sufficientpersonal expression and sense of ownership as com-pared to houses with gardens (Coleman, A., 1985).
However, this notion attempts to explain vandalism orthe increased level of vandalism in and around blocksof flats but not for vandalism in general, especially notin housing environments of individual houses aroundstreets. Further, the study compared the occurrence ofproblems such as graffiti in single houses with that inblocks of flats, although blocks of flats have residentsfrom multiple families, and therefore more childrenper building, unlike single houses. Therefore, a com-parison of the percentages of vandalized single-fami-ly houses and that of vandalized blocks under theseconditions seems to be a conclusion of very littlevalue. Furthermore, Coleman’s study did not involveany valid or sensitive method for the measurement forgraffiti in houses and blocks of flats and only the pres-ence of graffiti was accounted for, irrespective of theextent of graffiti.
Various design features of the built environ-ment have been claimed to influence the occurrenceof vandalism. They range from features of the layoutof the housing estate to the detailed design of build-ings. These features can be broadly classified into fourgroups: (a) design of public space; (b) design ofblocks of flats; (c) presence of car parking, play areasand shops and (d) type of materials, finishes and con-struction details.
The results of studies on the effect of designfeatures on vandalism are general nature and fre-quently lack clarity in terms of design features that areclaimed to cause the problem of vandalism. In thissection, seven main design features reported to berelated to the problem of vandalism are examined:
a) Extent of public space, including indoor-sharedspace, may affect vandalism because with an increasein public space, the responsibility or ownership over itbecomes less defined and surveillance by residentsmay be inadequate. Such conditions increase theprobability of reckless play and irresponsible behav-iour by children and adolescents, thereby promotingthe occurrence of vandalism (Coleman, A., 1985;Burbidge, M., 1981; Attenburrow, J., 1978;Shankland Cox, 1977; Bulos and Walker, 1987;Reynolds, F., et al; 1983).
b) Size and location of garage clusters affect theoccurrence of vandalism by influencing the surveil-lance over these areas from surrounding dwellings orpassing pedestrians. Furthermore, isolated parkinggarages do not invoke a sense of recognition of theownership of the property (Leather, A., 1973;Shankland Cox, 1977; Power, A., 1982a).
c) Height of blocks of flats may affect the problem ofvandalism because when buildings are higher, theyobstruct adult surveillance over children's and adoles-cents' play and behaviour, which may result in vandal-ism. Furthermore, the height of blocks of flats seem toaffect vandalism because an increase in the heightand size of buildings decreases offer less scope forpersonal expression and identification. Further, highand large blocks of flats may reduce the sense of own-ership property. This may result in vandalism as a way
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in which some children and adolescents choose tomake their mark on the environment, and also resultin carelessness of adults in preventing such vandalism(Coleman, A., 1995; DoE, 1972b; DoE, 1975; Clark,B., 1973;).
d) Presence of shops and other services in hous-ing areas may increase vandalism in the adjacent areabecause such services act as magnets for groups ofchildren and adolescents (Andrews, C., 1979;Burbidge, M., 1981).
e) Absence of children’s play areas may also bea contribute to promoting vandalism since play areashelp release children’s energy, thereby precluding theneed for children to engage in reckless play in areasnot designed for such activities and thereby increasingvandalism. On the other hand, play areas can attractvandalism if they are located in isolated spots not con-ducive to surveillance by residents (Coleman, A.,1995; Burbidge, M., 1981; Shankland Cox, 1977;Wilson, S. and Sturman, A., 1976).
f) Building materials and finishes contribute to theproblem of vandalism because depending on theirhardness or softness, they can be more or less proneto damage that is deliberate or that occurs duringreckless play (Macey, J., 1982; Wilson, S. 1980;Shankland Cox, 1977; Wilson, S., and Sturman, A.,1976; Leather, A., 1973; Miler, A., 1973).
3.2.2 Spatial Properties of Public SpacesLiterature review of reports on the factors discussed in3.2.1 above shows that three special properties asso-ciated with the design features within housing areashave been repeatedly referred to, implicitly or explicit-ly, as contributors to the increase in the occurrence ofvandalism. The spatial properties implicated are mea-sures of the perception of users (and abusers) at dif-ferent points in the public space, including visibility,accessibility and recognition of ownership. The defini-tions of these properties and their assumed effect onvandalism are as follows:
a) Visibility refers to the degree to which the design ofhousing enables residents to clearly view public spacesfrom their dwellings. The relationship between visibili-ty and vandalism is based on the claim that actual andpotential visibility would deter vandals from engagingin vandalism, because of the high possibility of resi-dents confronting them or informing authorities.
b) Accessibility refers to the degree to which the designof housing permits residents to access public spacesfrom doors of their dwellings. The relationshipbetween accessibility and vandalism is based on theassumption that the knowledge that residents mayconfront them or apprehend them would discouragevandals from committing acts of vandalism.
c) Recognition of Ownership refers to thedegree to which the ownership of each part of hous-ing can be recognized. The relationship between
recognition of ownership and vandalism is based onthe understanding that the clear evidence of owner-ship of a property would make potential vandalsaware that they are infringing on others’ entitlementsand thereby discourage vandalism.With regard to these properties claimed to be factorsrelated to the promotion of vandalism, we drew thefollowing inferences:
First: the abovementioned spatial properties are inde-pendent of the design features in question. For exam-ple, for item (a), the underlying causes for the effect oflarge public spaces on vandalism is claimed to be thelack of visibility and recognition of ownership associ-ated with such spaces. However, one may find that forinstance, a large public space would have areas ofrelatively higher degree of visibility and other areas oflower visibility; similarly, some large public spaces mayhave a relatively higher degree of visibility than small-er other public spaces, depending on the number andlocation of widows around them. These scenarios arealso applicable to the design of parking garages orthe height of blocks of flats. Hence, the analysis of theeffect of variables such as the extent of public space,the design of the parking garages, or the height ofblocks of flats on the occurrence of vandalism maylead to false results.
Second: The abovementioned spatial propertiesattempt to explain vandalism in any type of housingdesign or setting. Claims related to the height ofblocks of flats or extent of public space affect vandal-ism attempt to explain the occurrence of vandalism ina specific design type or setting, whereas visibility,accessibility and recognition of ownership attempt toexplain vandalism in any design type or setting, suchas high rises, houses or mixed settings.
Third: The reports discussed in 3.2.1 do not identifythe spatial properties listed above as independentvariables. Thus, a methodologically rigorous researchthat examines the relationship between these spatialproperties and vandalism by allowing for the defini-tion, measurement and investigation of these proper-ties in empirical depth would greatly contribute to ourunderstanding in this field of study. This research project recognizes that design variablesare of two levels: the first level comprises the designfeatures of housing areas, while the second level refersto the spatial properties of public spaces. Both theselevels of variables are independently identified, mea-sured and investigated.
3.3 Social Characteristics of Residents andManagement of HousingSocial characteristics of residents or the characteristicsof the housing environment, in particular child densi-ty, have been seen to affect the problem of vandalismby many studies (Baldwin, J., 1974; Shankland Cox,1977; Wilson, S., 1977). Some investigators view theacute problem of vandalism in and around some run-down older blocks of flats as evidence of the effect ofchanges in social characteristics of residents through
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idresident’s turnover process that contributes to theoccurrence of vandalism, among many other prob-lems. Older or badly designed unpopular block offlats may contain a higher concentration of low-income families and families with many children. Theprocess implies that age, maintenance condition anddesign of blocks of flats, combined with poor man-agement practices, may act in unison in creating sucha concentration, thereby leading to the problem ofvandalism (Shelter, 1973; Shankland Cox, 1977;Burbidge, M., 1981). This process is referred to insome literature as a process of ‘social polarization’,whereby well-to-do residents may leave older orunpopular areas of blocks of flats to better housingfacilities, thereby lowering the rent. Meanwhile, lessfortunate families with many children would be willingto move into such blocks of flats. The concentration ofchildren combined with building designs that do notaccount for measures to combat vandalism may resultin increased vandalism in such housing area.Increased vandalism would, in turn, further augmentthe problem of ‘social polarization’ and furtherdecrease the rental value of the property, therebyaffecting the level of maintenance. This process con-tinues, causing housing areas to turn into vandalizedghettos. Management practices may reduce the prob-lem of vandalism through intensive measures such asincreased security, increasing residents’ awarenessand prompt repair of vandal damage (Burbidge, M.,1981; Power, A., 1982a,b; Anderson, R., et al, 1985).The last measure is to reduce the possibility of furtherincidents of vandalism since adolescents may commitacts of vandalism in already vandalised locations.Some studies suggest that the co-operative system ofmanagement reduces problems such as vandalism(Ward, C., 1983b). Such a system is believed to makethe management more responsive to the problemthrough repair and design modification and makingresidents feel more responsible for the care of theirhousing facilities (Macey, J., 1982).
3.4 Typology of Vandalism and the Claimed Causesof VandalismStanley Cohen (1971, 1974 in Ward, 1973) formu-lated the most commonly used typology of vandal-ism. The following six sub-types are each linked tospecific motivations:
1. Acquisitive vandalism: Damage committed in order toobtain property or money.
2. Tactical vandalism: Using vandalism to achieve othergoals such as sabotaging a machine to force an extendedrest period at work.
3. Ideological vandalism: Vandalism for the sake of voicinga social, political or other ‘cause’.
4. Vindictive vandalism: Damage done to enact revenge,for example, against a perceived injustice from someone inauthority (a school principal, for example).
5. Play vandalism: Vandalism performed in the context of‘play’, such as who can hit the street lamp the most times?
6. Malicious vandalism: Damage used to express rage orfrustration, often directed at property perceived to be ‘mid-dle class’.
In addition to Cohen’s six types of vandal-ism, the following is a list of five motivations for van-dalism and graffiti: (1) gaining or sustaining mem-bership within a ‘deviant’ group through anti-socialacts that reinforce group membership, (2) self-esteem, (3) self-expression, (4) to disrupt the order ofauthority, and (5) enjoyment and the rush associatedwith the illegality of the behaviour (Callinan, 2002;Craw et al, 2006; Bandaranaike, 2001).
A literature review, as mentioned in 3.2.1,identified several key factors or variables, which canbe categorized into two types—the independent, i.e.causal, and the dependent, i.e. affected, variable.The independent variables are as follows:
Variables related to the design features of housingareas, namely, the extent of public space, size andlocation of garage clusters, height of blocks of flats,presence of shops, children’s play area, and buildingmaterials and finishes.
Variables related to spatial properties of publicspaces, are visibility, accessibility and recognition ofownership.
Variables related to social characteristics includechild density, income and number of children per fam-ily.
Variables related to management practice variablesare security, repair policy, residents’ awareness andresidents’ involvement in management.The dependent variable is vandalism in the housingareas.
These variables form the bases for the following fourbroad hypotheses or propositions: a) Design features affect the problem of vandalism.b) Design properties affect the problem of vandalism. c) Social characteristics of the residents affect the prob-lem of vandalism.d) Management practices affect the problem of van-dalism.
These variables can be formulated into other logicalcombinations, or detailed hypotheses can be formu-lated to include the detailed variables. The hypothesesthat were investigated in empirical depth were limitedby the practical size of the field work permitted by thetime and resources available for this pilot study.
4. Design of the Research ProjectThe study proposes measures for the independent anddependent variables, based on the propositions orhypotheses derived from the literature survey men-tioned above (3.4). A straightforward methodological-ly sound research design of the relationship betweenthe design of housing areas and vandalism cannot beformulated (Hamid F, 2004). The method mustaccount for variables related to social characteristicsof residents and management of housing areas asmany potential flaws may be encountered in this
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regard. For example, resident income, density of chil-dren, or management practices vary from area toarea, and the literature survey emphasises the poten-tial effect of such variables on vandalism.Furthermore, the literature survey highlighted the com-plexity of the relationship between these variables andthe occurrence of vandalism. Concentration of low-income families and families with many children incertain blocks of flats could further enhance the risk ofpotential vandalism. On the other hand, intensivemanagement practices in combating vandalism couldhave a positive effect. Hence, failure to account forsuch factors, the analysis of the measures of designvariables against the measures of vandalism wouldlead to false results. Therefore, the social characteris-tics of residents and management variables should bemeasured not only to analyse their effect on vandal-ism, but also to allow the control for these factorswhen analysing the influence of design variables onvandalism. Measures used are generally expected tosatisfy certain criteria such as validity, reliability andsensitivity (Leedy 1980). The sensitivity of measures isof special importance when measuring variables relat-ed to building features or elements in order arrive atconclusions that can be useful to building designers.For example, when measuring the degree of visibilityand accessibility, the measure must be sensitiveenough to the variety of design configuration to deriveconclusion that can be of use to housing designersand policy makers.
4.1 Proposed Measure of VandalismThe method of measurement proposed in this studyconsists of a survey for a specific housing area, fol-lowed by a compilation of the vandalism by type,amount and position. In this pilot fieldwork, the areasof graffiti and vandalism were measured in terms ofarea in square metres since it was found to be suitablefor most sites of graffiti and vandal damage.Thereafter, the extent of vandalism was mapped on ascaled plan of each housing area in the study region.Each vandalized area was allocated a number thatwas cross-referenced on a form that recorded the fin-ishing material of walls, total area of graffiti, otherdetails and area of damage.
4.2 Measures for Design Variables in Housing AreasDesign variables were of two levels, as described in3.2. The first level included the design feature of hous-ing areas, while the second level was related to thespatial properties of public spaces. The measures ofthe design features were clearly defined and can belisted as follows:
a) Extent of public space was measured in area cov-ered.b) Height of blocks of flats was measured by the num-ber of floors. c) Presence of shops was measured by number.d) Location of play areas was measured by numberand distance from the blocks of flats.e) Building materials were described by name.
The method of measuring spatial properties such asvisibility or accessibility in relation to a point in thepublic space is of a great importance for this research.Visibility, for instance, was measured by the location ofpoint of measurement and features of windows over-looking that point, which could vary in sizes, distancesand angles in relation to the given point. To accountfor all these factors, it is necessary to devise a newmethod of measurement, and this research projectsought to develop such a method of measurement.
4.3 Measures for Spatial PropertiesIn this study, the measurement of the visibility andaccessibility is based on the measurement from a pointthat is practically visible from all overlooking windows,as seen in Figure 1. Rather than a measure of theextent to which public space is visible from surround-ing housing, it is a measure of an individual’s percep-tion of being visible from a specific vantage point inthe public space. Similarly, accessibility refers to a per-son’s perception of the site being accessible from aspecific point in the public space and can be strongfrom one point of exposure and minimal at anotherless exposed point, such as those covered by obstruc-tions (e.g. trees and fences). The measures of visibilityand accessibility depend on the location and distanceof windows and doors from different points in the pub-lic space. The assessment using these measures arebased on the notion that potential vandals would feelless threatened when the windows or doors ofdwellings are further away or at an oblique angle totheir position. With regard to the validity and reliabili-ty of the measures, a distance of 50–75 metres isjudged to be the maximum limit of effective visibilityand accessibility, and a height of 1.5 m is consideredas a reasonable eye level for the average adolescentvandals. These measures are represented by mathe-matical models that correspond to the effect of theposition of windows and doors on visibility and acces-sibility to a public space. Visibility at point (P1) inFigure 1 is a function of the total effect of the open-ings W1, W2, W3 and W4 that are visible from thegiven point. All these buildings were assumed to besingle storied, because otherwise, it would be neces-sary to count all windows on all floors. With anincrease in the distance between each window and thegiven point, there should be a decrease in the impor-tance of that window in determining the total visibilityvalue of that point (VP1). Therefore, the visibility value(VP1) would be inversely proportional to the distance(dn) of each opening. Similarly, an increase in theinner angles θ1, θ2, θ3 and θ4 between the vision-lines that link point (P1) and the centre point of eachwindow surface would increase the role of the windowin contributing to the total visibility value (VP1) at thatpoint. Therefore, the visibility value (Vp1) and innerangles (θn) of each window bear a proportional rela-tionship (see eq.1). Similarly, the size of openingsAw1, Aw2, Aw3 and Aw4 determines the importanceof the particular window in the total visibility value(VP1) at that point. Thus, a proportional relationshipalso exists between the visibility value (VP1) and thesize (Aw) of each window. The mathematical model for
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idthe total value of visibility (VP1) at point (P1) is givenas follows:
Similarly, the accessibility value at point (P2) in thepublic space, as shown in Figure 2, is equivalent to theeffect of all dwelling doors visible from that point withdirect access to that space. Similar to the case with vis-ibility, the total accessibility value (AP1) and distance(dn) between each door and point P1 were inverselyproportional. However, the total accessibility value(AP1) and the inner angle (θn) of each door had aproportional relationship. The difference in door sizesis insignificant, and consequently, this factor wasexcluded from the mathematical model. Thus, themathematical model for the total value of accessibility(AP1) at point (P1) is represented as follows (see eq.2):
Recognition of ownership, as in the case of visibilityand accessibility, is a measure of the perception ofpersons in a public space. In this case, the perceptionis regarding the ownership of the various parts of thebuilt environment, including walls, landscape furnitureand fixtures. The perception of ownership is invoked
by the characteristics of these parts of the built envi-ronment, such as a wall belonging to an occupieddwelling, landscape features that are within a fencedarea belonging to a block of flat or unrecognizedownership. The claimed relationship between therecognition of ownership and vandalism assumed thatclarity in the recognition of ownership of such partswould reduce the possibility of their being vandalised. In this case, the measure can be ordinal, since thenames describe the characteristics of the parts of thebuilt environment and have a logical sequence ororder of the strength of recognition of ownership.Names of areas that invoke a perception of ownershipof parts of the built environment can be considered toindicate the following:
a Personal Ownership (or ownership of occupieddwelling)b) Collective Ownership (or ownership of residents ofa group of dwelling within fenced site)c) Unrecognized Ownership (unclear ownership orpublic ownership of municipality or government)
These names can be seen as degrees of ownershiprather than types of ownership based on the assump-tion that personal ownership would have a strongereffect in conveying the idea of ownership than collec-tive ownership, which, in turn, would have a strongereffect than unrecognised ownership. Thus, there is anorder of the strength of effect of the recognition ofownership.
Measures for Social CharacteristicsThe population census of the UAE is very detailed andis available in the public domain. It is available forvarious geographical settings. However, these dataare available at the level of districts, which includes alarge expanse of housing areas. For the purpose ofthis pilot study, the housing area selected was smallerthan a district, and therefore, the use of populationcensus information could lead to flaws in the mea-surements made in this study. Therefore, the socialcharacteristics of the residents in the selected housingarea were based on information collected throughinterviews with management staff of the blocks of flats.The social characteristics of the residents in housingareas with single-family homes were assessed usingthe data from the population census. However, single-family homes were selected carefully where such infor-mation was applicable. The social characteristicsaddressed in this study were population density, childdensity, household income, household head employ-ment class and family origin. The population densityand child density measurements were expressed as thenumbers per hectare. The household income wasassessed in terms of the monthly income brackets of5000 Dhs (0 to 5000, 5001 to 10,000 and so on).Employment was assessed in terms of the logicalorder, i.e. manual, clerical, professional, self-employed and entrepreneurial). Family origin wasrecorded as local, Arab, Asian, Western or others).
Figure 2. Diagrammatic Plan for Accessibility at Points in
the Public Space.
Figure 1. Diagrammatic Plan for Visibility at a Point in the
Public Space.
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4.5 Measures for Management practiceIn UAE, the management systems of housing areas aregenerally uniform in character. Most studies address-ing the issue of management of housing areas havedealt with different management systems of housingareas, such as council or municipal management andco-operative management, which are generally bod-ies that own the housing areas. Housing areas in UAEare, by and large, blocks of flats that are privatelyowned and managed, while the streets and publicspaces are managed by municipalities. Thus, the man-agement practices of each block of flats are different.Further, vandalism is not only observed in blocks offlats or houses alone, but also on properties owned bymunicipalities or similar authorities. Commonly van-dalised public properties include furniture in publicspaces, electricity transformer rooms, and garbagecollection facilities. Thus, the relationship betweenmanagement practices and vandalism cannot be eas-ily analysed and limited to the housing areas alone.This research examines the effect of managementpractices on vandalism at the micro level of blocks offlats through interviews with the management staff ofblocks of flats. The interviews were aimed at elucidat-ing the effect of the following management factors onvandalism:
a) Vandalism Removal and Repair Practiceb) Vandalism Surveillance Practicec) Anti-vandalism Education Deterrence Practice
The interviews also sought to gather data on the rentalpolicy and practice and the nature of resident turnover.The aim was to determine whether changes in therental values of housing facilities have caused socialpolarization of residents having certain social charac-teristics, particularly in older blocks of flats as dis-cussed in (3.2.1) above.
5. Selection of Housing Area for Case StudyThe residential area chosen for this investigation wasthe Al-Majaz district in Sharjah City (Figure 3). Theblocks of flats in this region have been built over thepast 30 years and include 36 inhabited blocks of flatsof height ranging from 2 to 16 storeys, with most flatshaving 3 or 4 habitable rooms and very few flats hav-ing less habitable rooms. However, almost 20 blocksof flats have between 5 to 7 storeys. All blocks of flatsare owned and managed by individual investors andoccupied by tenants. For the management of theseblocks of flats, a caretaker is employed by the ownerto manage and supervise cleaning of the public areasand providing limited security. Maintenance works areundertaken by outside contractors or by employees.Each block of flats has commercial outlets in theground floor and residential flats above; in some flatsfacing main streets, some flats are also used for busi-ness purposes, such as offices or private clinics. Eachblock of flats covers the plot area and is surroundedby streets, walkways and car park. The area alsoincludes a mosque and 2 large supermarkets, includ-ing a food factory. The following are some of the par-ticulars of the study area:
-Total Area: 58,980 Square Meters (5.98 Hectares)(excluding the food factory and the under-constructionsites). -Total Open Public Area: 26,100 Square Meters. -Total Building Footprint: 32,880 Square Meters -(excluding the food factory and the under-constructionsites).-Total Number of Flats: 1,264 Flats. -Average Flat Area: 131 Square Meters.
The blocks of flats are distributed in differentlayouts, generating public spaces between them. Thearea includes 39 locations of various levels of vandal-ism (see Fig.4).
In this case study, a high degree of controlfor the confounding variables identified in the litera-ture was applied in the following manner.
Control of variation in social characteristics: The useof the population census data of the UAE for the pur-pose of this study was impractical since it is at the levelof wards, which is much greater than the size of thearea selected for our case study. Therefore, the mea-surements of the social characteristics evaluated in thisstudy, the density of youngsters and the level of incomewere made using the data collected from interviews ofmanagement staff of the blocks of flats. For this study,27 managers of the blocks of flats were interviewed. Inparticular, with regard to the level of income, webelieve that the rental value of the flats is a valid indi-cation for the level of income. The Al-Majaz district is
Figure 4. Vandalized Samples from the Site.
Figure 3.Isometric View of Al Majaz District area.
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idone of areas with the lowest rental values in Sharjah,as confirmed during the interviews. This indicates thatthe majority of the residents of the district would below-income families.
In this study, the density of youngsters (chil-dren and teenagers) aged from 8 to 16 years who arelikely to commit acts of vandalism was determined.However, interviews with management staff revealedthat graffiti, which was considered in this study as theindicator for the extent of vandalism, was mostly per-petrated by youngsters between the ages of 11 to 16years. The interviews of the management staffrevealed that the overall density of youngsters in thisage group was approximately 1.3 per household andthat this density was uniformly distributed. Further, themanagement staff indicated that there was no signifi-cant concentration of families with higher or lowerthan the average density of youngsters in any block offlats. However, higher blocks of flats had higher den-sity of youngsters.
1. Control of variation in management system: All theblocks of flats were owned and managed by individ-ual investors and occupied by tenants. The manage-ment of each of block of flats was the responsibility ofa caretaker/manager employed by the owner.Interviews with managers confirmed that there was novariation in the management system of the blocks offlats. The maintenance activities were entrusted to out-side contractors or employees. The interviews alsorevealed that repainting of the areas with graffiti onexternal walls was not carried out under the under-standing that repainting would not prevent the vandalsfrom covering the walls with graffiti again. Further, thelow rental value did not cause the owners to invest insuch “not essential” maintenance tasks.
2. Control of design features: As mentioned earlier,previous studies investigating the effect of design fea-tures on vandalism are limited by the lack of rigor orweak inconclusive conclusions. In this study, we veri-fied the effect of design features on vandalism byundertaking a case study.
6. Data AnalysisThis section deals with the analysis of the data collect-ed in the case study described above and the use ofthe methods of measurement proposed earlier. Themain aim of the analysis was to assess the effect ofperception factors on the occurrence of vandalisminvoked by housing design.
6.1 The Effect of Design Features on the Problem ofVandalismThe main design features identified above are extentof public space, height of the blocks of flats, size andlocation of garage clusters, and street pattern. In thissection, two housing design features are examined,namely the extent of public space and the height of theblocks of flats. Public spaces considered include thestreets, pavements, public greens areas and walkways.Several investigators claim that the extent of publicspace is directly associated with the occurrence of
vandalism, with the number of unrestrained acts ofvandalism believed to increase with an increase inpublic spaces. Thus, the area of public spaces is con-sidered an influencing variable independent of thesocial characteristics of residents and the density ofyoungsters. Our case study and comparison of theobtained data with those recorded from other districtsin the city suggests that there is no significant associa-tion between the height of blocks of flats and vandal-ism.
6.2 The Effect of Visibility and Accessibility onVandalismThis section describes the effect of the perception ofvisibility, accessibility, and ownership of property onthe area covered by graffiti as an indicator of theseverity of the problem of vandalism. In the study area,which is the Al-Majaz residential area, 39 sites of van-dalism were identified (Figure 4). The area of graffitimeasured at each of these sites was measured andplotted on scaled plans. Figure 5 shows the correla-tion between the perception of visibility and graffitisize, which was measured directly from the site usinga digital camera and then converted into Autocadsoftware to measure its area. The graffiti size an indi-cator for vandalism was added to the study whilebeing in the site. The measurements of the area cov-ered by graffiti were aggregated within six classes ofvisibility. In addition, the AutoCAD software was usedto estimate the areas of windows and the distancebetween windows and vandalized locations. The totalarea of graffiti for each class of visibility is shown inFigure 5. The figure shows that the total area of graf-fiti decreased with an increase in the perception of vis-ibility increases.
Similarly, Figure 6 represents the correlationbetween the perception of accessibility and the areacovered by graffiti. Perception of accessibility wasscored in terms of the distance between each site ofvandalism and every door visible from that site; thegreater the distance between the site and a door, thelower was the score for that door. The areas of graffi-ti were aggregated with six classes of accessibility. Thechart shows that the total area of graffiti in all fieldwork locations falling within each class of accessibilitydecreased with an increase in the perception of acces-sibility. Thus, our findings suggest that the perceptionof visibility and accessibility has a significant correla-
Figure 5. Correlation between Perception of Visibility and
Graffiti
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tion with the graffiti.
7. Conclusion
In this study, we reviewed a considerable amount of lit-erature on vandalism and graffiti worldwide and UAEin particular. We extensively examined the effect ofbuilding design features, spatial properties of publicspaces, social characteristics of residents, and man-agement of housing on the problem of vandalism.Additionally, the typology of vandalism and claimedcauses of vandalism, independent and dependentvariables, and methods of evaluating vandalism werealso introduced. Accordingly, the mathematical mod-els for visibility and accessibility were also introducedin this study. The conclusions of the study can be sum-marized as follows:
1.The study provided evidence that certain perception factors
have a causal relationship with the increase in the spread of
vandalism.
2.The study points towards the existence of a strong inverse
relationship between vandalism and the perception of visibil-
ity, with vandalism decreasing with an increase in the per-
ception of visibility.
3.The perception of accessibility contributes to reducing van-
dalism by strengthening the effect of the perception of visi-
bility.
4.The study results lend limited support to the effect of recog-
nition of ownership on the prevention of vandalism.
5.The influence of other factors such as the density of young-
sters and household income on the level of vandalism in a
given area need to be investigated further.
6.Our study results did not furnish any evidence supporting
the widely claimed causal relationship between design fea-
tures and vandalism. Thus, we can conclude that the extent
of public space and height of blocks of flats do not affect the
level of vandalism in an area.
7.The results of this study also yielded limited evidence to
support the widely claimed causal relationship between van-
dalism and systems of management and the beneficial effect
of repair and vandalism surveillance on the prevention of
vandalism.
The conclusions of the study are particularly of rele-vance to planners and architects. Our results stronglysuggest that public spaces within housing areas andsurrounding buildings should be designed to invoke ahigh degree of the perception of visibility, accessibilityand property ownership. However, more large-scaleinvestigations are warranted to identify appropriatedesign solutions that will help achieve this in order toreduce public space vulnerability to vandalism, partic-ularly around blocks of flats and around buildings withunrecognised ownership such as utility facilities andpublic and semi-public buildings.
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Author(s):
Emad MushtahaUniversity City, Department of ArchitecturalEngineering, College of Engineering, University ofSharjah, UAEE-mail: [email protected],
Faisal HamidForm Consultant, 20 Crescent Range, ManchesterM14 5RW, U.K.E-mail: [email protected].
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1. introduction
energy use in buildings accounts for a large percent-age of total energy consumption worldwide, whichleads to a great amount of greenhouse gas e-missionsto atmosphere. in China, the building sector con-sumes 46.7% of the national total primary energy, andis responsible for around 50% of energy-related car-bon dioxide emissions (li and Zhang, 2010). Amongthem, office buildings consume more energy than res-idential ones, which is more than 10 times bigger perunit floor area (meng and Zhang, 2006), due to high-ly glazed facades and widespread central air-condi-tioning systems. to achieve a good external view andreceive sufficient daylight, office buildings have beenincreasingly designed with large glazing areas(palmero-marrero and oliveira, 2009). however, thiswill also bring negative consequences such as signifi-cant increases in cooling energy and overheatingproblems since solar heat gain through a window is20 times higher than through the neighbouring wall insummer (yao and Xu, 2010).
Solar shading measures for windows are,therefore, very useful for reducing cooling energy con-sumption, fixed shading devices (yener, 1998), mov-able shading devices (Kim et al., 2009), and nearbybuildings (li and Wong, 2007). however, adoptingsolar shading leads to the poor aesthetics of buildingfacades and a rise in heating energy consumption.Besides shading devices, low emissivity (low-e) win-dows can also be used for solar shading without aes-thetic problems and thus are popular in China.however, its drawback is that it will increase heating
and lighting energy consumption which may counter-act the cooling energy savings (yao and Xu, 2010).
to achieve a better daylighting and energyperformance of building facades, a novel kind of ther-motropic materials (which can change the light trans-mittance by an aggregation of the polymers on mole-cular level) developed by the author (yao and yan,2010), which shows great advantages in automatical-ly adjusting light and energy transmittance with cli-mates over conventional windows and solar shadingdevices, since previous studies on thermotropic mate-rials have limitations in application due to factorsincluding materials of unenvironmental-friendly, highcosts, unsuitable switching temperatures and complexmanufacturing techniques etc. this developed materi-al keeps transparent states when its temperature belowlower critical solution temperature (lCSt, also calledswitching temperature) and automatically switches toturbid states (without manual control) after reachinglCSt (mueller, 1992). thus it is much cheaper andenvironmental friendly because it is synthesized byhpmC (hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, a cheap andgreen material), sodium chloride (naCl) and purewater with a suitable mixing proportion for buildingapplications. its switching temperature is around33oC, which ensures that it remains transparent statesto maximize solar utilization in winter and demonstrateturbid states due to intense solar radiation in summerto reduce unwanted solar gains.
in a previous study (yao and Zhu, 2012), theauthors have studied the energy, daylighting andindoor thermal environmental performance of thiskind of thermotropic windows in residential buildings
Jian Yao, Rong-Yue Zheng
Abstract
This paper conducted a study on the energy-saving potential of a developed thermotropic window. Office buildings in
different climate regions of China were compared in terms of heating, cooling and lighting energy demands. Results
show that annual heating and cooling energy demands for office buildings differ largely, while lighting energy demand
at different climates keeps a significant percentage of the total energy demand, ranging from 36.1% to 66.3%.
Meanwhile, thermotropic windows achieve a great advantage in improving daylighting performance and in reducing
the overall energy demand, by reducing the overall energy demand by 2.27%-8.7% and 10.1%-21.72%, respectively,
compared to movable shading devices and Low-E windows. This means that this kind of thermotropic windows have a
great potential in applications in different climatic regions and can be considered as a good substitute of solar shad-
ing devices and Low-E windows.
Keywords: Building Energy Performance, Thermotropic Windows, Daylighting, Different Climatic Zones.
A CompArAtive Study of the Building energyperformAnCe of thermotropiC WindoWS.
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in hot summer and cold winter zone of China. resultsshowed that they have a significant cooling energyreduction by 19% in west-facing rooms. however, res-idential buildings require relative low illuminance lev-els and thus the study did not take into account thelighting energy consumption. in this paper, a compar-ative study was conducted on energy-saving potentialof office buildings with the developed thermotropicwindows in different climate regions of China, takinginto account the overall performance of heating, cool-ing and light energy demands, based on a number ofbuilding simulations.
2. methodology2.1. Climate conditionsChina, with the land area stretches between a latitudeof 20 n and 50 n, has a complex topography rang-ing from mountainous regions to plains, leading tomany different regions with distinct climatic features(China academy of building research, 2005).therefore, in China five climate zones were defined inthe national standard gB 50176-93: thermal designCode for Civil Buildings (China academy of buildingresearch, 1993). fig. 1 shows the five climate zones:Severe Cold region, Cold region, hot-Summer Cold-Winter region, hot-Summer Warm-Winter region,and temperate (mild) region. thus a city within eachof the five major climate zones was selected for thebuilding energy analysis. these were harbin (severecold), Beijing (cold), hangzhou (hot summer and coldwinter), Kunming (mild) and guangzhou (hot summerand warm winter). the monthly mean outdoor tem-perature, direct solar radiation, diffuse solar radiationof the typical weather year for the five cities are illus-trated in figs. 2-4.
the dynamic thermal simulation programdeSt-h was adopted to evaluate the cooling, heatingand daylighting performance of this thermotropic win-dow. it has been validated by comparison with bothwell-known inter-national thermal simulation pro-grams and experimental results (yan et al., 2008 andZhang et al., 2008). the typical meteorological year
(tmy) data of the above five cities were obtained fromChina standard weather data for building simulation(national meteorological information Center, 2005).
2.2. Structure of thermotropic windows and typicaloffice buildings As discussed in the previous paper (yao and Zhu,2012), the suitable position of the thermotropic layerof a thermotropic double-pane window (denoted asthermo) is near the outside glass pane as shown infig. 5. to systematically study the building energy per-formance of thermotropic windows, a 15-storeygeneric office building (fig. 6) was developed to serveas a representative of office building design in China.double-pane thermotropic windows were comparedwith low-e double-pane windows (denoted as low-e)and clear double-pane windows with movable solar
Figure 4. Diffuse radiation.
Figure 3. Direct solar radiation.
Figure 2. Outdoor air temperature.
Figure 1. Five climate zones in China.
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shading materials (denoted as movable shading).descriptions of the generic model and the simulationsettings were shown in table 1.
to meet healthy and comfortable visualdemands, the illumination of each office room shouldreach 300lux, which complies with the national archi-tectural lighting design standard. When simulatedindoor illuminance lower than 300lux, electric lightingis assumed to be automatically turned on, and thelighting power density (lpd) needed to keep theindoor illuminance at 300lux when daylight is not suf-ficient can be calculated by the following equation:
lpd=pw×(300-ei)/(Φ ×u×K0)
Where pw (W) is the power of a lamp, here t5 fluo-rescent lamps (28W) are used. ei is indoor illuminance(lux); Φ (lm) is the total flux of a lamp light source andhere is 2500lm; u is light utilization coefficient (0.8);and K0 is maintenance coefficient (0.8). then theneeded lighting energy can be calculated by the fol-lowing equation: el=Φlpdi×ti. Where ti is the ithhour of 8760 hours when lighting is needed and lpdiis the lpd at the time ti.
3. results and discussion3.1. daylighting performancefig.7 gives the daylight availability (dA) of applyinglow-e windows, thermo windows and double-paneclear windows with movable shadings, respectively, foroffice-e, office-S and office-W. here dA means thehours for the indoor illuminance level of higher than300lux with daylighting alone (dA is considered at thecenter of the room). We can see that dA for thermo ishigher than the other two measures and de-creases tothe least for low-e, regardless of the climate zone andorientation. Among different cities, dA has the bestperformance in Km, a little poor performance in hZ,BJ and heB, and the lowest value in gZ. this mayattribute to the radiation difference between differentcities. in any climate zone, the west facade has the
biggest increase in dA, followed by the east and southfacades. the reason for dA on the west facade beinghigher than on the east one is that turbid states (blockradiation and daylight) for thermo remained one ortwo hours, due to a switching process to transparentstates, when solar radiation being unavailable on theeast facade in the afternoon. Since office-S has onlyone window that faces south, its dA is not competitivewith others, especially for low-e that close to 0 inChina, indicating an extremely poor daylighting per-formance, which results in a big increase in artificiallighting energy demand.
3.2. energy performance for different offices3.2.1. office-edue to climate differences, annual heating energydemand differs largely for office-e among the fivecities as shown in fig.8, with the maximum value inheB in Severe Cold region and the minimum value ingZ in hot-Summer Warm-Winter region. for the three
Figure 6. Typical office building.
Figure 5. Thermotropic window model.
Table 2. Solar shading coefficients of the thermotropic dou-
ble-pane windows.
Table 1. Simulation setting regarding building envelope and
HVAC systems.
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solar shading methods, thermo has the least annualheating energy demand at these cities, followed bymovable shading, and low-e leads to the biggestheating energy demand. this means that thermokeeps transparent states in winter to receive muchmore solar gains than the other two ways, even in thewarm winter city of gZ. the minimum heatingdemand is achieved in Km for thermo, which is 25%and 121.4% lower than movable shading and low-e,respectively, due to more intense solar radiation inwinter than in summer (see fig. 4), compared withother cities whose annual heating energy demands forthermo are 1-6% and 6-15% lower than movableshading and low-e, respectively.
A great variation in climate in China alsoleads to a big difference in annual cooling energydemand among these cities. Contrary to the variationof heating energy demand for different solar shades,annual cooling energy demand for thermo is higherthan the other two shading schemes at all the fivecities, with the biggest value in Km, which is 35% and24.4% higher than movable shading and low-e,respectively. Because the relative low intensity of directsolar radiation in Km (see fig. 3) can hardly heatthermo to a totally turbid state, the potential forthermo to block radiant gains is restricted. for othercities, eC for thermo is not so high, but is still 10-17%and 5.5-11% higher than movable shading and low-e, respectively, since diffuse radiation can enter indoorspaces increasing cooling energy demand whenthermo demonstrates a transparent state withoutdirect solar radiation.
As a result, different from the variation of eCand eh, the difference of annual lighting energydemand (el) in the five cities is not significant andthermo has a dramatic saving in el (more than 20%compared with the other two). the amount of energysavings for thermo, compared to movable shading, isbetween 20-37% for the five cities. in addition, elreaches about 10000 kWh, much higher than eh andclose to eC in some cities, except the city heB. thismeans lighting energy accounts for a large part oftotal energy consumption in office buildings andthermo has a great potential in reducing lightingenergy, which is the same as the results discussed inthe daylighting analysis section.
for office-e, thermo shows a better perfor-mance in different climates in China, compared withthe other two, according to the total annual energydemand (et) as shown in fig. 8. its energy reductionranges from 1% to 5% and 12% to 18%, comparedwith movable shading and low-e, respectively. theoverall performance for thermo, therefore, is signifi-cant by reducing heating and lighting energy, and byincreasing daylight availability.
3.2.2. office-SSimilar to office-e, there is a big difference in eh foroffice-S in different climate zones as shown in fig.9. inaddition, its maximum and minimum values both
Figure 8. Energy performance for office-E.
Figure 7.Daylight availability.
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occur in heB and gZ, respectively, and are close tothose for office-e. the most reduction of eh isachieved for thermo in Km, 25% lower than movableshading and 121.4% lower than low-e. for othercities, thermo gets a heating energy saving of rangingfrom 0.6 to 6%, compared to movable shading, andof ranging from 9.7 to 17% relative to low-e. thus theheating energy saving for thermo is also significant,especially for Km.
office-S also has a similarity in the variationof eC as office-e. though lower than office-e, theincreasing rate of eC for thermo in Km is the highestamong the five cities, 24.8% and 13.7%, respectively,higher than movable shading and low-e. it is also alittle lower than office-e in other cities due to relative-ly low solar intensities received by the south-facingwall in summer. therefore, the cooling energy demandcannot be reduced by using thermo. due to a rela-tively high solar altitude in summer and low solar ener-gy received, thermo experiences less state transitionfrom transparent to turbid and thus transmits more dif-fuse solar radiation compared to movable shadingand low-e. this is the reason for the increased cool-ing energy demand.
Although thermo has a significant saving ofel of higher than 10% for different cities, it is lowerthan that in office-e. Compared with movable shad-ing, the savings of el are between 14-28% for the fivecities. these savings are lower than those in office-e by
6-25% due to a higher solar altitude for the southfacade, which leads to reduction of the amount ofreceived natural light in transparent states and thusincreasing the artificial lighting energy demand (high-er than 13000kWh). however, the lighting energy sav-ing ratio is still higher than that for the heating energy.
the total energy performance (et) of thermofor office-S is similar to office-e at different climatezones, especially in hZ, BJ, heB, gZ, in which its vari-ation within 3% compared to movable shading. inKm, it is, however, significant with an improvement of10.8% and 22.6%, respectively, compared tomovable shading and low-e, due to a relative lowincrease in cooling energy demand for office-S. thepositive saving ratio for the total energy demandmeans that thermo is also better than low-e andmovable shading.
3.2.3. office-Wthe heating energy demands of thermo for office-Wat different cities (see fig.10) are close to office-e andoffice-S, especially for the cities of hZ, BJ, heB, gZ,which have an energy saving of ranging from 1.6-4.4% and 3.2-17.5%, compared to movable shadingand low-e. the only difference is that the heatingenergy saving is not significant for thermo in Km, lessthan half of that for office-e and office-S. Since theindoor air temperature of office-W almost keeps 18oC or above from the beginning of a morning’s work,it reduces the influence of solar radiation on the heat-ing energy demand in the afternoon, and thus dimin-ishing the energy performance difference among dif-ferent shading methods.
Although solar radiation in Km is not intensi-ty, thermo performs better in office-W than in office-eand office-S due to higher outdoor air temperatures inthe afternoon that are much closer to the lCSt. its eCis, therefore, only increased by 15.1% and 9.4%,respectively, compared to movable shading and low-e. the increased percentage is lowered by 20.1% and15% compared with office-e, and by 9.6% and 4.3%compared with office-S. A similar situation is observedin heB due to stronger solar radiation in summer thanother cities, while eC in BJ, hZ and gZ for office-W isequivalent to office-e. this means that thermo has theleast increase ratio of cooling energy demand in west-facing rooms. the main reason for the increased cool-ing energy (not reduced) for thermo is the diffuse solarradiation transmitted during the whole day and thusraises indoor air temperature.
thermo achieves the best lighting energy per-formance in office-W for different climate zones, withenergy savings of 1.3-16.7% and 4.6-34.1%, respec-tively, compared with office-e and office-S. And itssaving is between 22.7%-56.8% compared withmovable shading and low-e. the relatively low ener-gy savings in Km and heB is mainly due to reduceddaylight transmission because of increased frequencyof being turbid states of thermo in summer afternoon. for office-W, the combination effect of heating, cool-ing and lighting energy demands for thermo is thebest for all cities, especially for Km, which obtains thebiggest energy saving among the five cities, with
Figure 9. Energy performance for office-S.
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reductions of 11.5% and 23.6%, respectively, com-pared to movable shading and low-e, while the othercities have an average energy saving of around 4%and 13%, respectively. this indicates that thermo ismore suitable for applications in west-facing windowscompared to east- or south- facing windows.
3.3. energy breakdown for the whole buildingfor the whole office building (see fig. 10), the bestenergy performance for thermo is observed in Km,with a reduction of 8.7% and 21.72%, respectively,compared with movable shading and low-e. on theother hand, the energy saving of thermo in other fourcities is also positive, ranging from 2.3-5.8% and10.1-13.2%, compared with movable shading andlow-e. to further analyze the above results, an energybreakdown for the whole building in each city is pre-sented in fig. 11.
for comparison, these energy breakdowns infig. 11 are calculated based on the average energydemand value (heating, cooling or lighting) of thethree shading measures. it can be seen that the per-centage of different kinds of energy demand varylargely in different climate zones. heating energydemand takes the major part in cold zones, such asheB that has eh more than 50% of the total energydemand, while warm zones require higher coolingenergy, i.e. eC accounts for more than half the totalenergy demand in hZ and gZ with a slight eC of less
than 7%. nevertheless, lighting energy demand ofoffice buildings at different climates in China is signif-icant, ranging from 36.1% to 66.3%.
As discussed in section three, the coolingenergy performance of thermo is worse than the othertwo shading measures, and its contribution comesfrom heating and lighting parts. therefore, the energysavings of thermo are relatively low for gZ (2.27%,10.1%) and hZ (3.58%, 11.15%) due to the majorpart of eC. on the other hand, the energy perfor-mance of thermo is much better for BJ, heB and Kmsince the sum of heating and lighting energy demandis over 50% of the total. for city BJ, its heating savingsalmost offset its cooling increase, thus its overall sav-ings result from lighting savings. Although the amountof eh and el accounts for 88.2% of the total, theoverall savings are not very significant and come fromthe contribution of lighting savings, due to relativelylow solar radiation in winter. for Km, the fact thatlighting energy demand accounts the biggest part(66.3%) results in the most significant savings in totalbuilding energy demand in these cities.
4. Conclusionsenergy and daylighting performance of windows arecritical to office buildings. this paper carried out acomparative study on the energy-saving potential of anew developed thermotropic window for office build-ings in different climate regions in China, taking intoaccount heating, cooling and lighting energy demand.due to climate differences, annual heating and cool-ing energy demands for office buildings differ largely,while lighting energy demand at different climateskeeps a significant percentage of the total energy
Figure 11. Energy breakdowns of the whole building.
Figure 10. Energy performance for office-W.
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demand, ranging from 36.1% to 66.3%. results showthat this kind of thermotropic windows achieve a greatadvantage in improving daylighting performance andin reducing the overall energy demand of office build-ings, by reducing the overall energy demand by2.27%-8.7% and 10.1%-21.72%, respectively, com-pared to movable shading devices and low-e win-dows. therefore, this novel kind of thermotropic win-dows has a great potential in application throughoutChina and can be considered as a good substitute ofsolar shading devices and low-e windows.
Acknowledgementthis work was supported by the national Keytechnology r&d program of the ministry of Scienceand technology under grant 2013BAJ10B06, and theauthors would like to thank the K.C.Wong magnafund in ningbo university.
referenCeS:
ChinA ACAdemy of Building reSeArCh. 1993, ThermalDesign Code for Civil Buildings. China Architecture and Buildingpress, Beijing, China.
ChinA ACAdemy of Building reSeArCh. 2005, Design stan-dard for energy efficiency of public buildings. China Architectureand Building press, Beijing, China.
Kim, J., et al. 2009, An experimental study on the environmentalperformance of the automated blind in summer. Building andenvironment, 44, 1517-1527.
li, d.h.W. and Wong, S.l. 2007, Daylighting and energy implica-tions due to shading effects from nearby buildings. Applied energy,84, 1199-1209.
li, y. and ZhAng, C. 2010, Prediction and analysis of the energysaving tendency in china’s building. economist, 3, 20-22. (inChinese)
meng, Q. and ZhAng, l. 2006, Energy Efficiency Evaluation ofGuangzhou West Tower Facade System. proceedings of the Sixthinternational Conference for enhanced Building operations,Shenzhen, China, vol.ii-3-2.
mueller, K.f. 1992, Thermotropic aqueous gels and solutions ofN,N-dimethylacrylamide-acrylate copolymers. polymer, 33, 3470-3476.
nAtionAl meteorogiCAl informAtion Center. 2005,China standard weather data for analyzing building thermal condi-tions. China Architecture and Building press, Beijing, China.
pAlmero-mArrero, A.i. and oliveirA, A.C. 2009, Effect of lou-ver shading devices on building energy requirements. Appliedenergy, 87, 2040-2049.
yAn, d., et al. 2008, DeST-An integrated building simulation toolk-it Part I: Fundamentals. Building Simulation, 1, 95-110.
yAo, J. and Xu, J. 2010, Effects of different shading devices onbuilding energy saving in hot summer and cold winter zone, 2010international Conference on mechanic Automation and Controlengineering, Wuhan, China, 5017-5020.
yAo, J. and yAn, C. 2010, Development and analysis of a novelkind of smart thermotropic material. functional materials letters, 3,135-139.
yAo, J. and Zhu, n. 2012, Evaluation of indoor thermal environ-mental, energy and daylighting performance of thermotropic win-dows. Building and environment, 49, 283-290.
yener, A.K. 1998, A method of obtaining visual comfort using fixedshading devices in rooms. Building and environment, 34, 285-291.
ZhAng, X., et al. 2008, DeST-An integrated building simulationtoolkit Part II: Applications. Building Simulation, 1, 193-209.
Author(s):Jian yao faculty of Architectural, Civil engineering andenvironment, ningbo university, ningbo, China email: [email protected]
rong-yue Zhengresearch center for green building technology, ningbo university, ningbo, China
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1. introduction
Straw bale building (Sbb) is practiced worldwide.Known for its advantages in sustainability, accessibili-ty, human health and cost, it is gaining recent atten-tion from green building advocates and from thehousing industry in general. usually, for such a build-ing technique, the potential owner is personally andintimately involved in the process of planning as wellas constructing the building. decisions and designsolutions are in accord with the investors’ persuasions,financial ability and life philosophy. in the end, how-ever, cost is often the most significant factor in keydecisions and, because it is a purely quantitativeguideline, it can easily overwhelm the more subjectivefactors (lacinski, 2000: 54).
From permits to labor costs, it is a challengeto estimate all potential costs, especially when a build-ing is designed for durability, efficiency, and codecompliance (magwood, 2005: 45). Jones (2009)noted that the most significant savings on straw balehouses are from long-term fuel reductions owing tothe high level of insulation, which enable significantreductions in heating costs over the long term. thereare always hidden costs to a building, especially whenbuilding for the first time. Hodge (2006) observes thatthe investor should have a capacity to cover extras inan amount of a minimum of 10 % over and aboveestimated costs to cover unavoidable expenses.However, a critical and objective approach to budget-ing can help mitigate elements that balloon the bud-get.
one key budget question specific to Sbb, iswhether hiring a contractor or an experienced builder
could reduce overall costs and to what extent. Steen etal. (1994: 36), suggests that straw bale houses withsignificant owner-builder labor may cost significantlyless than a conventional type home with similar ownerlabor when various alternative materials and methodsare used. the author presents two owner-builder laborarrangements: 1) the layout and excavation, concrete,electrical, and plumbing are subcontracted, a full timequalified supervisor is hired, and the resident familyand friends provide the rest of the labor, and 2) allconstruction is delivered by the contractor. a life cyclecost analysis was conducted for a time period of 30years for a dwelling with 130 m2 living area. resultssuggest that 83 % savings could be had with anowner-built home over a conventional home (Steen et.al. 1994: 39).
one main objective of this paper is to ascer-tain costs for straw bale home construction as theyrelate to who the primary builder was (i.e. owner, con-tractor, owner and builder team, or workshop partici-pants). information has been collected with a world-wide survey of existing domiciles. Questions such aswhat the priority of cost was in straw bale homes com-pared to environmental, aesthetic, and health valueswere posed. whole investment cost per square meterwas investigated and time to completion for each pri-mary builder scenario was compared. a secondobjective of the paper is to present general economicfacts about Sbb. For this, a case study was conductedon a single family house in radomlje, Slovenia. costsare itemized for the entire Sbb process where cost cat-egorization is done in accordance with din 276-1:2008/12 (pecovnik, 2008) standard.
Larisa Brojan, Peggi L Clouston
AbstractThe accessible nature of straw bale building lends itself well to self-built and workshop-built housing; straw is known tobe both relatively inexpensive and easy to work with for people new to construction. A question then arises as to whetheror not hiring an experienced builder can reduce overall costs of such a structure. This study conducts a worldwide sur-vey to straw bale home owners to answer this question and to determine general economic data on straw bale homes,such as: what home owners value, who the main builder typically is, and what usually causes budgets to overrun. Akey finding is that self-building is economically justified if the projected saving is higher than the cost of a contractorand if the usually longer time needed to build the home is amenable to the investor. An economic case study is alsoconducted on a straw bale home in Radomlje, Slovenia. All building expenses are categorized by building phase andsubgrouped by cost in accordance with accepted building standards. A key observation is how demanding any specif-ic building phase is in comparison to conventional building.
Keywords: Straw Bale, Building, Economics, Survey, Investment.
Straw bale building and itS’ economic perSpective.
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2. methodologya web survey (make Survey, 2014) was created inwhich only single straw bale house units were consid-ered. a total of forty-four questions were posed suchas: “who designed the building”, “what year did youstart building?” etc.
the survey was sent to over 500 straw balehouse owners throughout the world. the homes werelocated in the uS and canada as well as europeancountries, South africa, South america, new Zealandand australia. the homes were in many different cli-mate zones, which is testament to the capability of Sbbto be successfully implemented in various environ-mental conditions. participants’ contact details werecollected from several web pages, mostly from aninternational straw bale registry (international Strawbale registry, 2014) on which owners offered theircontact address and some general information abouttheir building. a few homes were personally visited bythe authors.
costs are presented in equivalent uS dollars.inflation was considered by using an inflation calcula-tor (inflation calculator, 2013) when comparing pricesamong houses build over different years. in caseswhere the building took several years to complete, theinflation of the year that the building was finished wasused.
altogether, 166 surveys were returned, ofwhich 100 surveys met the criteria; the rest were elim-inated either due to incomplete surveys or due to thebuilding type not being a dwelling unit but rather forother purposes (eg. garages and garden sheds).
3. general house informationtwenty-one percent of all houses in the survey hadbasements, 53 % houses were single stories, 41 % hadtwo stories and the remaining 6 % had three or fourstories. as expected, ground-level houses were themost common and multi-floor Sbbs were the excep-tion. the houses were built between 1994 and 2013.on average, the project was completed in two-and-a-half years with construction of the building itself lastingtwo years.
the average floor size of all houses was 169± 83 m², as shown in table 1. average floor size as itrelates toprimary builder is also given. the ratio between thesmallest and largest floor size is a factor of 10, whichis normal since the dwelling sizes differ according tousers’ needs.
4. analysis and results4.1. importance of economic value for straw balehouse buildersSurvey participants were asked to evaluate the impor-tance of several values during the planning process,grading between 1 (not important) to 5 (extremelyimportant), see Figure 1. the responses reveal that theeconomic factor is considered beneficial but less rele-vant than aesthetic, health and environmental values,the latter of which is considered the most significantvalue with regards to Sbb. the average score for envi-ronmental value was 4,36 ± 1,14 whereas the eco-nomic value was 3,58 ± 1,18.
4.2. total building costsaverage investment for the houses was $226.300,00± $152.200,00. this means that investors spent onaverage $1.359, 00 ± $817, 00 per square meter,shown in table 3. as expected, building costs varyfrom case to case in relation to the different prioritiesof each investor. Such a difference can be mostlyattributed to variability in price of building components(e.g. window, door types, and flooring) depending onquality. unfortunately, there is no normalizing evalua-tion system that would allow comparison betweenminimum, basic and/or higher standards. in 1994 acategorization of investment was done (table 2) whichgives us a great insight of the difference regarding thepriorities of each investor (ahasteen et al. 1995).
Survey participants were also asked who theprimary builder was. the following results were gath-ered: 53 % of owners organized and built the houseby themselves or with a help of friends, whereas 24 %of owners built together with the contractor, 12 % ofhouses were built entirely by a contractor and theremaining 11 % houses were as a result of workshops.the straw bale building technique is recognized as a
Table 2. Categorization of investment.Table 1. Average floor area of houses in the survey.
Figure 1. Value evaluation in case of straw bale building.
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self-building technique. not many contractors arefamiliar with it or have skills appropriate for its execu-tion; therefore, the knowledge and guidelines are fre-quently obtained from Sbb guide books such asmorrison and kefee (2012), lacinski (2000), Steenet.al. (1994),
it was also learned that 51% of owners madetheir own design, approximately 25 % owners collab-orated with an architect, 4 % owners entirely left thedesign of their home to a hired architect and theremaining houses were designed by other experts(experienced builders, structural engineers, etc.).
a comparison of investments among thosewho build by themselves and those who hired a con-tractor was made. the results show that hiring a con-tractor increases the average building costs per squaremeter by approximately 11 % when the owner is alsoactive in the building process. in contrast, the averagebuilding costs per square meter increase by 40 %when execution is wholly delivered by a contractor,Figure 2. it can be assumed that the surplus of costsmostly reflects the costs of labor, which is not account-ed for when the house is built by the owner.
building duration was compared as it relatesto who the primary builder was, see table 4. the con-tractors’ knowledge and experience contribute to ashorter building time as well as to better quality. a self-builder needs on average 25±16 months to completethe building, whereas houses built by a contractor arecompleted in 13±4 months. in the case of collabora-tion between the owner and contractor, houses arecompleted in 22±16 months, and when a partialbuilding is executed as part of a workshop it takes24±14 months.
that the cost per square meter is lower if the
primary builder is the owner and the cost is the high-est when work is wholly delivered by a contractor, is tobe expected. However, it is of interest as to what levelself-building offers economic benefits, considering therelatively long construction of a building. the longerperiod to complete the house when the primarybuilder is the owner is to be expected, considering theprobability that construction is performed in thebuilders’ spare time. only few decide to quit their jobsand concentrate on building the house.
the owners’ work is only evaluated withregard to time, and it has no value in terms offinances. the correlation between cost per squaremeter and the construction time in accordance to theprimary builder is inversed. Speculating that an ownersaves $468/m² when building an average-sizedhouse (170 m² according to our survey), in 12months, approx. $80.000,00 is saved. it follows thatapproximately $6.600,00 would be saved everymonth. if the costs regarding accommodation beforemoving into the new house are lower than the pro-jected monthly savings, then self-building is economi-cally justified. if not, the owner constructing the build-ing becomes the more expensive option.
people decide to build a house by themselvesmostly because they cannot afford to use a contractor;therefore, the owner constructing the building is a rea-sonable choice if the owner has lower monthly expens-es in comparison to the projected saving.
4.3. investment estimationthe question of the investment amount remains openat least until the design is completed and the buildingsite is chosen. the survey results also reveal that themajority of investors (73 %) exceed their availablebudget by an average of 21 %. Since building a houseis usually not a daily activity of owners who decide toconstruct the building by themselves, the result isexpected since the prediction of costs is mostly poorlyjudged and underestimated by unskilled investors.
the rest of the survey participants (27 %) ade-quately predicted the costs and in only few cases werethe final costs lower than predicted. considering thebudget, only a few owners were not concerned at allabout the budget of that building; presumably, theyhad sufficient funds.
the question that naturally appears is whysuch budgets are so frequently exceeded to such ahigh amount. For better understanding, a further com-parison was done, comparing budget excess with
Table 4. Building time duration regarding the executant.Table 3. Building costs ($/m2) in accordance to primarybuilder.
Figure 2. Cost per m2 in dependance to executant.
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regard to the primarily builder, table 5. when the pri-mary builder is the owner, the budget excess is 23 %;when the primary builder is a contractor, the budgetexcess is 16 %.
it can be easily said that the lack of experi-ence and mistakes during the building process con-siderably increase the budget among other factorswhen the owner is the primary builder. the 16 % aver-age excess budget when a contractor is the primarybuilder can be mostly accounted for by many unpre-dicted expenses, such as spontaneous changes andadjustments made during the building process andextra materials. as morisson (2012) states, often thedifficulties appear with unresolved details; the moredetails available, the more accurate the preliminarybudget can be.
4.5. material priceas any other agricultural product, straw bales vary inprice from season to season and from region toregion. Since Sbb can be erected practically in anyregion and any type of climate zone (including zoneswhere grain growing is not easily done), it is expectedthat investment in bales will be higher in such regionsthan in regions where bales can be locally provided,as a result of agriculture being one of the main eco-nomic activities. the average investment in straw balesof survey participants was $4,00 ± $3,40 per bale.investment in straw bales represents 0,8 ± 0,5% of thetotal investment, which is relatively low considering thetotal investment. comparing the price of straw balesto other building materials such as e.g. brick, strawbales are cheaper alternative (brojan et. al. 2013).
5. discussionin several building guides, recommendations aregiven regarding how and on which segments of thebuilding to reserve for Sbb; such recommendationsare valid for any type of single-house building. most ofthese recommendations have the following actions incommon: does most of the work yourself with the helpof friends, apply simple designs for the roof, windows,etc. even though many potential builders share theidea of building with straw bales, their standards of liv-ing vary significantly.
taking a more extreme step in reducing thebudget, Sbb recommendations also suggest livingsimply, using recycling materials whenever possible,and even foraging. above all, in order to save a cer-
tain amount of funds, people/investors are willing togo beyond the law/building code and build withoutlegal permission. Such actions are undoubtedly badexamples for any kind of building, especially for tech-niques that are not widely in use but have an immensepotential for saving. in the survey results, 91 % of par-ticipants obtained a legal building permit – this is wel-come information.
However, as practice shows, when buildingtheir own new house, people like to think big, takingbig steps in fulfilling their dreams without any aware-ness that their ambitions are beginning to significantlyachieve their means and skills in the building process.in particular, it can be assumed that most people whocan afford to build their own home do so once in alifetime. generally, the lack of experience of potentialbuilders whose profession is not from the field of con-struction is expected, and costs go significantly overbudget.
regarding the findings that economic value isthe least significant factor, it can be assumed thatinvestors in Sbb appreciate other values more andunderstand that it is a long term investment.
the low investment costs for straw bales(around 1 % of total building costs) signifies the high-er costs of other elements included in the buildingprocess.
6. case study – single family house in radomlje,Sloveniaa single family house unit was taken as an example tobe discussed and analyzed from the economic per-spective. the house is located in central Slovenia,where preliminary budget estimation is an obligatorypart of building documentation (iZS, n.d. 2011). theowner was building the house on a pre-owned prop-erty. His environmental consciousness and way of liv-ing found Sbb to be an acceptable and appropriatebuilding method.
the owner was actively involved in all stagesof the building process, including the house design.He was also asked to rank the discussed values bytheir importance. the highest priority was health, fol-lowing by functional, ecological, economic and aes-thetic values.
the house has two stories, no basement, andthe useable area is 121 m², see Figure 3. the build-ing project began with basic designs done in collabo-ration with the owner, architect and contractor in2011. construction started in march 2012 and wascompleted in September 2013; the duration of con-struction was 18 months. the owner was active in allbuilding segments when he felt qualified for certaintypes work, from stacking straw bale walls and in allfinal stages of building.
throughout the entire building process, a journal waskept and all expenses were recorded.
the budget of the discussed house was $160.000,00;the final costs/total investment was over$191.000,00, meaning that the budget was exceed-ed by approximately 17%. Furthermore, the cost of
Table 5. Over budget.
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one square meter of the house was approximately$1.470,00. costs directly tied to straw bales, i.e.building them into walls and plastering performed bya contractor were $28.400,00, which representsapproximately 15 % of the total investment. roughly850 straw bales were used, not only for walls but alsofor the ground floor and roof insulation. the cost ofstraw bales was 1,2 % of the total investment.
when discussing the budget, most investorsare interested only in the total amount of project costs,i.e. the investor considers the budget involving allexpenses including start-up costs, building processitself, and basic equipment and furniture, to be able tolive in a new house. a more detailed expense classifi-cation was done, and the value of each segment wascalculated in accordance to the din 276-1:2008/12standard which is also used in Slovenian buildingpractice (pecovnik, 2008). it is adapted from agerman standard, and it is an example of good prac-tice. it divides structural analysis of costs into three lev-els. in the first level, the costs are divided into sevengroups (pecovnik, 2008), which are used in the pre-sented case study, table 6.
Furthermore, the analysis directly engagedwith the costs of construction, based on when an indi-vidual building phase was categorized as complete.the construction process is divided into five buildingphases (iZS, 2013). each of these has an estimated
proportional value of the entire investment; first build-ing phase 8 %, second building phase 17 %, thirdbuilding phase 30 %, fourth building phase 25 % andexpanses of fifth building phase 20 % of whole invest-ment (iZS, 2013). regarding these five phases, thecosts of the case study house were analyzed, Figure 4.comparing the portions of investment into each build-ing phase as estimated in regulations and the invest-ment proportions of the case study, the main differ-ence is in building phases three and four, and a small-er difference appears when comparing phases 1, 2and 5. it can be assumed that the differences arisesince straw bales are in-fill and isolation elements atthe same time, whereas in building estimated propor-tions, insulation application on walls is part of phasefour; therefore, the case study investment proportionof all five building phases is reasonable.
a more detailed analysis of single buildingphases is presented in table 7. the significant invest-ment is in the third building phase, which represents42 % of the total investment. the fourth buildingphase required 18 % of the total investment. the costsof the first and fifth phases represent 8 and 12 % ofthe total investment, respectively.
7. conclusionthe cost benefits of Straw bale building are generally
accepted and frequentlyemphasized. with thehelp of the results of aquestionnaire survey aswell as a case study, whatSbb means for potentialstraw bale house ownerin the sense of econom-ics is demonstrated.
the informationobtained from the surveyresults confirms that Sbbis cost demanding as abuilding process, but lesscost demanding in termsof materials. the follow-ing key conclusions weremade:
potential straw balebuilders consider theeconomic value to be
Table 7. Individual buildingphases costs.
Table 6. Structural analysis of costs at first level in accor-dance to DIN 276-1:2008/12 standard.
Figure 4. Investment regarding the each building phase.
Figure 3. Straw bale house in Radomlje, Slovenia (Europe).
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important, but much less relevant compared to thevalues of ecology, health, aesthetic and functionality.therefore, it can be speculated that potential strawbale builders are willing to invest more money toachieve the other mentioned values.
the majority (53 %) of straw bale buildersconstruct the building on their own.
the majority (73 %) underestimates the com-plexity of the investment or their preliminary budgetestimation is insufficient resulting in an average bud-get overrun of 21 %.
the material cost of straw bales is one of thelowest costs: 1 % of the entire investment.
Self-building is economically justified if theprojected saving is higher than the cost of a contrac-tor, and the time duration is amenable to the investor.
the results of the case study of the single-family house were similar to the average results pro-vided by the survey in terms of cost per square meteras well as construction time to completion, serving asvalidation for both assessment methods.Sbb can be considered inexpensive but only withregard to the main building material. total investmentdepends on numerous other factors, which, in turn,depend on the capacities of the individual investor.
reFerenceS:
broJan, l. et al. 2013, A comparative study of brick and straw balewall systems from environmental, economical and energy perspec-tives, Journal of engineering and applied Sciences, 8, 11: 920-926.
Hodge, b. 2006, Building Your Straw Bale Home - FromFoundations to the Roof, landlinks press, collingwood, au.
iZS – inZinirSKa Zbornica SloveniJe (n.d.), , available onlinehttp://www.izs.si, accessed 22 october, 2013.
inFlation calculator, available online http://www .usinfla-tioncalculator.com, accessed 24 october, 2013.
JoneS, b. 2009, Building with straw bales, green books, devon,uK.
lacinSKi, p. et al. 2000, Serious straw bale, chelsea greenpublishing company, vermont, uSa.
magwood et al. 2005, More straw bale buildings, new Societypublishers, gabriola island, ca.
morriSon, a. and KeFee, c. 2012, Modern look a straw baleconstruction, Straw bale innovations, llc, colorado,uSa.
pecovniK, F. 2008, Prevod DIN 276–1:2008-12, available onlinehttp://www.izs.si, accessed 20 october, 2013.
maKe SurveY, available online http://www.makesurvey.net,accessed 3 February, 2014.
Steen, a. et al. 1994, The straw bale house, chelsea greenpublishing company, vermont, uSa.
international Straw bale regiStrY, available onlinehttp://sbregistry.sustainablesources.com, accessed 15 January2014.
author(s):
larisa brojan, university of ljubljana, Faculty of architecture, Zoisova12 Si-1000 ljubljanaemail: [email protected]
peggi l cloustonuniversity of massachusetts, dep. of environmentalconversation, amherst ma01003. email:[email protected]
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1. ıntroduction
Design activity deals with problem solving cases whichare ill-defined and wicked. as such, there are noclearly defined design goals (goel, 1995; simon,1973), systematically applied strategies to attaindesign objectives, routine procedures for design prob-lem solving (gero, 2000), or ideal design solutions(rowe, 1987). ıt is evident that design solutions areopen-ended; any design solution can be further devel-oped by applying further design ac-tions.
understanding the nature of the thinking uti-lized to reach the solution of a design problem canreveal the characters of design thinking and the tasksperformed. the bounded rationality that is a charac-teristic of design, refers to the concept that designersare rarely in a position to identify all possible solutionsto a given problem; rather, they settle for what seemsto relate to the required properties designers see at thetime. generally, problem solvers make decisions thatmight be seen as satisfactory; according to simon(1979) this process is called “satisficing”.
as a corollary to the foregoing characteristic,there are no explicit bases for the end of design prob-lem-solving activity. ın other words, architecturaldesign problems are problems with continually possi-ble reformulation.
the strategies of solution generation and theoverall organization of search through a problemspace, is an area in which no general theory seems toexist (rowe, 1991). the cognition activities related tothe design proc-esses do not have clear details or spe-cific order designers perform. some maintain thatambiguity can be a resource for design (gaver, Beaverand Benford, 2003).
2. Design and creativitythe study investigates only the role and the
effect of creativity in design ac-tivities, rather than the
creativity itself and its related cognition processes.there are many researchers investigated the creativityin design and its re-lated processes such as, gero,suosa, and Maher. Maher stated that creativity sup-port tools are recognition, perception, and diversity(Maher 2011) and (Maher et al. 2011).
ın design, there are more pursued goals andobjectives; the final design product should have suchas functions, usefulness and values among others thatare not required in products of other domains and dis-ciplines, or even can be achieved (Christiaans, 2002).
architectural design with its different influen-tial factors generated from various disciplines, humanneeds, functionality, environment, structure, economyand aesthetics, has a nature that is more complicatedthan other de-sign domains’ nature. ın decision mak-ing processes of designing, architects compromisebetween those design factors and requirements, toreach satis-factory solutions.
Creativity with its various processes such asemotion, intuition and inno-vation, is involved in alldesign actions (Crosss 200; ralph, 2010; truex,Baskerville , and travis, 2000). Creativity in designmay be different from creativity in other domains anddisciplines (Christiaans, 2002).
the tasks architects perform during design-ing, need a representational medium to be performedin. architects utilize representational environments toexplore what is in mind and to develop design ideas.ın other words, me-dia the representation environ-ments assist in design definition and in design evalua-tion at different stages of designing.
the role of media, the external representationsuch as drawing, modeling, etc., has been identifiedand appeared in the design process in Bruce archer’smodel of problem solving, even before this designprocess has been completely defined (rowe, 1991).
the personal prejudice towards probleminterpretation has a prominent part in problem defini-
Wael A. Abdelhameed
Abstract
Creativity is viewed as vital for all design actions; however, creativity in general with its related cognition processes has
no general theory. Creativity used in architectural design is different than creativity in other domains. This research pro-
poses certain activities of the initial phases of architectural design, in which the role of creativity is distinguished. The
research proceeds to present a case study of two architectural design studios in which a VR environment is employed
in order to in-vestigate the effect of VR use on the creativity in those design phases. A methodol-ogy of qualitative and
quantitative analysis has applied. Various architectural design factors are neutralized to overcome the influence gener-
ated from human factors variation and design thinking prejudice in architectural design and the associated ac-tivities.
Keywords: Creativity, Architectural Design, Design Studio, Virtual Reality.
Creatıvıty ın the ınıtıal Phases ofarChıteCtural Desıgn.
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tion and in solution generation. the design-problemdefinition process is highly affected not only with thenature of representa-tion, the utilized media, but alsowith the personal use of such media.
Moreover, the satisfactory solution can bechanged because of the use of the representationenvironment. each medium, a representation environ-ment, has its own praxes that another medium cannotprovide the architect with.
3. Creativity in architectural design activities
as extracted from the literature review of previous sec-tions, creativity with its various processes such as emo-tion, intuition and innovation, is involved in all designactions; however, creativity does not have general the-ory (rowe, 1986) to be used in describing the cogni-tion activities and other processes related to it.
the cognitive activities and logical decision-making process such as, analysis, evaluation, etc.being performed in architectural design, are differ-entthan activities and processes of other design domains.
ın architectural design, architects’ minds havethe quality to adopt and adapt reference-image ofvarious resources, whether artificial or natural forms.architects utilize various references by borrowingforms associated with design ideas, to have a partialsolution or a solution direction.
Many researchers introduce the idea ofstreams for the partial solutions of design problems bywhich the designer/architect uses assistance duringthe design process. the design ideas can be generat-ed from: 1) design-problem context, 2) outside ofdesign-problem ambit, 3) subjective or objective inter-pretation of design -problem aura, 4) use of media, or5) personal prejudice of design thinking.
the architectural design process has mainareas that form its main phases. the researcher selectsfrom these design areas certain design activities tohighlight the creativity role in the cognition actionsperformed in designing. these activities are selectedbased on the theme and scope of the two design stu-dios in which the quantitative investigation is conduct-ed. these activities are main phases in the designprocess, namely: problem definition, con-structingconcepts, forming new design ideas, exploring designideas, form propositions, form compositions, and formexploring.
the study investigates those design activitiesto indicate how the archi-tecture students benefit fromthe vr use and to highlight the relationship be-tweencreativity and vr use, if any.
3.1. vırtual realıty use ın Desıgnıng
the most common use of virtual reality in architecturehas been to enhance the experience of walking insideor around a structure that does not exist. vrresearchers have worked toward making vr an effec-tive tool for design creation and design exploration.recently, vr has been extensively used in designing tovisualise different design solutions for one main rea-son that it is much easier and cheaper to evaluate the
form and design in a virtual envi-ronment instead ofbuilding or modifying a physical model.
ın addition to visualising the virtual environ-ment, vr systems can be used as a tool to build up thedesign model and its surroundings, in other words thevirtual environment itself. Designers and architectshave adapted virtual reality into the design processand architecture creation and use it to explore adesign with its spatial relationships and its surround-ings. By apply-ing the same concept, virtual reality isused in architecture education in the designingprocess, where it provides a designer a full image ofspatial rela-tionships of design components instead ofdepending on raw imagining. ın other words, vr hasthis particularity that helps to create the spatial andtopological relationships of a design.
ın the vr work made by using the Calibreınstitute environment, vr has been used since 1991 asan experimental tool to assess the impact of vr tech-nology in design (http://www.encyclopedia.com/). thevr technology was further developed in Calibre tobecome an important presentation tool in student pro-jects for assessing design variants and final designsolutions. since 1997, vr was used in the whole of thedesign process in a number of student projects ofCalibre introducing a quantum leap of use, which haslead to an increasing number of innovative studentprojects. vr has been used as a design support envi-ronment, providing creative and innovative potentials(achten et al. 1999).
the study employs a vr environment, the vrstudio program, in design studio to investigate howcreativity of architecture students may be affected bydesigning in a virtual reality environment. the vrstudio is a vr pro-gram, developed by forum8 thesoftware developing company. architecture studentswere asked to record their design activities while usingthe vr stu-dio program.
3.2. arChıteCtural Desıgn stuDıo
the study is conducted into two design studios of thesame design complex-ity at intermediate design level.the design projects are Business Centre and DistrictMuseum. the researcher selects to investigate designsof students in two different design studios in order tomeasure more responses.
the focus of design studios is the initialdesign phases through which concepts are construct-ed and forms are proposed and composed. those de-sign phases cover the previously selected areas andactivities to indicate creativity effect.
the two architectural programmes/briefshave approximately the same level of complexity interms of the number of zones and components, builtareas, functional relationships. the students/subjectsoptionally choose their project sites from different sitesof approximately the same area.
the research focus was explained to the stu-dents to understand the pro-cedures being applied totheir design work. students were asked to identify andrecord the vr effect, if any, during design developmentin the vr envi-ronment. Questions related to concep-
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tual designing, virtual reality use and visual designthinking were discussed in the design studio for exam-ple, what is the deference between any digital mediumand vr environment, with what design ideas studentsshould start the vr use, at what design situation vruse is more effective and beneficial, etc.
ın the primary phase, the design tasks weredirected to define the design problem and to developand construct students’ design ideas into architec-turalcomposition and proposition. the students were askedto provide self-records of each explicit stages, actionsand reasoning. those explicit se-quences records,with the supplementation of students’ textual explana-tions, were used in presentation and criticism the stu-dents’ designs. the presenta-tion of conceptualdesigning steps that are prejudice and individual fromone design case to another, was highly beneficial forstudents through the expo-sure to different styles ofvisual design thinking, to different uses of the samemedium, and to different design solutions.
starting by discussing the goal, objectivesand procedures, the design studio continued with var-ious presentations in order to explain for the stu-dentshow to record their design steps and how to benefitfrom this process.
students/subjects were requested to formu-late explicit representational sketches at initial designphases for problem definition and conceptualizationactivities. Constructing concepts and design ideaswere the initial design ac-tivities, in which studentstransferred their design ideas into the vr program asearlier as they could. students/subjects were advisedto apply back-forth movement between the vr use andtheir representational sketches or com-puter model-ling programs in case of changing or exploring newideas or concepts. this last procedure was to over-come that many students/subjects used the vr envi-ronment for the first time. they stated that it takes timeto get familiar with the environment and its functionsand potentials.
the investigated activities were explained tothe students/subjects, par-ticularly the design process-es of constructing tentative forms. the subjects keptrecording each graphical manipulation and rationalethroughout the de-sign studio.
4. Methodology
the research proposes a simple methodology to inves-tigate creativity in de-sign, through indicating designtasks and activities in which the creativity effectappears. applying quantitative and qualitative analysisto achieve the research objectives, the researcherrecorded and classified design develop-ments and-modifications of students/respondents.simultaneously, they re-cord their own design activitiesto easily track and evaluate transformational steps ofdecision-making rationale and reasoning behind eachdecision and transformation.
analyzing textual records of the students andobservations of the instruc-tor/researcher provides awide stream for qualitative investigation. on the otherhand, conducting a questionnaire in the two design
studios furnishes with a basis for quantitative investi-gation.
the total number of students/respondents isthirty nine; one design studio has twenty students whilethe other has nineteen.
5. analysis and results
Quantitative data generated from the students’responses was analysed in figures. Qualitative obser-vations and analysis were necessary to explain bothtrends and remarks appeared in the quantitativeresults. the questionnaire analysis and research resultsand discussion are in the following part, classi-fiedinto four question groups according to the designactivity relationship to the creativity role.
5.1. ProBleM Defınıtıon
from figure 1, the majority of the students, aroundeighty percent, find that the vr use has between weakeffect to average effect on their creativity pre-formedin the design tasks of problem definition. the rest ofthe responses are divided between above average andstrong effect. the main response was the averageeffect with approximately thirty six percent.
Design tasks and activities of problem defini-tion have a unique nature of ambiguity in whichsketching is more suitable than the vr use. the vr useneeds specific formal properties and form precision aswell as specific di-mensions which usually are notcompletely defined or identified in the initial phases ofproblem definition. there is an inevitable reciprocitybetween the act of drawing and the thinking associat-ed with it (Do et al. 2000, citing; gero J. s. and r.saunders, 2000, p. 215-224; graves 1997, p. 384-394) . ıt can be stated that sketching has an importantrole as a cognitive process to explore and constructwhat is mind in response to design ideas.
Many students performed the major designactivities of this area of prob-lem definition in manualmedia before transferring their designs to the vr pro-gram. other students benefit from the vr use byexploring site condi-tions and limitations. of thosewho used the vr program, some explored environ-mental factors related to climate and typology whileothers located in the site some abstract forms andmasses, figure 2.
Figure 1. Responses of the VR use effect on creativity in
problem definition activities.
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5.2. ConstruCtıng ConCePts anD forMıngneW Desıgn
ıDeas
approximately thirty six percent of the responsesrecord that the vr use in the area of constructing con-cept has weak effect and below average effect on theircreativity performed in the respective design activities.on the other area of forming new design ideas,around forty percent of the subjects find that the vruse has above average effect and strong effect ontheir creativity preformed in the design tasks of ideageneration, figure 3.
ın the area of constructing concepts, 43.6% -seventeen students- find that the effect is average,while in the area of forming new design ideas 46.2%- eighteen students- were recorded that the effect isaverage. on the other hand, the rest of responses ineach area are recorded a trend/direction oppo-site tothe other area.
Design activities performed in the area ofconstructing concepts required to start without a spe-cific idea. Many students preferred to use sketching
and manual media instead of vr in this area.although forming design ideas has the same charac-teristic, the activities here include exploring certainideas re-lated to design, in which the vr use is moreeffective to the creativity, fig-ure 4.
5.3. eXPlorıng Desıgn ıDeas anD forMProPosıtıons
around fifty four percent of the students find that theeffect in the area of exploring design ideas is aboveaverage and strong. ın the area of form propositions,approximately sixty four percent record the sameeffect, above average and strong. the trends in thetwo areas have the same direction; however, in thearea of form propositions no weak or below averageeffect was recorded, figure 5.
staring from activities of these two areas, themajority of students had tentative forms in an abstractlevel in most cases. those students transferred theirdesigns into the vr program, which helps their cre-ativity effectively in terms of exploring their designs andlater proposing and modifying their forms. this last
Figure 2. Two case studies of students using VR during
problem definition design activities.
Figure 3. Responses of the VR use effect on creativity in
constructing concepts and forming new design ideas.
Figure 4. Responses of the VR use effect on creativity in
constructing concepts and forming new design ideas. A)Up, using sketching and a computer modelling program. B)Down, us-ing VR to explore some architectural elementsand treatments in the design
Figure 5. Responses of the VR use effect on creativity in
exploring design ideas and form propositions.
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remark was stated in the textual records of those stu-dents. the most powerful potential of the vr use man-ifest itself in these two de-sign phases, whereas themajority of students stated in their records that the vrenvironment is a more creative medium for explo-ration and proposing in terms of forms and specificdesign ideas.
5.4. forM CoMPosıtıons anD forM eXPlor-ıng
ın the area of form compositions, around fifty ninepercent of the students record that the effect is aboveaverage and strong. ın the area of form explor-ing,around sixty seven percent of the respondents find theeffect above av-erage and strong. ın both areas, thir-ty three percent of the responses were re-corded theaverage effect, figure 7. on weak or below averageeffect was recorded in form exploring activities andtasks.
the students in these two phases have specif-ic forms with more details. the nature of design activ-ities used in composing forms and building up cer-tainformal complexity, is more related to digital mediagenerally, and the vr use particularly. although stu-dents were using the vr for the first time in designing,fifty nine to sixty seven percent find it effective in formcom-position, and more effective in form exploring,figure 8.
6. Discussion
the design studio was started by explaining the designmethods and proce-dures that would be applied. theinstructor explained to the students how to use the vrprogramme and its commands to explore their design
ideas and design concepts. the students stated in theirtextual explanations different levels of virtual realityuse and visual design thinking. this diversity was evi-dent in the instructor’s design remarks. however, boththe simple methodology applied and the variousdesign factors neutralized, overcome the ef-fect gen-erated from human variation and design thinking prej-udice.
ındividual ways of visual design thinking usedby students in designing are interrelated with thevirtual reality use. students who have more experi-ence in computer modeling programmes, becomeeasier and faster more fa-miliar with the vr environ-ment. ın other words, the individual subjective way ofvisual design thinking and perception that varies fromone designer to another has a recorded effect on theresult and output of the vr use.
the advantages of the virtual reality use as adesign medium have ap-peared in students’ textualexplanations. from the instructor’s studio records,some students built a link between their creativity andthe perception offered by the vr use. there were moreand high awareness of forms and shapes that studentswork with and their spaces and relationships duringdesign ac-tivities. after finalizing their designs the stu-dent majority went back to use computer modellingprograms such as autoCaD, 3ds max, sketch up, etc.for applying more form details. this was evidentbecause they were more familiar with these computerprograms than the vr studio.
figure 9 shows the diversity and variety result-ed from students’ re-sponses in the areas of problemdefinition, constructing concepts, forming new designideas, exploring design ideas, form propositions, formcomposi-tions, and form exploring. the main obser-vation, appeared in figure 9, is that the strong effectsteadily increases starting from problem definition andconstructing concepts, through exploring new ideas,and ending with form exploring, i.e. from the initialdesign phases to the later design phases. on the con-trary, the below average effect steadily decreases inthe same direc-tion of design activities.
Figure 8. Two student case studies with final design details
by using VR Studio and 3ds max.
Figure 7. Responses of the VR use effect on creativity in
form compositions and form explor-ing.
Figure 6. Two images of a student design in exploring
design ideas and form propositions.
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7. Conclusion
this research paper presents the results of a case studyof two architectural design studios in which a vr envi-ronment was employed in the initial de-sign phases inorder to investigate its effect on the creativity used inthose initial phase.
the study has confirmed that the vr use isbeneficial in the later phases of designing, rather thanthe beginning phases of designing. virtual realityallows designers to oscillate easily between design ele-ments properties, ab-stract representation, and com-ponent assembly of the design model in a sin-gledesign activity.
on the other hand, virtual reality easesimagination and therefore helps in evaluating designideas and design concepts. however, more functionsin the vr environment have to be directed to enabledesigners to start without specific or certain designidea. More investigations and researches should bedirected to this area.
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to the crowd, ın Design Creativity, springer london, 41-47.
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individual design to collaborative design to collective design, ınDesign Computing and Cognition’10, springer netherlands, 581-599.
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author(s):
Wael a. aBDelhaMeeDuniversity of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bahrain [email protected],[email protected]
Figure 9. Questionnaire results analysis and the investigat-
ed areas in the design studio
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introduction
This article intends to highlight the essential but oftenunrecognised contribution ugandan low-incomewomen make to transform their standardised housingdesigns into built-forms and living environments thatare more user-friendly to them. The article argues foracknowledging and including women‟s efforts inappropriating their housing in the ugandan low-income housing discourse to support the provision ofhousing designs that are more user-friendly to women,reducing their marginalization in housing.
in uganda, more than 50% of the urban pop-ulation reside in informal settlements that are charac-terized by substandard housing conditions(moHL&ud, 2008). uganda government launchedhousing projects to regulate those settlements andprovide their residents with appropriate housing. inuganda, low-income women were acknowledged asthe most marginalized with respect to housing. Todemonstrate commitment towards reducing low-income women marginalization in housing, one ofthose low-income housing projects, masese WomenHousing Project (mWHP) was assigned to targetwomen as its main beneficiaries.
as in the case of many low-income mass
housing in the developing world, housing prototypeswere offered to the beneficiaries of mWHP that are ofoptimized areas to reduce on cost. The design of thoseprototypes are standardised to speed delivery, whichas delgado & de Troyer (2011) noted in Turkey, com-promised on the designs‟ responsiveness to the indi-vidual households‟ personal traits and preferences.But with habituation, households gradually transformtheir housing designs in response to their personal cir-cumstances and changing housing needs. as suchhousing transformation becomes an almost inevitablephenomenon to the low-income housing of the devel-oping world (Khan, 2014; Tipple, 2000; Turner,1977). Transformation in this sense refers to any alter-ations, extensions, or modifications to the external orinternal housing space (Khan, 2014).
Weisman (1994) noted that the male domi-nation to the housing related professional fields suchas physical planning, surveying and architecture, con-tributed to the formation of spatial patterns and hous-ing designs that often exclude women’s perspectives,interests and needs.
Larsson (2001) argues that the gender-neu-trality with which housing is perceived as an objectiveand rational activity that does not need to focus onmen and women in particular, caused the provision of
Eiman Ahmed Elwidaa
Abstract
The article explores the transformations low-income women make to appropriate their housing that often goes unno-
ticed. The aim is to document, acknowledge and make low-income women‟s efforts to appropriate their housing visi-
ble. Lessons learned are assumed to inform the Ugandan low-income housing discourse on design considerations that
can contribute to the provision of housing designs that are conducive to low-income women. The study confines its
investigation to the housing designs provided under the governmental low-income housing projects in Uganda.
This article presents results from a case study on Masese Women Housing Project MWHP that targeted
women as its main beneficiaries. Post Occupancy Evaluations POE methodology was utilised to collect data on the per-
formance of the housing designs provided by the project and the transformations women make to increase their hous-
ing appropriateness. Open-ended interviews were carried out with women owners to investigate the transformations
they apply to their houses. Results are documented through photography, sketches and measured drawings. Results are
synthesised and analysed under outdoors and indoors transformations.
The study confirmed the substantial contribution low-income women make to appropriate their housing. It argues
for acknowledging and including women‟s efforts in the Ugandan low- income housing discourse to support the
provision of housing designs that are more user-friendly to them. Design considerations that are essential to attain
low-income women convenience with their housing are: its capacity to accommodate women‟s triple roles, their poten-
tial for incremental development and their ability for segmentation into autonomous housing units to allow for their flex-
ible, economic and functional use. The study advocates for directing efforts to the development of traditional building
technologies instead of introducing improved but alien ones as an alternative that is more favourable to women.
Keywords: Low-income, Women, Housing, Transformation, User-friendly.
Women and LoW-income HousingTransformaTion in uganda
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design solutions that often side-line woman’s perspec-tives and aspirations to their housing. ironically, inmost patriarchal societies such as uganda, while menare held responsible for housing provision, its adjust-ments to make it a convenient home for its householdsis usually considered a woman role (Kishindo, 2003).in effect, women become responsible for modifyingthe design inconveniences that are created by profes-sionals, usually men, who are ignorant of housingdesign conditions that are favourable to women(Weisman, 1994:89).
Two levels of change in housing design canbe identified; a relatively permanent one that is decid-ed by the designers and stipulated by building bylaws,and a relatively changeable one that individual house-holds have some freedom to introduce changes to(Habraken, 2005).
However, the capacity of the low-incomewomen to change their housing to adequately respondto their households‟ needs is restricted by their mod-est financial resources. This calls for developing flexi-ble and adaptable designs that can easily, quickly andaffordably be adjusted to their households‟ housingneeds and in a way that reflects their values and lifestyle as argued by abbaszadeh, moghadam andsaadatian (2013).
Low-income women in the developing worldare noted to spend more time and do more choreswithin their housing compared to men (dandekar,1992). This combined to their role as principal homeorganizers and family caretakers nourishes women’sindigenous knowledge that they usually receive fromprevious generations towards favourable housingdesign conditions. Women use this indigenous designknowledge to transform their housing to their house-holds‟ convenience, producing what Lawson (2006)identifies as vernacular architecture. in quest for moreuser-friendly living environments, women transformtheir housing and thus become the controlling agentsto its spatial configuration (Habraken, 2000). Womentherefore act as “forces of change and adaptability” totheir housing design (Wilkinson, 2005:4).
other than making women‟s efforts inappropriating their housing visible, this article aims atlearning from the housing transformations womenmake to appropriate their housing to inform theugandan low-income housing discourse on designconsiderations that support the provision of housingdesigns that are more user-friendly to women.
gendered flexibility
The reduced area of the dwelling unit of mass housingdictated by cost reduction, necessitated flexibledesigns to increase their efficiency (Leupen, 2005).This gave way to design concepts, such as supportsand open Buildings, that basically target maximizinghouseholds‟ options to the functional use of theirbuildings according to their individual housing needs(Habraken, 2011). a flexible house becomes the onethat can easily, quickly and affordably be adapted toaccommodate its users‟ changing housing needs overtime. a flexible house arguably becomes a criterion or
an indicator to the usefulness of a building to itsuser (slaughter, 2010:208).
schneider & Till (2005:157) argue that thedegree of housing flexibility is determined by its built-in opportunity for its adaptability to “different socialuses” and capability of facilitating “different physicalarrangements” to facilitate those uses.
Traditionally, spatial planning and housing were per-ceived as “objective and rational professional areas”(Larsson, 2001:6) that should serve the needs of thecommunity and family members equally (Kennett &Wah, 2011) rendering it gender-neutral. subsequentlyhouseholds are usually discussed as homogeneousgroups in the housing debate without much consider-ation to their gender differences. Turner (1977) arguesthat housing adequacy mainly depends on what itdoes to its households. But men and women oftenhave differential housing needs, interests and percep-tions (Larsson, 2001) that is caused by their differen-tial gender roles in their communities and families.Therefore, women and men develop deferent assump-tions about housing adequacy that are related to whatit does for them independently.
Kellett & Tipple (2000) argue that in many cases ahouse for low-income women, otherthan providing a place for living, constitutes a work-place for performing income generating activities(igas) to increase their families‟ income. accordingto moser (1989) low-income women‟s conveniencewith their housing is related to its capacity to accom-modate the practical needs of their everyday activities.she further relates women‟s practical needs to theirtriple-roles of: a) Their reproductive role by caring fortheir family, b) their productive role by performinghome-based igas to increase the family‟s incomeand c) their community management role within theircommunities. she argues that failure to acknowledgeand respond to women‟s tripple-role in housing mightlead to their margnlisation and compromises on theappropriatness of provided the housing design solu-tions to the low-income women of the developigworld.
in her study of gender and housing in africa,schlyter (1996:8-9) acknowledged “Family andhousehold” as “basic concepts in housing researchand planning”. she advocates against stereotyping ofthe nuclear family as the norm in the housing debateas it excludes women in non-conventional family struc-tures. she also cautioned against normalisations offemale-headed household as composed of singlemothers with dependent children that excludes livingalone single women or those in polygemous familiesthat are common in many african contexts includinguganda. Therefore, the concept of „housing flexibili-ty‟ as an indicator for housing appropriateness needsto be redefined to accommodate heterogeneitiesamong low-income women across all family structuresto ensure its usefulness to attain their satisfaction withtheir housing.
in their discussion of flexible housing,schneider & Till (2007:13) identified two ways through
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aawhich housing flexibility has developed. one that
came about as a “result of the evolving condition ofthe vernacular” whereby design solutions arrived atthrough housing transformations according to theirusers‟ patterns of use and cultural formation andanother that is developed as the architects‟ responseto the “external pressures that prompted housingdesigners and providers to develop alternative designsolutions, including flexible housing”.
This article explores on the flexible housing-designs resulted from the transformations low-incomewomen make to appropriate their housing, as an actof the vernacular, to inform the ugandan professionalpractice on flexible housing designs that are appropri-ate to the low-income women. Thus, this article can bethought of as an informative dialogue between the twoways through which housing flexibility has evolvedover time.
The study’s methodology
mWHP was selected as a case study for this researchas it reflects the state of the art for the ugandan gov-ernment in providing low-income women with appro-priate housing. mWHP represents a unique case study,which Yin (2009) and stake (1995) argue, has thecapacity to render deep insights to the study‟s issues.Post occupancy evaluation (Poe) methodology isused to gather data on the housing transformationslow-income women made to their housing to enhancetheir performance to their occupants housing needsand different life scenarios (Preiser, 1995).
Housing ownership constitutes a security fac-tor that motivates investment of time and resources inhousing development. in uganda, akiiki (2010) foundout that women have uncontested authority over thehouses they solely own. Women’s ability to take deci-sions about their housing without being harassed orcontrolled by men gives them “the ability to savemoney and invest in housing” (schlyter, 1996:9).Therefore the study focuses its investigation on housesthat are solely owned and occupied by women.
data were collected through open-endedinterviews with women owners, on the transformationsthey made to appropriate their housing. Housingtransformations were documented through measureddrawings and photographs. as a practicing architectfor more than twenty years, the researcher used herobservations to analyse and synthesize the variantforms of housing transformations to arrive at designconsiderations that can contribute to the provision ofhousing designs that are user-friendly to low-incomewomen.
The case: masese Women Housing Project (mWHP)
mWHP is a donor-funded low-income housing projectlaunched 1989 in Jinja, the second largest city inuganda then, to mainly target women. initially, mWHPenvisaged to house 700 families in three clusters 1, 2and 3 as illustrated in figure 1. nevertheless, by thetime the project stalled in 1996 only 274 plots wereallocated, of which houses were built on 187 plots
only. cluster 1 was the first to receive housing con-struction making it with the highest implementationrate (90%) compared to the other two that both regis-tered around 10% implementation rate only(moLH&ud, 2013). Therefore cluster 1 was selectedas the study area for this research (figure1).
Titled plots that are of almost equal sizes of18mX12m were offered to mWHP beneficiaries toconstruct their houses within. four alternative houseprototypes were offered to select from. Three of themnamely prototype 1, 2 &3, share the same cost andthe overall dimensions of 6X5.5m,which results in theirequal internal generic space of 33 m2. The onlydesign variation between the three prototypes is on thealternative positioning of the internal partition walls.This caused differential spatial layouts to their internalspace as illustrated in figure 2. The fourth prototypeoffered is larger in area, different in proportions caus-ing it to be more expensive than the others. it wasimplemented by a few being unaffordable to mostbeneficiaries therefore it is excluded from the investi-gations for this study.
in this study a home refers to the main houseblock offered by the project and any other physical
Figure 1. Cluster 1 The study area of MWHP.
Source: Adapted from Masese Women Self-help Project
Figure 2. MWHP four house prototypes.
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developments within the territory of the individual’splot. mWHP plots were arranged in groups of severalplots surrounding a green space to provide an order-ly thus upgraded living environment at the project’sarea as illustrated in figure 3.
more than twenty years later, a general exten-sion to the initial project‟s development that amountsto almost four folds is noted in the study area as illus-trated in figure 4. according to elwidaa andnnaggenda-musana (2015) the resultant spatial con-figuration at the study area created a living environ-ment that is more user-friendly to low-income womencompared to the one anticipated by mWHP designers.
The study narrowed down its focus to investi-gate the spontaneous transformations women made toappropriate their individual homes. Housing transfor-mations at the home level are categorized into: out-door transformation referring to any extension madeto the main house within the plot‟s premises, andindoor transformations, which refers to any alterationmade to the house internal space.
outdoors house extensionsmWHP house block occupies approximately 15% ofthe of the plot’s area. The relatively ample remainingoutdoor space within the plots that are devoid ofboundary markers (elwidaa & nnaggenda-musana,2015), encouraged horizontal extensions to the mainhouse. These extensions sometimes spill outside theplot’s premises (figure 5) negating the projects build-ing bylaws and regulations that restrict physical devel-opment within the plot’s boundaries. Women as suchassert their own changeable level of control(Habraken, 2005) of their homes as they reconfigurethem to their personal conveniences.
figure 5. extensions spilling outside the plot's territory
out-door extensions are usually in the form of: 1)single rooms usually made of mud or red-bricks 2)wooden kiosks and 3) sheds. single rooms‟ exten-sions are commonly constructed in linear formsattached, detached or semi-detached to the main
house with no interconnection between them as illus-trated in figures 6 and 7.
The linear layout facilitates each room toconstitute an autonomous housing unit mimicking theone-room house-type locally referred to as the Muzigohouse (figure 8), which constitutes the housing optionfor the majority of the low-income groups in uganda(nawangwe & nnaggenda, 2005). as in the Muzigohouse, each single room works as a multi-functionalunit where all housing activities such as, sleeping,cooking, sitting, etc take place.
The rooms‟ linear layout also enables directinteraction with the outdoor space. Women of mWHP
Figure 3. The spatial layout of the study area as planned.
Figure 4. Physical development at the study area
Figure 6. Semi-detached single extension rooms.
Figure 5. Extensions spilling outside the plot's territory.
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perform most of their daily activities and domesticchores outdoors typical to most low-income women ofthe informal settlements of the ugandan urban centresas noted by nnaggenda-musana (2008). out-doorspace supports women multi-tasking to their domesticchores and family care and performing their home-based igas concurrently (figure 9), which increasestheir satisfaction with their homes.
nevertheless, outdoor functional use and itscapacity to accommodate extension rooms are com-promised by the existence of the pit-latrines that aresometimes multiple in one home as in figure 10. Thesubstandard hygiene of the pit latrines furtherdegrades the living environment outdoors inconve-niencing women the most.
The autonomy of the extension-rooms facili-tates their flexible use to variety of tenancy clientelesuch as single tenants, families or cohabitants. This
increases the rooms‟ rent potentials thus their eco-nomic value, providing women owners with secured„extra earning‟ that Larsson (2001) argues is essentialfor their financial independence.
The proximity of the extension rooms to themain house, yet their autonomy, facilitates their con-venient use to older boys of the main family who areexpected to live outside the main house upon reach-ing adolescent age according to local socio-culturalnorms. The spatial configuration resulted of the exten-sion rooms and the main house within the individual’splot that is devoid of rigid boundaries around it(elwidaa & nnaggenda-musana, 2015) sometimescreates a living environment that resemble that of theugandan traditional homestead. as in the traditionalhomestead, the home in mWHP turned to be consti-tuted of a group of single-rooms congregates withinthe plot„s territorial area. in both settings each roomforms a housing unit inhabited by a single householdsharing a common outdoor space. in both settings,women are dominantly present outdoors attending todomestic chores while socializing with each other asillustrated in figure 11. at the same time, women arealso responsible for organizing the interiors of theirindividual housing unit assigning women as the con-trolling agents to their homes (Habraken, 2005).
The autonomy of the extension rooms alsoconstitutes a convenient housing option for women innon-conventional family structures such as single,divorced or co-wives in polygamous families. Halima,a divorced woman lives with her kids in an extension
Figure 8. The linear layout of the one-bedroom Muzigo
house type of the low-income groups of UgandaSource: Adapted from Wallman 1996.
Figure 7. Detached single extensions rooms.
Figure 9. Linear room layout to facilitate interaction to out-
doors where women do most housing activities
Figure 10. Multiple pit latrines compromising on its func-
tional use.
Figure 11. The spatial pattern of the Uganda traditional
homestead of the Bosoga tribe.Source: Adapted from: Nawangwe, 1994..
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room at her widowed sister’s house. The room auton-omy provides her with the independence she needs tofoster her individual identity that is difficult to achieveif she had to live with other people as argued byLarsson (2001). at the same time, living closer to hersister provides both with a sense of security andbelonging that they both appreciate and enjoy.
it is noted that in all mWHP housing proto-types a cooking place is not provided for. absence ofa cooking place inconveniences women the mostsince cooking is basically considered a women’s gen-der role. This design oversight can be attributed to thehegemony of men to mWHP design team, whichWeisman (1994) argues could lead to the provision ofspatial patterns and designs that side-line women’sneeds and interests in housing. although there wasone lady among mWHP design team but she wasmainly responsible for drafting the final design draw-ings. While she used to volunteer some adjustments tothe designs, she had no decision-making power overthe final design product. in effect, mWHP designscame out omitting functional spaces that are impor-tant to women despite the project mainly targetingwomen. Therefore, women found themselves respon-sible for correcting „men’s design mistakes‟ asWeisman (1994) argues, to make their housing moreresponsive to their housing practical needs. To have aplace for cooking, women resolve to the constructionof sheds that are usually made of humble improvisedbuilding materials as illustrated in figure 12.
Women also use those sheds to carry out igaand domestic chores that are otherwise performedunder the main house roof-eaves. Being too short, theroof-eaves fail to adequately protect women againstharsh weather conditions as illustrated in figure 13.
sheds also has the capacity for incrementaldevelopment into housing units for personal use orrenting out. sheds thus can easily be adapted to thedifferent social and functional uses of the households(schneider & Till, 2005) according to their affordabil-ity as in the case of figure 14. ahmed (2011:82)defines affordability as “what household feels they arecomfortable to spend” on their housing. The flexibilityof sheds in adapting to women’s different social andfunctional use in support of women’s productive andreproductive roles makes them a convenient option forwomen irrespective to the quality of their material. Thisconfirms Turner’s (1977: xxxii) argument that for thelow-income groups in the developing countries “thephysical quality of the shelter is secondary” to what it
can do for them.Women construct wooden kiosks to market
their home-based igas. Kiosks are usually located atthe front space of the house to maximize their prod-ucts‟ promotion. However, the limited frontage spaceas stipulated by the project restricts the kiosks‟ sizes,forcing women to construct kiosks that are too small toaccommodate their products properly. otherwise,kiosks sometimes extend outside the plot’s territorynegating the project’s regulations as in figure 15.although kiosks can be constructed at the amblespace of the backyard, but that would compromise onthe prospects of the products‟ promotion, whichreduces on their profitability and women’s opportunityto increase their income.
(right). Photos by: ms nalubombweindoor housing transformationsThe designs of mWHP housing prototypes are basedon the segmentation principle that assigns each rooma specific housing function. shehayeb and Kellet(2011) argue that the segmentation principle is oftena luxury most low-income people cannot afford. Butwomen of mWHP saw an economic opportunity in thissegmentation by turning each room into separateautonomous housing unit. While one room is rentedout to increase the family’s income, the other is used
Figure 15. Kiosks at the house frontage to promote
women's IGAs (left), that sometimes spill outside plot’s terri-tories (right). Photos by: Ms Nalubombwe
Figure 14. A shed used for charcoal-selling and gradually
turned into rented rooms.
Figure 13. Roof eaves that are too short to adequately
accommodate domestic chores against weather conditions.Figure 12. Sheds that women construct from improvised
building material to serve as a cooking place.
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as a multi-functional housing unit for all housing activ-ities of the family. Women had to extend the separat-ing internal wall to achieve absolute segregationbetween the two rooms. realising that extending thewall using cement blocks is too cumbersome andexpensive women opt to use substandard but afford-able materials (figure 16), which compromises on thesecurity and privacy level on both sides.
moser (1989) argues that a store is an essen-tial housing space for low-income women but it isoften overlooked by designers just as in the case ofmWHP. instead, women made use of the redundantroof vicinity as a store for their home and iga items(figure 17).
one respondent lady used the straw-mats sheweaves as an iga as a “non-load-bearing perpendic-ular partition” (Habraken, 2000:46) to divide the rec-tangular room into two housing units maximizing itsfunctional and economic value (figure 18). The use ofstraw-mats as a readily and affordably available build-ing material highlights affordability as a key motivat-ing factor to the material use and satisfaction to low-income women. nevertheless, the location of theroom’s access-door restricted the room division con-veniently. designing accessibility of each room inde-pendently facilitates their flexible, economic and func-tional use, which maximizes women convenience withtheir housing as proposed in figure 18.
Women sometimes relocate the doors‟openings to maximize the functional opportunities ofthe internal space of their homes. nuru who performstailoring as an iga narrated “I closed off the bath-room opening and joining its space to the corridor.Now I am able to watch over my cooking, supervisekids and chat with my visitors while attending to my tai-loring business. My house also become more securedsince now I need to lock one door only to secure thewhole house including my cooking utensil unlikebefore” (see figure 19).
The resultant spatial pattern of relocating thedoor-opening facilitated nuru attendance to her tripleroles concurrently, which moser (1992) argues con-tributes to women’s satisfaction with their housing.
Women sometimes use curtains as an afford-able foldable dividing partition to the internal space tofacilitate its flexible and multi-functional use. curtainsare used to demarcate and provide relative privacy todifferent housing activities within the same space(figure 20). in such case, all spaces are usually usedby members of the same household since absolute pri-vacy and security are not a major concern among
them.Typical to what low-income people usually do
as noted by shehayeb & Kellet (2011), women ofmWHP reconfigure the limited room-space to allowfor its multi-functional use flexibly. despite women
Figure 16. Use of substandard inefficient separating build-
ing material compromising privacy and security.
Figure 18. Use of straw mats to divide the room space into
two housing units.
Figure 17. Women make use of the roof space as a store
for housing and IGAs items.
Figure 19. Relocation of door-opening created spatial pat-
terns more conducive to women.
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attempts to use furniture that can facilitate the flexibleand multi-use of the limited room-space, a congestedand stuffy environment is usually resulted compromis-ing on the inconvenience of its occupants as can beseen in figure 21.
Lastly what is evidently noted in all types oftransformations women made to their housing is thatthey create spatial patterns and built forms that are fit-ting to the prevailing socio-cultural contexts, whichZeisel (2005) argues is a determinant factor to theappropriateness of any design solution. moreover,despite the project’s introduction to modified buildingtechnology and training of women to their productionand assembly, women most of the time use traditionalbuilding technology in the transformations they madeto their housing.
conclusionThe above submission revealed that low-incomewomen of mWHP, although without professional train-ing, play a substantial role in transforming their hous-ing to spatial patterns and built forms that are moreuser-friendly than those provided by professionals.Therefore, low-income women’s efforts in appropriat-ing their housing deserve to be acknowledged andincluded in the ugandan low-income housing dis-course. This will not only reduce low-income womenmarginalisation in housing but can also support theprovision of housing designs that are more user-friendly to them.
The study revealed that the appropriatenessof the housing design solutions to ugandan low-income women is closely related to its capacity toaccommodate their triple roles thus need to seriouslybe considered in the housing designs of the ugandanlow-income housing projects. outdoor and opensheds proved to be instrumental in accommodatinglow-income women practical needs of the everydaylife. sheds are also flexible enough to adapt to thechanging housing needs of low-income women, whichcontributes to their satisfaction with their homes.Therefore the designs of sheds and outdoor spaceshould well be considered in the housing prototypesoffered at the ugandan low-income housing projectsto ensure their appropriateness to women.
rooms‟ layouts need to be designed in a waythat allows for ease of interaction to outdoor spaceand capacity for fragmentation into individualautonomous housing units to maximize their flexiblefunctional and economic use and attain low-incomewomen’s satisfaction across all family structures.However, focus should be on developing local build-ing technologies over the introducing of new ones thatmight not be favourable to the ugandan low-incomewomen.
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author(s):
eiman ahmed elwidaadepartment of architecture and Physical Planning,cedaT, makerere universityP.o. Box 7062, Kampala, uganda author’s email: [email protected]
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Introduction
Housing is decisively rooted in the economic social,and political sphere of any country that it impossible tobe explored in isolation from the broader scope ofgovernance and policy. Besides being a remarkablyvaluable asset, it carries multidimensional signifi-cance; It plays an eminent role in accelerating eco-nomic growth and it carries social prominence as aspatial locus of personal and familial life (Abd Aziz,Hanif, & Singaravello, 2011; Keivani & Werna, 2001)
Despite its multidimensional implications,access to affordable and adequate housing has beenan everlasting challenge globally (Beer et.al., 2007).From slum dwellers in the third world cities to middle-income households in affluent global capitals, millionsof people are challenged to find affordable housingwithout financial pressure. The economic and humancost of the housing affordability issue is massive as330 million households are affected worldwide.Holding the existing trend constant, total householdswith unsafe and substandard housing or are financial-ly strained by housing expenditures is estimated toreach 440 million - or 1.6 billion people by 2025(Woetzel et.al., 2014).
Rapid urbanization combined with populationgrowth has incited a surge in housing prices in manyurban areas, mainly in developing countries includingMalaysia (Buhaug & Urdal, 2013). This has been sup-ported by the evolution of nuclear families as againstextended families brought about by economic devel-opment; in 1970 there were 182 households for every1,000 people, by 2020 there will be 250 households
for every 1,000 people (Suraya, 2015). Furthermore,increase in foreigners (expatriate, students andtourists), migration, changing pattern of economic sta-tus of the population, change in expectation, anddilapidation of the existing stock has resulted in severeshortage of affordable housing.
Since the Third Malaysia Plan, low cost hous-ing projects has not met its target (Bajunid & Ghazali,2012; Ramli, Akasah, & Masirin, 2014; Shuid, 2009).For instance, throughout the Eighth Malaysia Plan,only 197,649 low cost housing units were built com-pared to 230,000 units required (Ramli et al., 2014).Although many private developers were involved tooffset the housing need, nonetheless, these developersconstructed the low-cost houses merely due to quotarequirements as they are non-lucrative projects.Residents of low-cost housing continually encountermany challenges such as maintenance, sub-standardquality, comfort levels, health, safety and securityamenities (Zaid et.al., 2011).
Currently there exist 40 per cent gap betweenthe demand for affordable housing and its supply inthe country (Khairie, 2013; Lim, et.al. ,2015 ).According to the Department of Statistics HousingIncome Survey (2014) Malaysian median incomestood at RM 4,500 signalling households are unableto afford houses priced higher than RM300, 000(DOS, 2014). While based on the National PropertyInformation Centre report (2014) only 31.7% of thehousing units built in the year 2014, had a price taglower than RM 250,000 (NAPIC, 2014b). Thus, evi-dently the income pattern of the middle income house-hold finds it challenging to keep pace with the rising
Diwa Samad, Nurshuhada Zainon, Faizul Azli Mohd Rahim, Eric Lou
Abstract
Housing has always been a significant aspiration of family expression and distinctly priciest investment by household.
It plays a momentous role in the country’s economy and so central to the societal well-being that is emplaced in the
United Nation Universal declaration of Human rights. Yet in developed and developing world alike, cities struggle to
provide decent housing for lower and middle income population. The provision of affordable housing is a major poli-
cy concern around the world with Malaysia being no exception; rising income hardly keep pace with price hike of hous-
ing unit and housing interventions has majorly concentrated on demand side leading to a non- responsive supply sec-
tor. Therefore, this paper highlights affordable housing issues pertaining Malaysia. It formulates Malaysian Map of
affordability and conducts an evaluation of global housing schemes to better identify policy priorities for Malaysia. It’s
significant to harmonize supply and demand side factors in the housing market to ensure that housing supply fits the
needs of citizens based on the location, price and target group. In case of Malaysia supply oriented initiative are of
urgency in short and medium run. This must be supported by long term demand side schemes in parallel. Convergence
of these two factors is essential for a balanced equilibrium and obtaining affordability.
Keywords: Housing, Affordability, Measurement, Global Policies, Supply, Demand, Malaysia.
MALAYSIAN AFFORDABILITY HOUSING POLICIESREVISITED.
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oucost of housing unit and thereby the need for afford-
able housing has become more vital than ever before.In response to this issue, the Malaysian gov-
ernment undertook numerous initiatives to assuagethe rising cost through several projects such as ProjekPerumahan Rakyat 1 Malaysia (PR1Ma), Projek RumahRakyat Miskin Tegar (PPRT), and Skim Myhome RumahPertama outlined in 11th Malaysian plan (EPU, 2015).Despite these attempts, Malaysian people still experi-ence a mismatch between acquiring affordable hous-ing and their household income. This is especially sofor the middle-income households who are overqual-ified for the aforementioned low-cost housing pro-grammes and at the same time unable to afford hous-ing by private housing developers.
Though government initiatives has facilitatedhousing development considerably, housing interven-tions have focused primarily on demand which subsi-dizes a non-responsive supply sector. As a result, thehousing price is still higher despite the various gov-ernment subsidies and loans. Relatively less progress isevident in realizing the elements that restrain supply,which probably thwart developments on the demandside.
1. Housing Affordability: A Definitional ControversyHousing affordability is considered as a householdselection decision function between housing and non-housing product expenditure (Suhaida et.al., 2011).Many literatures have acknowledged that housingaffordability is a complex phenomenon that is tough topin down in practice, particularly in terms of definingthe suitable geographic scope for housing markets,proper definitions of typical households and individu-als, and their changing circumstances. (Gan & Hill,2009; Stone, 2008)
Although there exist no standard definition forthis term, in its simplest term, housing affordability isdenoted as the rent-to-income ratio or house-price-to-income ratio known as income affordability; moresophisticated measures are purchase affordability,repayment affordability (Gan &Hill, 2009) and lifetime income affordability (Abeysinghe & Gu, 2011).Purchase affordability studies the ability of householdto borrow adequate funds for owning a house.Repayment affordability reflects the burden imposedon a household to repay house mortgage. These con-cepts encompass additional parameters that includedown payment ratio, the interest rate, mortgage to-income ratio, and the length of the mortgage (Gan&Hill , 2009). Studies on income approach includes(Hulchanski, 1995), (Bogdon & Can, 1997), ,(Chaplin, et.al., 1999),(Bunting, 2004) (Chen, 2010), (Haffner & Heylen, 2011). more complicated mea-sures combining residual and income approach arestudied by (Skaburskis, 2004) (Gan & Hill, 2009)(Abeysinghe & Gu, 2011) (Bramley, 2012), (Heylen &Haffner, 2013).
Life time income affordabilityThe sub-prime mortgage crisis in year 2008 under-lined the significance of developing alternative mea-sures addressing long-term housing affordability. Sub-
prime lending focused mainly on short-run affordabil-ity backed by easy mortgages. Life time income afford-ability is well established concept under permanentincome and life cycle hypothesis which consider thecurrent income added to the discounted present valueof expected future income; income includes bothlabour and non-labour pay (Guest, 2005). In a hous-ing study on Singapore Abeysinghe & gu (2011 )defined life time affordability index as the ratio of life-time income to house price which indicates informa-tive trends and cycles in housing affordability(Abeysinghe & Gu, 2011). Despite recent emphasis inthe literature on the significance of long-term afford-ability, this paper could not benchmark it due to dataconstraints.
The Median MultipleIn many part of the world definition of affordablehousing is centred on the idea of income affordability.According to Demographic international housingaffordability survey (2017) the median multiple is acommon metric, suggested by the World Bank and theUnited Nations which rates affordability of housing bydividing the median house price by aggregate annualmedian household income (Shlomo, 2014).Affordability is rated on a scale of 0 to 5. The 3.0xmedian multiple signs that the market delivers a distri-bution of housing that are subjected to minimal dis-tortions – housing supply is responsive and able tomatch effective demand (Suraya, 2015).
This study benchmarks median multiplierapproach as it has found many literatures and cited bythe Housing Buyers’ Association as well as in the 11thMalaysia Plan as an appropriate threshold for theaffordability of the nation’s housing market (EPU,2015).
2.Malaysian affordable housing market: A StateBased AnalysisHouse price has followed an upward pattern inMalaysia even though the Asian financial crisis of1997 caused majority of high priced housing beingleft unsold. However during the subsequent plan peri-od, the targets were increased again (Savills, 2008).The resultant excess in supply assisted to retain theprices of relatively moderate houses low thus expedit-ed access to home ownership. Based on UN Habitat’sfigures 63.4 per cent of households had access tohomeownership in 1980s and it reached to a peak of88 per cent by 1998 (Doling & Omar, 2012). While
Figure 1. House prices in Malaysia 1997-2014 (CAGR1
Term).
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from 2000 onwards the Malaysian all-house price hasraised steadily and accelerated between 2009 and2014 (Napic, 2000-2014); While the all-house pricegrew at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of5.6% between 2000 and 2014, between 2009 and2014, it grew at a CAGR of 10.1% (2000-2009:3.1%) (Suraya, 2015).
Given the Malaysian housing price’s trend,the question remains as to whether or notMalaysian housing market is affordable. Furtheranswers lie in the formulated map (Figure 2) whichindicates the geographical distribution of householdincomes versus houses offered in the market, other-wise known as the median multiple. Given the hetero-geneity of housing markets with location being a keydriver of housing prices, it is best analysed accordingto different submarkets, segmented into different typesand localities (Hashim, 2010). For instance, a terracehouse in Sabah was three times more expensive in2014 compared to 2000, while in Selangor, it hasgrown twice as expensive (NAPIC, 2014b). In generalthe median price for the Malaysian housing marketexceeds the three times median annual householdincome threshold for affordability. In 2014, it stood at4.4 times, and has consistently exceeded 4.0 timesfrom 2002 to 2014 (NAPIC, 2014a).
As highlighted in the figure 2 , Penang andSabah is above the national statistic whereas Malaccahas a median multiple affordability of 3.0. Within thelist of state housing markets being assessed, KualaLumpur, Pulau Pinang and Sabah stand out as ‘severe-ly unaffordable’ markets, with median multiples of 5.4and 5.2 respectively.
One of the reasons behind this extent of unaf-fordability would be the unresponsiveness of housingsupply to effective demand. The lack of houseslaunched below the three times median multiple pricescombined with a high number of high-ended launch-es contributes towards the severely unaffordable stateof housing market (Liew & Haron, 2013; Teck-Hong,2012). In 2014, of the new properties launched inKuala Lumpur there were no properties priced underthe RM250,000- RM1 million, with the majority ofnewly launched properties sited in the RM500,000-RM1 million bracket . Given that the three times medi-an multiple price in Kuala Lumpur in 2014 would havebeen RM274,320, the absence of houses launchedbelow RM250,000 would have skewed the distributionof house prices in the city to the right significantly.
Meanwhile, as highlighted in the map thenew housing units launched in Selangor, NegeriSembilan and Melaka markets are within a more dis-persed range of price brackets with a significant num-ber of new launches located at or below three timesmedian multiple in Melaka.
3. Malaysian Housing SchemesFollowing Malaysian Independence in 1957, housingpolicy primarily concentrated on public housing,mainly directed as a privilege for public sector offi-cials. During just a few years, it mostly focused on theexpansion of a home-owning democracy incorporat-ing all segments of the nation envisioning the future
development of the country.Housing strategies were established through
a consecutive 5 years agenda. Following the overallobjective of “adequate, quality and affordable housesto all Malaysians” the policies have realized that themain problem is not in providing housing for higherincome households as their purchasing power attractsprivate developers to safeguard sufficient supply(Agus, 2002). Rather, the policies have focused onattaining sufficient supply of low cost housing that suitthe purchasing power of lower income people.Central to this has been the classification of houseprice involving a targeted range of dwellings identified(Ubale & Martin, 2012)
Within this context, the Malaysian govern-ment has undertaken numerous measures for expand-ing home ownership. establishment of CAGAMAS(National Housing Corporation) in 1986 has been aprominent act which is jointly held by the NationalBank and private financial bodies and purposed toprovide security to those initiating housing loans(CAGAMAS, 2013). Commercial banks stood forabout 80% of housing loans in the 2000s, their busi-nesses is majorly backed by CAGAMAS despite pres-
Table 1. Existing housing scheme/policies in Malaysia.
Figure 2. Malaysian Map of Affordability.
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ouence of an dynamic private financial sector. Besides,
other initiatives ranging from ‘Projek PerumahanRakyat’ (PPR) (People’s Housing Projects) to My FirstHome Scheme, Malaysian housing policy has concen-trated on either direct provision of low-cost housing,or subsidising the cost of housing for home-buyers.
As portrayed in the table 1, the housing poli-cies have overemphasized the provision of low costhousing that there exist less medium cost house avail-able in the market. Gaps have begun to appear in thesystem, embodied by the rising concern of middle-income group who are neither entitled for social hous-ing nor capable of affording private sector-suppliedhouses (Abdullahi & Aziz, 2011). The challenge ishighly prevalent in urban areas: while Malaysianhome ownership as a whole stood at 72.5% in 2010,urban home ownership was 69.1% and in KualaLumpur, it was 53.5%.
4. MethodologyThis study was conducted during September 2015-January 2016 to gather literature related to affordablehousing in Malaysia and worldwide. Plenty of researchhas been done in different area of this topic; study hasemplaced major concentration on policy dimension ofthe topic. Articles were retrieved from diverse platformwhich include book chapters, journals, technicalreports, institution’s database, news and etc. (N=70).A group of reviewers independently read articles andrecorded the main findings on affordable housingpolicies globally and in Malaysia. The findings arebased on the formulated form attached (Appendix).
5. Conceptual FrameworkProvision of affordable housing cover property rights,regulation, housing finance, and government subsi-dies. Based on global policy reviews majority of gov-ernment’s initiative can be categorized into supply ordemand side measures. Key words searched are with-in this framework.
Discussion and AnalysisBased on selected literatures key discussion andanalysis can be presented in term supply and demandoriented housing schemes.
5.1.Supply side schemes
Supply side policy practices mainly encompass landand regulation related issues, minimizing housingdevelopment cost and operation and maintenancecost. Countries have adopted various approaches,some are discussed below2
A number of countries have successfullydeveloped land base instrument to enhance afford-able housing for all income segment; among whichtransit orient development in Hong Kong, releasinggovernment owned land in Turkey, land regulation tounlock private land in Philippine and China, address-ing informal land and upgrading land registrationmethods adopted by Singapore, Japan, South Koreaand India are prominent.
For instance Honk Kong has built thousandsof homes in the new territories across transportationinfrastructure to enhance connectivity and addressmismatch between housing and jobs. In places wheretransit facilities are established, land values haveraised accordingly (In Honk Kong land values in theimmediate area upsurge by 40-60 per cent) thereforemore subsidies will be needed to offset its unafford-ability.
Meanwhile in Turkey publicly own lands withstrategic locations are released by selling or leasingthem for affordable housing development. TOKI hous-ing agency has gathered 4 per cent of urban landthrough government entities which is developed inpartnership with private agencies based on revenuesharing schemes. However despite its bright side,stakeholder involvement is challenging, there might berisk of oversupply and market distortion in price set-ting. Likewise land registration in Singapore, land reg-ulation and taxation practiced in China and Philippineenforce charges on idle land to minimize speculativeland hoarding. With the exception of property taxes,these instruments do not provide a steady stream ofincome, but they nonetheless have allowed manycities to fund large investments in infrastructure in theabsence of other sources of finance.
Cost effective housing development mea-sures requires design to value techniques standardiza-tion, capital and labour productivity measures. It gen-
Table 2. Land Related Schemes.
Table 3. Cost Effective Housing development (Long term
Supply schemes).Figure 3. Element of demand and supply side schemes.
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erates potential savings for an ever lucrative econom-ics of affordable housing that incites developers toconsider housing beyond mid- high income cus-tomers.
For instance in Singapore using design andstandardization guidelines developer can operate atoptimum scale through repetitive procedures.However this approach will require customization ofregional nuance and customer needs to minimizemonotonousness.
Meanwhile in Malaysia labour skill buildingprograms assist in offsetting shortage of skilled labour.Malaysia caught in an interesting dilemma; on onehand there is huge brain drain of young manpowerwhile on the other hand there is severe shortage ofskilled workforce especially in construction industry.Therefore the quick and convenient solutions havebeen importation of foreign labour and adoptinglabour skill building programs.
Furthermore United State establishes mecha-nisms that support creativity, innovation as a knowl-edge sharing platform. This is carried out throughtraining projects, innovation hubs, demonstration pro-grams and etc. However In adopting this policy abilityof industries to adopt new approaches should beassessed against cost of setting up the program.
Nonetheless, China, Saudi Arabia, India ,Egypt enhanced support for small and medium indus-try and engage international players in constructionindustry which serves as a capacity building platformthat improve competitive landscape.
South Africa housing policy reviews indicateinnovation in material technology that supports expan-sion of cost-effective and viable construction materialssupplying to the affordable housing sector. For effec-tiveness of this measure it is significant to ensure thatdeveloped products are deployed at optimum ratherthan being an experimental demonstration.
Despite incorporating cost saving mechanismin developing houses, additional cost can be saved inoperation and maintenance that accounts for a signif-icant percentage of annual housing expenses. It is rel-atively fragmented industry with relatively subscale andinefficient operator. By pooling demand for this ser-vice, business might be encouraged to scale up.
Minimizing such cost by improving energyefficiency and asset management measures canreduce dilapidation and assist in preserving housingstocks.
For instance in United Kingdom and UnitedState government initiatives have subsidized lowincome groups to furnish homes with energy savingtools to cut energy cost with a two to one return on
investment. Besides, The UK social housing buyingconsortia, UK decent home criteria are prominent pro-grams.
5.2.Demand side schemesDemand side initiative that is widely adopted by manycountries encompasses financial elements, targetedSubsidies, and rental control. Some are discussedbelow
For instance in India holistic income assess-ment is conducted to target significant proportion ofunbanked population or informal sector. Meanwhile inChina digital and online networks can initiate a wide-spread access to banking facilities for low-incomehouseholds and minimize serving cost. For successfulimplementation of this scheme massive investment intechnology, infrastructure, and education is required.In United States costs Mortgage-guarantee schemesare created to minimize the risk to lenders (offer loanswith lower interest rate) by safeguarding them in caseof any default.
Malaysia creates wholesale loans to banksgiven their loan portfolios, or secures the portfoliosand converts them into government-backed bonds.Although it might cause market distortion, it assists pri-mary market investors in need of long-term funding.
In Singapore housing provident funds initiat-ed mandatory saving scheme in form of social securi-ty. It can offer housing loans at below-market interestrates.
United States has established rental control,diversifying source of funding and appropriate systemfor identification of beneficiary. Meanwhile Malaysiahas proposed Public private partnership in diversifyingsource of fund which required distributing risks alongthe housing value chain and . It requires public sectorcompetence and skills in management for its effectiveimplementation.
All of the aforementioned schemes require vig-ilant design for managing systemic risk. And for a longerterm and sustainable schemes, it is vital to have a stablemacroeconomic setting that can contain inflation.
So where is Malaysia in global affordablehousing practices? What is the strength and lessons tobe learnt?
Table 4. Maintenance and operation cost (Short Term
Supply measures).
Table 5. Demand Side Schemes.
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ouAlthough an interplay of supply-side and
demand-side schemes are instrumental in the effectiveprovision of affordable housing, in developing coun-tries experiencing rapid growth including Malaysia;when markets are tight, demand-side subsidies might,indeed, intensify the affordability issue for nonsubsi-dized low-income households as rents or pricesincrease. Their benefits will then accrue to landlords ordevelopers, with little impact on the overall housingsupply. They perform best at markets where they canincite a supply response.
Evidently analysing, based on the tablesabove, one can realize that Malaysia has undertakenrelatively stronger demand side schemes which ishighlighted in the global housing policy reviews.Among which access to home financing via mortgageliquidity facility and diversification of fund sources viapublic private partnership is prominent. ThoughMalaysia has undertaken tremendous steps in effectiveprovision of housing, less progress has is seen inaddressing the factors that constrain supply, whichoften thwart improvements on the demand side.Therefore cost effective supply side initiatives mainlydriving productivity via increasing technology adop-tion, modernisation of construction methods andreducing reliance on low-skilled workforce, adapta-tion of IBS (international building standards) and facil-itating construction related business procedures arehighly recommended.
ConclusionThis paper reviewed affordable housing issues inMalaysia and formulated map of affordability toenable policy makers to consider strategies targetingissues pertaining particular state or geographicalarea. This enlightens policy makers to carefully designpolicies and account for urban-rural variance inaffordability.
Drawing on literatures from both developedand developing world, this study attempted to pro-vides an overview of the policy schemes that are influ-ential in determining housing market performance.This is done through a supply and demand side poli-cy schemes with the view of safeguarding that policiesshould reinforce supply and demand side factortoward equilibrium. In case of Malaysia supply orient-ed initiative are of urgency in short and medium run.This must be supported by long term demand sideschemes in parallel. Convergence of this two factorsare essential for a balanced equilibrium and obtainingaffordability.
Key housing challenge in Malaysia is majorlyrelated to mismatch in demand and supply for afford-able housing. Supply side initiatives need more atten-tion in Malaysia mainly in areas related to cost effec-tive housing development measures, maintenanceand operation cost and regulation related matters.This paper therefore argues that it is significant to har-monize supply and demand side factors in the housingmarket to ensure housing supply fits the needs of citi-zens based on the location, price and target group.Supply and demand side surveys should be conductedin every state to account for regional variations.
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Author(s):
Diwa Samad, Department of Quantity Surveying, Faculty of BuiltEnvironment, University of Malaya, Malaysia
Nurshuhada Zainon, Department of Quantity Surveying, Faculty of BuiltEnvironment, University of Malaya, MalaysiaEmail: [email protected]
Faizul Azli Mohd Rahim, Department of Quantity Surveying, Faculty of BuiltEnvironment, University of Malaya, Malaysia
Eric LouSchool of Mechanical, Aerospace, and CivilEngineering, University of Manchester, UnitedKingdom
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introduction
The heating season in northeast china may lastalmost 6 months - from October to the following april- due to the long and frigid winter. With mohe (mohecounty is a county of heilongjiang province) as anexample, the extreme minimum temperature evenonce reached -52.3℃. under such frigid conditions,the thousand-year development of rural residentialbuilding types reveals great ecological intelligence, inrespect to construction type, roofing and windowmaterials, passive solar and other features. following
systematic studies of the advantages and disadvan-tages of these traditional design patterns, the authorspropose strategies to guide future development of sus-tainable rural residences in severe cold areas.
The chinese government now pays moreattention to energy conservation of rural residentialbuildings and invests vast amounts of capital to sup-port energy saving research and construction in ruralareas. in response to a government request for pro-posals, our research group at harbin institute ofTechnology proposed a scientific research projecttitled “The key technology research and demonstration
Cheng Sun, Meng Zhen, Yu Shao
AbstractRural residential energy consumption accounts for 46.6% of total building-related energy consumption of China. InNortheast China, energy consumption for space heating represents a significant proportion of total rural residentialenergy consumption and has reached 100 million tce (tons of standard coal equivalent), or more than 60% of totalhousehold energy consumption. In terms of energy consumption per square meter of gross floor area, rural residentialenergy consumption for heating is more than that of cities (20kgce/m2). However, the average indoor temperature ofmost rural residence is below 10℃, much less than that in cities (18℃). Hence, it is an important task for Chinese ener-gy saving and emission reduction to reduce rural residential energy consumption, while enhancing indoor thermal com-fort at the same time.
Restricted by local technology and low economic level, rural residences currently have poor thermal insulationresulting in severe heat loss. This paper reports on research aimed at developing design strategies for improving ther-mal insulation properties of rural residences with appropriate technology. A field survey was conducted in six countiesin severe cold areas of Northeast China, addressing the aspects of indoor and outdoor temperature, humidity, internaland external surface temperature of building envelop enclosure, and so on.
The survey data show the following:1. Modern (after 2000) brick-cement rural residences perform much better than the traditional adobe clay houses andTatou houses (a regional type of rural residence in Northeast China – see figure A) in overall thermal performance andindoor thermal comfort;2. Among the traditional residential house types, adobe clay houses have better heat stability and thermal storagecapacity than Tatou houses; 3. Applying an internal or external thermal insulation layer can greatly improve rural residential thermal insulation prop-erties, and is an economical and efficient solution in rural areas;4. In terms of roofing materials, tiled roofs show much better thermal insulation properties than thatch roofs; 5. Adopting passive solar techniques can form a transition space (greenhouse) against frigid temperatures, resulting ininterior temperatures 5.91℃ higher than the outside surroundings. It is evident that local passive solar room designoffers significant heat preservation effects and lower cost ($12/m2), embodies the ecological wisdom of rural residents,and is therefore important to popularize.The above experimental results can provide guidance in energy conservation design for both self-built residences andrural residences designed by architects. In addition, the results can also provide experimental data for energy-savingstudies for rural residences in China.
Keywords: Severe cold areas of Northeast China, Rural Residence, Envelope Enclosure, Roof Material, Solar Room.
ReseaRch On The TheRmal enviROnmenT OfnORTheasT china’s RuRal Residences.
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of green village construction in cold areas(no.2013BaJ12B00).” it was funded in 2013 and willbe completed by 2015. The project includes 5subtopics: (1) The key technology and green villageplanning system in cold areas. (2) environment opti-mization techniques and climate adaptation planningof villages in cold areas. (3) The integration of mate-rials, structure and energy conservation of rural resi-dential buildings in cold areas. (4) construction of twodemonstration houses, one for northeast china, theother for nW china, using the energy saving tech-niques developed in this research. This paper focuseson the demonstration house being developed fornortheast china.
in terms of residential building and thermalenvironment research, some published research hasfocused on the rural low-cost house type (datta,2008) (diacon, 1990); some discuss the relationshipbetween house and local materials like bamboo andearth (hadjri, Osmani, Baiche and chifunda, 2007)(hadjri, 2005); and some papers focus on sustainablehouses (noguchi and hadjri, 2009) (vehbi,et.al.,2010) (miller, et.al., 2013). in the specific case of res-idential energy consumption, nRG-style home envi-ronment and energy consumption was studied byaltan et.al., (2013). Results show that indoor cO2levels and gas levels have a direct and positive rela-tionship with indoor temperature, and that electricenergy consumption has an inverse relationship withindoor temperature. fesanghary et.al., developed anovel method to minimize the life cycle cost and cO2emissions of residential buildings using a multi-objec-tive optimization algorithm (2012). considering thecurrent situation of rural residences in northeastchina, passive design is an economical and ecologi-cal strategy (lam, Yang and liu, 2006) (sadineni,madala and Boehm, 2011). Research shows that pas-sive design can reduce total energy consumption byhalf (feist, schnieders, dorer and haas, 2005). Takinginteractive effects between parameters of different pas-sive designs into account can further bring down ener-gy consumption (Gong, akashi and sumiyoshi, 2012).
however, the above research ignores contin-uous monitoring of the thermal environments of differ-ent types of rural residences in severe cold areas.Therefore, this paper aims to a) analyze the factorsthat influence the thermal environment of rural resi-dences, specifically wall materials, roof materials,thermal insulation layers, and solar room design,using a field study; and b) to identify local architectur-al heat preservation materials and appropriate passivedesign strategies. The field study was carried out inQingquan village, linquan village and longquanvillage of Wudalianchi, heilongjiang, Xiangdongvillage, hongqi farm of harbin, heilongjiang, andlibanhao village of fuyu, Jilin. The actual test para-meters included indoor and outdoor temperature andhumidity, as well as internal and external surface tem-peratures of envelop enclosures.
experimental schemeexperimental equipmentindoor and outdoor temperature, humidity, air speed
and other physical environment factors of rural hous-es were analyzed using the experimental equipmentshown in table 1. Test points of indoor temperatureand humidity was located right above the diagonalcenter at 1.5m where it is relatively shady and cool toavoid the influence of direct sunlight (liu J. and dai T.2008).
experimental subjectsTo carry out the field study, various types of construc-tion including brick-cement, adobe clay and Tatou(buildings constructed by blocks made from soil andgrass roots), roofing material including tile and thatch,and window frame material including wood (with aplastic sheet attached outside) and vinyl-covered alu-minum. figures 1 and 2 show respectively a typicalhouse of Tatou construction in linquan village, andthe test point locations in the Tatou houses.
Table 1. Experimental equipments and parameters.
Figure 1. Tatou house.
Figure 2. Test point locations in Tatou house.
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Results and analysiscomparison between indoor Thermal environments ofdifferent envelop enclosuresa Tatou house in linquan village, and a brick-cementhouse in Qingquan village were studied continuouslyfor 96 hours according to thermal principles, Resultsare shown in figure 3.
The chinese government “design standardsfor energy efficiency of rural residential buildings”（GB/T 50824-2013）stipulates that the temperatureof master bedrooms should be 14℃ (GB/T 50824-2013. 2013). from figure 3, it is obvious that theindoor temperature of a brick-cement building cansatisfy normal demands while the temperature of aTatou building can only achieve this temperature atnoon, and that of an abode clay building performsbelow the standard.
from figure 3, it is apparent that the temper-ature fluctuation range of a brick-cement house,adobe clay house and Tatou house reaches 13.7℃,16.62℃, 20.37℃ respectively. also, related to thedescent speed of the indoor temperature, the Tatouhouse temperature drops at the fastest speed, and thebrick-cement house at the lowest. it illustrates that thebrick-cement house with interior thermal insulationperforms much better than the other two types in heatstability.
from figure 3, the brick-cement house andthe abode clay house both retain stable temperatureswhen it reaches the peak point, while the Tatou houseshows a rapid decrease when the temperature reach-es the highest, which demonstrates that the Tatouhouse has a weak heat storage capacity. The reason isthat the grass roof, which is a main component of theenvelop enclosure of the Tatou house, will be dam-aged by nature and insects during use, producingnumerous tiny holes leading to increased cold air infil-tration and harm to the wall’s heat storage capacity.a Bes-GT heat flow meter was applied continuouslyfor 96 hours in both a Tatou and a brick-cementhouse, to record the external wall thermal resistanceand heat transfer coefficient. data and analysis isshown in Table 2. for analysis, an arithmetic averagemethod is applied and the formula of the envelopeenclosure thermal resistance is as follows,
from the analysis of data, it is obvious that the totalheat resistance of a brick-cement house is1.025m2·K/W higher than that of a Tatou house, andthe heat transfer coefficient of a brick-cement house is0.032 W/m2·K lower than that of a Tatou house, justas figure 3 illustrates. The above proves that brick-cement houses with interior thermal insulation actmuch better than a Tatou house in heat preservation.in the heating season, wall thermal insulation proper-ties are regarded as having proper performance, withthe ability of the wall to reduce heat transfer understeady-state thermal conditions. adopting wall materi-als with relatively large heat resistance and favorableinsulation performance is a significant measure in pro-moting indoor thermal environment and energy sav-ing.
comparison between indoor Thermal environmentswith different Roofing materialsRoofing has a larger impact on indoor temperaturecompared to walls. different roofing materials willexert disparate influence on indoor thermal environ-ment. it is observed that tiled roofs are usually appliedto brick-cement construction, while thatch is used inadobe clay and Tatou construction. inside and outsidetemperatures of these two roof types were studied; a)buildings with tile roofs using heat-retaining suspend-ed ceilings inside and b) buildings with thatch roofs.The experiment result is as figure 4.
While the external surface temperature ofthatch roofs reached the lowest point at -33.19℃ at6:10 am., 13th Jan, the internal surface temperaturedrops to -0.52℃, with the temperature difference
Figure 3. Comparison among master room temperatures ofa Tatou house, a brick-cement house and an adobe clayhouse.
Table 2. Walling heat transfer resistance and heat transfercoefficient of Tatou house and brick-cement house.
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being 32.67 ℃. This shows that the thatch roof hasgood heat preservation capacity. While the internalsurface temperature of thatch roofs reached the high-est point of 19.54℃ at 11:10 am., 11th Jan, it takesthe external surface temperature 70 minutes to get to8.44℃, the highest point, at 12:20 am.. This indi-cates that the thatch roof has a certain thermal hys-teresis. With a thickness of 10cm, the thatch roof isextremely thick. in addition, each thatch is hollow witha separate closed air space. numerous thatches arebundled densely with thermal properties similar tostraw brick.
While the external surface temperature oftiled roofs reach the lowest point of -38.25℃ at 7:20am, 11th Jan, the internal surface temperature dropsto 5.78℃ with the temperature difference being44.03 ℃. The temperature difference is 11.36℃,larger than that of the thatch roof. This indicates thattiled roofs perform much better than thatch roofs inheat preservation. at 17:50 pm., 10th Jan, the inter-nal surface temperature of the tile roof reached apeak of 12.20℃, at the same time that the externalsurface temperature moved to -30.25℃. soon after-wards, the external surface temperature droped quick-ly until 21:10, influenced by the outdoor environment,when there was an inflection point from -33.69℃ ris-ing to -32.19℃. and from 21:10 to the time when thetemperature of the tile roof rises rapidly (at about8:00, 11th Jan), the average temperature of the exter-nal surface of the tile-roofed house was -34.49℃.during that period, the temperature line fluctuates upand down with occasional slight decrease. it indicatesthat the time of heat hysteresis of that tiled roof is 3hours 20 minutes. The thermal inertia is muchstronger than that of the thatch roof.
from the comparison between the internalsurface temperature of the tiled and the thatch roof, itis obvious that the tiled roof remains almost stablewith the maximum temperature difference at 6.59 ℃,while the thatch roof experiences rapid fluctuation withthe maximum temperature difference at 21.87℃. Theabove indicates that the tiled roof acts much betterthan the thatch in heat stability.
comparing the external surface temperatureof the tiled and thatch roofs, it is obvious that no mat-ter day or night, the outside temperature of the thatchroof is much higher than the tile roof. The experimen-tal data illustrates that the heat transfer coefficient of
the thatch roof is 0.68 W/(m2·K), almost five timesthat of the tiled roof at 0.14 W/(m2·K). it shows thatthe thatch roof has lower heat preservation perfor-mance than the tiled roof.
indoor Thermal environment of solar RoomThe solar room design can effectively prevent cold airinfiltration and can save solar radiation energy. it istherefore regarded as an economical and practicalheat preservation strategy in the region studied, asshown as figure 5. experiments were carried out con-tinuously for 96 hours on a solar room in libanhaovillage, fuyu, Jilin to determine the indoor thermalenvironment characteristics of this design strategy.figure 6 shows the test points and figure 7 shows theexperiment results.
from figure 7, it can be observed that the
Figure 4. Temperature comparison of tiled and thatch roofs.
Figure 7. Indoor thermal environment of solar room.
Figure 6. Test point locations in a solar room.
Figure 5. Solar room.
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minimum temperature of the outside surroundings is -26.26℃ while that of the sunroom and master roomare respectively -20.35℃ and 5.91℃. Besides, thetemperature inside the solar room is always higherthan that of the outside surrounding air during bothday and night with the maximum temperature differ-ence reaching 35.04℃ by day and 5.87℃ at night.The above fully indicates that the solar room possess-es favorable heat preservation performance and canbe generalized as an energy-saving measure.
at noon, the temperature of the solar room ishigher than that of the master room. for example, on12:50 pm., Jan 17th, the solar room temperaturereached 15.45℃ while that of the master bedroomreached 11.69℃. The solar room is 3.76℃ warmerthan the master bedroom. it means that with abundantsunshine, the solar room is able to quickly accumulatea quantity of heat. and due to the good impermeabil-ity of plastic sheet, the temperature there is much high-er than that of the master bedroom. all day long, thetemperature in the solar room shows instability in arelatively large range. it means that a solar room builtwith plastic sheet is capable of both gaining and los-ing heat, resulting in poor heat stability. however,because of its low price at 12 dollars per ㎡ andreusability, it is quite economical for people to use.
conclusionThis paper offers an analysis of the indoor thermalenvironment of rural residences in the most severecold region of china during the heating season, usinga field study that recorded the thermal environments ofthree kinds of residence during the heating seasons.By comparing the heat-preservation properties ofbrick-cement, adobe clay and Tatou building envelopestructures, the following conclusions are drawn:
1. in an extreme cold climate, modern rural residenceshave better heat-preservation properties than those oftraditional construction, which contradicts the conclu-sions made by previous studies. in terms of daily build-ing use, residences of modern types, such as brick-cement structures, are better in heat preservationproperties than traditional residences, such as adobeand Tatou structures. On the one hand, traditional res-idences such as adobe and Tatou structures absorbmoisture from the air during use, and thus increasetheir own heat-transfer coefficients by making the wallswet, decreasing their structures’ heat preservationproperties as a result. On the other hand, organicmaterials such as straw and grass roots are generallycontained inside of the traditional residence stylessuch as adobe and Tatou structures. during the build-ings’ use over several decades, those organic materi-als will become wet and will deteriorate. Those struc-tures will also suffer destruction from insects, causingthe formation of countless tiny holes inside the walls,thus increasing cold wind penetration. lastly, the soilwalls of traditional residences such as adobe andTatou structures encounter problems such as miceholes, according to interviews, which cause severeharm to the heat preservation properties, structuralsolidity and the inhabitants’ health. The conditions dis-
cussed above affected the heat preservation of tradi-tional structures, and lower the quality of life of theinhabitants. in contrast, modern construction materialslike heat-retaining panels and hollow bricks are per-forming well during building use, which means thatthose materials are free of the problems faced by tra-ditional construction materials. Walls constructed withthe use of modern materials satisfy the requisites thatheat-transfer coefficients are limited below 0.50W/(㎡K), as in design standard for energy efficiency of ruralresidential buildings（GB/T 50824-2013）..
2. as to the comparison among traditional buildingenvelopes, adobe structures have better thermal sta-bility and heat storage ability than the Tatou structures.The experimental results show that, at midday, thethermal stability of adobe clay houses is close to brick-cement houses, in which indoor temperatures arebarely influenced by outdoor temperatures.
3. indoor thermal conditions are better when choosingroof materials with high thermal resistance. The factthat heated air flows upwards causes the roof to be themain surface of heat radiation, which means that theheat retaining abilities of roofs have direct influenceon indoor thermal conditions. The on-site researchfound that insufficient attention was paid to the heatretaining capacity of roofs. in order to improve theheat retaining ability of roofs, heat-retaining panelscan be installed over the ceiling structures, or domes-tic heat-retaining materials like pine needles, grassashes or volcanic ashes can be applied. The air layerbetween a double-pitch roof and the false ceiling canincrease the delay of heat-transfer and improve roofheat-storage ability. installing a heat-retaining layerunder the roof improves thermal performance. usingsteel roofing can reduce roof damage caused by iceand snow. solar rooms can effectively improve indoorthermal conditions. setting solar rooms on the southside can effectively store solar energy and preventpenetration of cold wind, thus improving indoor ther-mal conditions. experimental results show that theaverage temperatures in solar rooms are 5.91℃ high-er than outdoor temperatures. simple solar roomsmade by plastic sheets supported by wooden or steelbars are widely used in this region. solar rooms areconstructed for use in heating seasons and are dis-mantled and stored during non-heating seasons.simple solar rooms perform well in heat-retainingqualities, and are low in price - a perfect statement ofwisdom of the rural inhabitants.
4. Based on the field study results and analysis ofindoor thermal conditions during the heating seasons,the passive design principles of houses in severe coldrural areas are clear: a) heat-retaining abilities shouldbe prioritized in the design of houses in severe coldrural areas; b) the use of walls of high heat resistancebenefits indoor heat retaining; c) installing heat-retain-ing layers on the walls increases thermal stabilities ofthe wall, and decreases the heat loss; d) adding heat-retaining layers, and installing heat-retaining ceilingshelps heat-retaining in the ceilings; e) roof tiles
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attached with heat-retaining layers have better abilitythan straw ceilings in heat-retention; f) solar roomscan absorb solar heat energy and prevent penetrationof cold wind, and help improve indoor thermal condi-tions. These passive design principles are economical,effective, simple to operate, and are suitable for wideuse in the construction of china’s Green villageshousing Programs.
The research project of which this paper is apart will develop an energy conservation system forrural residential buildings in severe cold areas ofchina. it will prepare a comprehensive plan and givethe guiding principles of environment optimizationdesign for rural areas in view of severe cold climateadaptation. The project will also propose the integrat-ed technology system of materials, structure and ener-gy saving for rural residential buildings. finally, theproject will build and evaluate more than 320 energysaving demonstration houses applying all the tech-nologies developed in the research project. When res-idents build or renew their houses, they can follow theexamples provided by the model houses and use anaccompanying guidebook. The results of the researchwill be published, including the evaluation of thedemonstration houses, and a study of how residentsuse this information in their own houses.
acknowledgementThe research is funded by the 12th five-Year Plan ofchina (Grant no. 2013BaJ12B04). The paper was reviewed by Professor stephen Kendallat the request of the authors.
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diacOn, d. 1990, Rural low-cost housing in malawi, ekistics,57(342-343), 214-218.
hadJRi, K., Osmani, m., Baiche, B. and chifunda, c. 2007,attitudes towards earth building for Zambian housing provision,es3, 141-149.
hadJRi, K. 2005, experimenting with hybrid construction—guaduabamboo and adobe for housing in rural colombia, internationalJournal for housing science and its applications, 29, 165-177.
nOGuchi, m. and hadJRi, K. 2009, mass custom design forsustainable housing development, handbook of Research in masscustomization and Personalization.
vehBi, B. O., hOsKaRa, e. and hOsKaRa, s. Ö. 2010, aTheoretical approach for assessing sustainability in housingenvironments, Open house international, 35(1), 26-36.
milleR, W. and BuYs, l. 2013, factors influencing sustainabilityoutcomes of housing in subtropical australia, smart andsustainable Built environment, 2(1), 60-83.
altan h, Refaee m, han lX, and noguchi m. 2013, measuredhome environment and energy consumption compared to acceptedstandards, Open house international, 38, 64-71.
fesanGhaRY, m., asadi, s. and Geem, Z. W. 2012, design oflow-emission and energy-efficient residential buildings using amulti-objective optimization algorithm, Building and environment,49, 245-250.
lam, J. c., YanG, l. and liu, J. 2006, development of passivedesign zones in china using bioclimatic approach, energyconversion and management, 47(6), 746-762.
sadineni, s. B., madala, s. and BOehm, R. f. 2011, Passivebuilding energy savings: a review of building envelope components,Renewable and sustainable energy Reviews, 15(8), 3617-3631.
feisT, W., schniedeRs, J., dOReR, v. and haas, a. 2005, Re-inventing air heating: convenient and comfortable within the frameof the Passive house concept, energy and Buildings, 37(11), 1186-1203.
GOnG, X., aKashi, Y. and sumiYOshi, d. 2012, Optimizationof passive design measures for residential buildings in differentchinese areas, Building and environment, 58, 46-57.
liu J. and dai T. 2008, architectural physics experiment. chinaarchitecture & Building Press, Beijing, china, 115. (in chinese)
GB/T 50824-2013, 2012, design standard for energy efficiency ofrural residential buildings. china architecture & Building Press,Beijing, china. (in chinese)
author(s):
cheng sunschool of architecture, harbin institute of Technology,china.email: [email protected]
meng Zhenschool of architecture, harbin institute of Technology,china.email: [email protected]
Yu shaoschool of architecture, harbin institute of Technology,china.email:[email protected]
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introduction
a global characteristic of modern days housing is thedisconnection between end-users and decision makers(israel, 2003). accordingly, end-users are subjected toadopt previously formulated plans (moser et al.,2003). therefore, in many countries, especially thosethat are considered as developing countries i.e. iranand malaysia, failure in considering end-users’ moti-vations in housing is common. lack of attention toend-users’ motivation in housing is the main reasonfor a vast amount of negative physiological and psy-chological consequences, which may eventually leadto uprootedness or rootshock (stanley, 2009).Housing shortage is one of the most critical issuesforcing housing authorities to consider mass housingas a quantitative and short-run solution [israel, 2003;oliver, 2006a; miller, 2007). such an approach seri-ously disconnects end-users from decision makingprocess (israel, 2003).
to re-establish the connection, investigationof end-users’ housing attributes preferences, and thelinkage between these preferences and their differentmotivations is vital. the investigation should be able inproviding operational approach to motivation in hous-ing. by means of operational approach, the outcomeswould assist designers in selecting suitable scenariosin representing to end-users’ motivations in housing.
in responding to this aim, this study employsa theoretical framework based on maslow’s (1970)theory to identify the relationship between end-users’motivations and their housing attributes preferences.the theory was selected due to a number of reasons.first, needs theories are able to cover various aspectsof human motivations explained by different conceptsand models on motivation (steel et al., 2006). in the-ory of human motivation (maslow, 1970), the conceptof motivation is more likely to be comprehensive, uni-versal, content-specific, and tangible, hence is suitablefor an operational approach to be employed in hous-ing (tay et al., 2011; cherry, 2011). furthermore, theconcept, categorization, hierarchical tendencies,structure, and characteristics of the different motiva-tions provided by the theory have the potential in pro-viding an operational explanation for end-users’ per-ception from different motivations in housing.
literature reviewbuilt environment is the ultimate product of culture,which is originated from human motivations(rapoport, 2000). in housing context, a vast amountof research indicates the role of motivation in end-users’ satisfaction [gifford, 1987; norberg-schulz,1985; miller, 2007; lawrence, 2006; Herzog et al.,2008). oliver (2006b) refers to the term specializationto stress that housing provision process is a humanis-
Sayyed Javad Asad Poor Zavei, Mahmud Bin Mohd Jusan
Abstract
Providing operational approach to end-users’ motivational tendencies in housing facilitates user-centered approach
enhancing person-environment congruence. The operational approach is highly critical in case of inaccessibility of end-
users in decision making, i.e. mass housing. Therefore, this study aims at explaining end-users’ housing motivations
from their housing attributes preferences, through a theoretical framework developed based on Maslow’s theory. The
investigation was carried out by using a self-administered questionnaire conducted on 127 Iranian postgraduate stu-
dents of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, and their spouse who lived alongside them. They were selected from those who
lived more than one year in mass housing apartments in Malaysia. Using exploratory factor analysis, the housing attrib-
utes preferences were analyzed to underlie the latent structure and relations among them; the extracted factors were
also labeled based on the different level of needs. Then, conducting one sample t-test hierarchical tendencies among
the different motivational factors were identified. Referring to Maslow’s theory to explain the concept and characteris-
tics of housing needs results in identification of two different categories of housing attributes in association with the dif-
ferent level of needs. Accordingly, primary levels of needs that associate with relatively tangible and concrete attribut-
es are more likely to be content-specific and predictable. The higher levels of needs that associate with relatively com-
plicated and abstract attributes are more likely to be problematical, confusing, and non-predictable.
Keywords: End-Users’ Perception, Housing needs, Housing Attributes Preferences, Person-Environment Congruence,
Maslow’s Theory.
End-UsErs' PErcEPtion from HoUsing nEEdsbasEd on maslow's tHEory of motivation.
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ntic skill, and should be related to the different humanmotivations. Personalization as the key concept forperson environment congruence (PEc) also highlightsthe importance of congruity between physical settingof living environment and individual’s motivationaltendencies (Jusan, 2007).
a number of research works have addressedhousing attributes as concrete determinants of variousmacro-level and micro-level factors (collen et al.,2001 opoku et al., 2010; sirgy et al., 2005). someresearchers have used the attributes to explain psy-chological, social and cultural factors (opoku et al.,2010; Jabareen, 2005; sirgy et al., 2005; rapoport,2000). although these studies represent the signifi-cance of individual’s motivations in housing, they areseldom capable of providing an operational explana-tion of the subject to be used in decision making(opoku et al., 2010; al-momani, 2003; collen et al.,2001; Jabareen, 2005; orzechowski et al., 2007,Jusan, 2010).
collen et al. (2001) addresses a systematiclinkage between motivational factors and housingattributes preferences through means-end chain theo-ry. However, despite the existence of such systematicexplanations, the demand for operational outcomesstill remains. as a matter of fact, the decisions shouldbe made through more concrete and practical expla-nations, which make decision makers able to objec-tively represent end-users’ different motivations. thesituation is highly critical in case of mass housingbecause end-users are inaccessible, and they areinevitably disconnected for decision making process.Providing an operational approach through end-users’ housing attributes preferences is thereforeessential to explain the different motivations in hous-ing (Jusan, 2010). such an approach increases thepossibility of developing a user-centered framework inmass housing, which is necessary for PEc.
maslow’s theory provides concrete and con-tent-specific concept, along with specific structure,categorization, and characteristics for human motiva-tions. therefore, the theory facilitates identification ofend-users’ perception, which shows the possibility ofrepresenting end-users’ motivations (asad Poor,2014). accordingly, decision makers would be able inproviding a rout map to consider the different motiva-tions in different stages of housing by selection of suit-able decision making scenarios i.e. different participa-tory modes and flexible design.
a number of research works employedmaslow’s theory in housing contexts. for instance,maccray et al. (1977) through a post occupancyevaluation assesses housing quality by using maslow'theory. israel (israel, 2003), referring to the termdesign psychology classifies living environments basedon maslow’s theory. israel’s (israel, 2003) study is oneof the first efforts in applying the theory in early stagesof housing decision making. Her study howeverrequires direct connectivity of end-users and decisionmakers, which limits the applicability of the frameworkespecially in case of mass housing whereby real end-users are inaccessible.
theoretical framework of the studythe framework of this study has been developedbased on the previous frameworks established byrapoport (2000) and Jusan et al. (2005). Unlike theprevious conceptual framework, this frameworkemploys maslow’s theory of human motivation insteadof cultural components as a suitable theoreticalground in explaining end-users’ housing motivationsfrom their housing attributes preferences (asad Poor etal., 2012) (figure 1). since concept and characteris-tics of the different level of needs are more tangibleand content-specific than cultural components, theinvestigations are more likely to be resulted in practi-cal outcomes (steel, et al., 2006; wilson, 1998).indeed, the framework clarifies the process of person-alization in housing through identification of the rela-tionships between housing attributes and end-users’motivations.
figure 1 explains the process of personaliza-tion by highlighting the evaluation process of housingattributes through end-users’ different level of needs,and shows the association between the attributes i.e.fixed, semi-fixed, and non-fixed attributes and the dif-ferent motivations. accordingly, the outputs of this fil-tration might be congruency or in-congruency of theattributes with end-users’ motivations. the evaluationprocess continues so that the congruency would beachieved. However, the evaluation process is alwaysdynamically continuous because individual’s motiva-tions are changeable.
in the context of this study, it is believed thatin different stages of housing delivery, if the decisionswould be made based on end-users’ different needs,the final products would be more capable of beingcongruence with their motivations. one of the maindifferences between this framework and the previousmodels is indeed generated by their different view-points to the concept of personalization and PEc.
sampling designwith regard to psychological nature of the study,reduction of the impact of external agents makes sam-ples able in expressing their psychological motivationsthrough their housing selection behaviors. thus, it wasconsidered as the most interesting parameters forsampling design. in this regard, age group of the
Figure 1. The developed theoretical framework of the study
(Source: Asad Poor & Jusan, 2012)
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respondents came to the foreground, because senioraged people intend to make their housing decisionbased on their past experiences. therefore, such agegroups with higher level of experiences are more like-ly to be affected by external agents, i.e. economy, cul-ture, social values (buttimer 1972; sirgy, et al., 2005).thus, for this research a group of young people whoare in the age of transformation to their maturity andadulthood were considered as suitable age group forsampling population, because at this age level, peo-ple are thinking about their future life, i.e. their expect-ed housing, job and socio-economic position(Kenyon, 2002).
in the context of iran, these age groups areunlikely to own a house, or even to obtain a stable liv-ing situation. although they try to live independently,economic performance of housing sector in iran pre-vents them to achieve stable living circumstances(sepehrdoust, et al., 2011). therefore, they do nothave proper level of financial ability, personal author-ity, and emotional interest in arranging their currentliving environment based their personal and psycho-logical motivations (Kenyon, 2002). this is the mainreason in conducting the study through their prefer-ences instead of experiences, and to select a homo-geneous social group instead of a case study (opoku,et al., 2010).
to select a homogeneous social group, someother parameters, i.e. perceptual ability, expected job,economy, and socio-cultural status should be consid-ered as selection criteria. in final, the investigation wascarried out on iranian postgraduate students whostudying in Universiti teknologi malaysia, and theirspouses if they live alongside them in malaysia. theywere selected from those who had lived in mass hous-ing apartments in malaysia more than one year.Previous studies indicates that, in investigation ofhousing preferences from psychological point of view,and without the impact of external constraints, i.e.economy, socio-cultural constraints, students who lefttheir parental home and live far from their relatedsocio-cultural contexts have suitable parameters ofinterest (sixsmith, 1986). they enjoy from indepen-dency, autonomy, freedom, new level of intimacy,along with proper level of perceptual ability which areinteresting parameters in focusing on personaldemands and psychological needs (Kenyon, 2002).
their educational level, cognitive ability, tran-sitional living situation, living far from their familiesand the related socio-cultural bounds, along with theirfuture expected job and economic power are alsoother reasons in reducing the effects of the externalconstraints. therefore, they are more likely to expresstheir psychological motivations for their future realhome (Kenyon, 2002). moreover, their age level isanother suitable parameter that makes them suitablepopulation for the purpose of this study (de vaus,2002). living in transitional age level, and movingtoward socially adulthood personality, enables them indemanding powerful future life expectations.
the collected data included the respondents’demographic characteristics, housing experiences andpreferences. the study also employed random sam-
pling techniques in collecting the data (de vaus,2008). also in terms of scaling technique, likert’s 6point scale technique ranging from not relevant to veryimportant (collen et al., 2001) was selected to evalu-ate the relative importance of the attributes (Kothari,2009; cohmeya, 2010).
analyses and resultsthe study collected the data through a self-adminis-tered questionnaire by using 127 postgraduate stu-dents of Universiti teknologi malaysia (Utm). table 1shows the distribution of the respondents in differentdemographic categories. to identify the concept,structure, and characteristics of housing needs basedon the respondents’ housing attribute preferences, firstthe study applied exploratory factor analysis (Efa) toreduce the number of variables, to identify the latentstructures among the variables, and to the extractfewer factors for subsequent analysis (brown, et al.2004; opoku, et al., 2010; field, 2005; 1). theextracted factors were then labeled according to theirrelationships with the different levels of needs. finally,using one sample t-test, the study measured the rela-tive importance of the extracted factors to check thepossibility of identifying hierarchical tendencies amongthe factors (opoku, et al., 2010).
5.1 Extracting motivational factors using Exploratoryfactor analysiscollecting the data, Efa was conducted usingPrincipal components (Pc) extraction method withvarimax rotation. Eigenvalues greater than one werethe criteria for factor retention. regarding the samplesize, in the rotated component matrix, factor loadingscore greater than 0.45 was the criteria for retainingattributes (field, 2005). to start Efa, first factorabilityof the variables was tested by using several well-rec-ognized criteria. firstly, the Kaiser-meyer-olkin(Kmo) measure of sampling adequacy was 0.725;which is bigger than the recommended value of 0.6highlighting the proper level of factorability among thevariables. secondly, bartlett’s test of sphericity wassignificant (2016.719, p<0.001). also, the commu-
Table 1. The respondents’ demographic characteristics.
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nalities of variables were above 0.5 confirming thatthey shared adequate common variance with otheritems (field, 2005). moreover, the amount of commu-nalities confirms the adequacy of the sample size. intotal, 11 factors were extracted out of 37 variablesexplaining 67.189% of the variance in the variables(table 2).
the factors were then labeled based on theirassociation with the different level of needs (table 2).regarding the labeling process, it is worth mentioningthat those attributes that were related to the respon-dents’ primary levels of needs were more likely toaddress particular level of housing need. However,those that dealt with the higher levels were quite mul-tifunctional and complicated; hence it was quite diffi-cult to find out a specific linkage between the factorsextracted from these attributes and a particular level ofneed. although these factors were multidimensionaland complicated, their key-functions were the maincriteria in assigning a label for each of them.
5.2 relative importance and hierarchical tendenciesof the extracted housing motivational factorsto highlight hierarchical tendencies among thelabeled factors, the study computed the factors com-posite scores, and used the scores as inputs for sub-sequent analyses (opoku et al., 2010). then, thestudy computed mean score of each factor to deter-mine the relative importance of the factors. at thattime, the study conducted one sample t-test to find outwhich of the factors are significantly different from the
scale mid-point of 3.5 as the transition point betweennot important and important (opoku et al., 2010).table 3 represents the outputs of the both analysisamong which the factor means are arranged in adescending order of the relative importance.according to the t-values and the factors significantlevels (sig < 0.001), all the means are significantly dif-ferent from scaling point 3.5. therefore, all the vari-ables are considered as relatively important factors forthe respondents’ housing preferences.
according to the result of one-sample t-test,the relative importance of the factors highlights thepossibility of classifying the factors (table 3). inaddressing maslow’s theory, and with regard to themeans, t-values, and the amount of standard devia-tion of the factors, convenience-safety and conve-nience are the most important factors; therefore phys-iological-safety needs are considered as the exclusive,or the most intensified motivational level. Proximity-love, as an indicator of belongingness and love needs,and privacy-territorial control, safe-contact, indepen-dency-territorial control, and adequacy as differentindicators of esteem motivations are the second levelof the respondents’ housing needs, which are consid-ered as expected level of housing motivations. finally,identification-ritual ties and leisure-liminal motiva-tions, along with interior and exterior aesthetics as twointerrelated levels of self-actualization are regarded asthe least important or intensified housing needs name-ly the idealistic housing needs.
discussionthe theoretical framework of this study aims at identi-fying end-users’ perception from different housingmotivations through housing attributes preferencesbased on maslow’s hierarchy of needs. some keyaspects of the theory, i.e. the concept, relative impor-tance, structure, and characteristics of the differentmotivations were employed to examine the applicabil-ity of the framework in explaining the perception of theselected group.
according to the results obtained from Efaand the labeling process, the concept of respondents’housing needs is almost compatible with the conceptof the different needs addressed by the theory.according to the labeling process, two different levelsof housing needs in association with two different cat-egories of housing attributes are detected. two differ-ent categories of housing attributes are related to two
Table 3. Relative importance of reduced house purchase
factors Asad Poor, 2014
Table 2. Factor loadings for housing decision making fac-
tors. Asad Poor, 2014
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different functions of the attributes (i.e. overt andlatent) in responding to end-users’ various tendencies.
accordingly, the factors that deal with the pri-mary levels of needs are more likely to address a spe-cific motivation. indeed, dealing with relatively con-crete and tangible attributes with an overt function,makes the first category of housing attributes able torepresent a specific motivation. in other words, sincethe primary levels of motivations are relatively content-specific, it is possible to be represented through thehousing attributes preferences. However, dealing withlatent functions, and higher levels of needs makes thesecond category of housing attributes quite complicat-ed and multifunctional. in other words, since the con-cepts of motivations at the higher levels are quite mul-tidimensional, subjective, and abstract, it is quite diffi-cult to be represented through end-users’ preferences.
the findings of one sample t-test show all theextracted motivations are relatively importance for therespondents’ housing choice. therefore, the outcomessupport the study of meng et al. (2006) which rejectsthe current market-based approaches in housing thatneglect the different users’ motivations. this findingemphasizes the significance of housing quality to fulfillusers’ various needs apart from their socio-economicrestrictions, and the impact of external constraints.
the results of one-sample t-test moreovermake possible to identify the structure of housingneeds. accordingly, the exclusive motivational levelwas detected that is followed by the expected motiva-tions, and the ideal housing demands. the identifiedstructure also assists in underlining a specific motiva-tional direction for the selected samples.
the relative importance of housing motiva-tions highlights an exclusive motivational leveladdressing the most intensified housing needs.according to table 3, the respondents' intensiveemphases on physiological-safety needs(mean=5.34, standard deviation=0.55, andt=76.64) represent their exclusive motivational level.the respondents’ current transitional life, lack of envi-ronmental familiarity, unstable economy, and depen-dent financial status play the most significant roles instressing this factor as the exclusive motivation. as aresult, they emphasize physical comfort, along withstability, security, and protection as their critical needs.satisfying these needs, they will demand love, belong-ingness, esteem, and self-actualization. maslow(1970) believes that the demand for the higher levelsof motivation depends on proper gratification of theprepotent levels. as a result, the respondents’ stresssignificantly decreases by moving from the exclusivelevel toward the higher levels, so that they express thelowest demands for the aesthetics.
reduction of the needs intensity makes possi-ble to figure out individual’s motivational direction.the direction assists in highlighting which tendenciesare more critical, to be considered in short-run deci-sion making, which one is less critical, and may bepostponed for mid-run or lung-run solutions, or evenmay be located out of the concerns. the motivationaldirection assists housing decision makers in address-ing the relative importance of the different needs in
fulfilling end-users’ current and expected needs. multidimensionality and complexity of the
factors related to the higher levels makes difficult toassign a particular need to the factors. although thefactors were labeled based on their key-functions,moving up through the hierarchical levels reduces thepossibility of addressing a specific motivational direc-tion for a particular set of attributes which detractsinterpretability and predictability of the needs. indeed,unlike the primary levels the attributes that are relatedto the higher levels are quite confusing and problem-atic. therefore, representation of end-users’ higherlevel of needs requires more sensitive and activeactions that are able in directly connecting end-usersto decision making process.
in addition, the results make possible to linkthe individuals’ living condition and socio-economicstatus to their housing demands. indeed, meaningfulrelationships is detected between this population’socio-economic characteristics and their housing pref-erences. as stated in the socio-demographic profile(table1), for this population lack of economic stabilityand financial resources, living in non-conducive andtransitional situation, far from family and the relatedsocio-cultural context, being looked as outsiders intheir current living environment are some of the mainreasons in emphasizing physiological-safety needs asexclusive motivational level. However, their futureexpectations, i.e. future job opportunity, economic sta-bility and financial power, and social status give themthe chance for demanding social needs and esteem astheir future expectations.
the identified structure of housing needs pro-vides empirical evidences for oliver’s (2006b) discus-sion about sense of comfort. He believes that individ-ual’s demands for comfort consist of four levels includ-ing physical, superfluous/conspicuous, luxurious, andcultural comfort. However, unlike oliver’s (2006b)discussion, this study provides the hierarchical classifi-cation of the different levels. in conclusion, users ini-tially seek physical comfort to properly control their liv-ing environment by obtaining physiological needs,safety, security, protection, and family togetherness(oliver, 2006b). then, they demand a higher level ofcomfort, which is superfluous and conspicuous level,which is a sign of their power and personal authority(oliver, 2006b). therefore, the second level of com-fort aims at achieving different aspects of esteemneeds, i.e. privacy, territorial control, connectivity withoutside, spatial quality adequacy, and being indepen-dent. in total, they intend to express themselves byactualizing their ritual and cultural ties, leisuredemands, naturalness and wilderness, and thedemands for beauty (miller, 2007; de vaus, 200). thelatter stage includes two interrelated levels, i.e. thedemand for luxurious, and then cultural comfort.in total, explanation of the extracted factors throughthe concept, categorization, structure, and character-istics of maslow’s (1970) theory is capable in under-lining end-users’ perception from housing needs.clarification of end-users’ perception elucidates twodifferent categories of housing attributes in associationwith the different level of needs. accordingly, the pri-
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nmary levels of needs that deal with overt functionsassociate with relatively tangible and measurableattributes (i.e. size, number, and proportion), while thehigher levels that deal with latent functions associatewith relatively complicated and abstract attributes (i.e.finishing, decoration and furnishing). therefore, thefirst category of housing attributes that serves to fulfillthe primary level of needs is more likely to be content-specific and predictable, while the second categorythat serves to fulfill the higher level of needs is morelikely to be problematic, confusing and non-pre-dictable.
conclusionin general, linking the attributes to end-users’ motiva-tions through the theoretical framework show theapplicability of maslow’s theory in identifying the con-cept and characteristics of end-users’ housing needs.the hierarchical categorization and the characteristicsof housing needs represent predictable motivationaltendencies of users’ current and future needs. as indi-cated earlier, an operational identification of end-users’ perception from housing needs may enhanceuser-centeredness of personalization process in masshousing. the results represent the applicability of thedeveloped framework in explaining end-users’ currentand future housing needs. the framework enablesdecision makers in selecting suitable design scenariosbased on perception of end-users. in other words, theresults shows end-users’ perception from differenthousing motivations can be categorized in two differ-ent areas. the first area includes end-users’ percep-tion from primary levels of needs, which are relativelycontent-specific and objective. at these levels theattributes are relatively concrete, and almost deal withovert functions, hence it is possible to be representedthrough end-users’ preferences. the second areaincludes end-users’ perception from higher levels,which are subjective and abstract concepts. at theselevels, the attributes are multidimensional and compli-cated, and deals with latent functions, hence repre-sentation of end-users’ motivational tendencies is dif-ficult, and even in some aspects might be impossible.However, the operational approach to end-users’higher levels of motivation still requires more practicalscenarios to be applicable in housing design process.so far, this study opens a new gate toward the opera-tional approach. However, to improve the applicabili-ty of the outcomes in the stage of decision making, thenext action is to investigate the relationships betweendifferent participatory design levels/modes, flexibledesign strategies and end-users’ motivational tenden-cies.
acknowledgementthe authors would like to gratefully express their high-est appreciation and gratitude for the kind and sinceresupports received from department of architecture,Universiti teknologi malaysia and department ofarchitecture, mashhad branch - islamic azadUniversity.
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author(s):
sayyed Javad asad Poor Zavei, department of architecture, faculty of builtEnvironment, Universiti teknologi malaysia140 580 seventeen mile rocks rd, sinnamon Park,4073, Qld, australia. Email: [email protected]
mahmud bin mohd Jusandepartment of architecture, mashhad branch –islamic azad University, mashhad, iran.
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HERITAGE IN TRADITIONAL URBAN SETTLEMENTS:ISSUES OF CONSERVATION
Heritage continues to be a vital part of socio-culturalmilieu of the traditional urban environments theybelong to. It provides identity and a link to past for thelocal communities. Heritage typically centers on thenotion of culture-natures that are inherited from thosethat came before us and are safeguarded in the pre-sent in order to be bestowed for the benefit of futuregenerations (Winter and Daly 2012: 8). Where com-munities are directly involved and heritage are living,by their very nature, the heritage never remain fixedand static. The urban environment changes rapidly,especially so since the second half of the twentiethcentury. Amidst this frenzy of urban development,communities and their attachment to local heritagehave often been ignored in many conservation efforts,especially in high density cities; ultimately making theheritage soulless. A key issue in heritage conservation,especially where place and people are active part ofheritage, is to interpret and define heritage throughlocal experiences. As Hewison asserts, “The heritagerepresents some kind of security, a point of reference,a refuge perhaps, something visible and tangiblewhich…seems stable and unchanged. Our environ-mental heritage is a deeply stabilising and unifyingelement within our society” (Bagguley et al. 1990:109). Thus, it is critical to understand how the com-
munities of the traditional neighborhoods continue tosafeguard and manage local heritage with their com-mon wisdom and knowledge.
Heritage gives us a sense of attachment andpoint of reference of who we are. Heritage may beseen as a cultural continuity inherited in time. DavidLowenthal observes, “Only by studying the lives of pastpeople and by learning what had happened in historycould people understand their present selves and cir-cumstances and hope to foresee what life would belike in times to come……Hence the past was a fountof useful lessons, lessons that could serve as preceptfor the present and the future” (Lowenthal 1993: 182).This can potentially benefit in sustaining the heritagefor future in a fast changing urban environment.Rather than approaching heritage conservation orfuture development in the conventional way, oftengoverned by the well-known Eurocentric heritage con-servation charters, it may be beneficial to examine theway the communities in traditional urban settlementsretain their cultural continuity in a fast changing urbanenvironment around them. This paper examines thesecritical issues through the findings of an empirical fieldstudy in the traditional neighborhoods of Old Dhaka.
TRADITIONAL MAHALLAS OF OLD DHAKADhaka, the capital of Bangladesh and was officiallyestablished as a Mughal province in 1608. It is nowa mega city of 12.8 million, encompassing approxi-
Iftekhar Ahmed
Abstract
Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh has a recorded history of over 400 years, dating back to the Mughal and pre-Mughal
era. A large part of the city’s rich cultural heritage; both tangible and intangible, lie in the historic core known as Old
Dhaka. There are several traditional neighborhoods with close-knit communities that date back two to three centuries.
The communities are rich in social capital gained over successive generations of close social network. Based on this
strength, a heritage management system has been developed by informal community bodies in Old Dhaka. Old
Dhaka's rich cultural heritage deserves to be conserved for the historical continuity of the city. Unfortunately, the top-
down conservation efforts undertaken by the Government are highly bureaucratic and have not been effective in con-
serving the cultural heritage in most cases. This paper explores the importance of local participatory approach of her-
itage management in the context of Old Dhaka with a focus on the relationship between social capital and informal
heritage management in traditional communities. It also explores the key features that generally make the informal her-
itage management system more effective than the formal approach. Finally, it recommends an appropriate conserva-
tion approach to save the cultural heritage of Old Dhaka where there is a balance between intervention by authorities
and continuity of local community involvement.
Keywords: Informal community bodies, Social capital, Heritage management, Old Dhaka.
COMMUNITY, HERITAGE AND SOCIAL CAPITAL:INFORMAL HERITAGE MANAGEMENT IN OLD DHAKA
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mately 1,530 square km (www.bbs.gov.bd). The citydeveloped on the bank of river Buriganga. The areaon the northern bank of the river is known as OldDhaka (Figure 1).
It is the densest area of the city and also con-sidered the cultural heart of the 400 years old city. OldDhaka consists of several traditional neighborhoods,most of which date back two to three hundred years.The traditional neighborhoods are enclaves of partic-ular group of craftsmen and traders and locally knownas mahalla. Mahallas are the basic indigenous urbanunit of Old Dhaka with each having their unique iden-tity and character, formed over several centuries.Generally they are divided into two layers. The streetfronts are often bustling bazaars while the secondlayer right behind are the residential neighborhoods,almost hidden behind the bazaar façade. Thoughoften dilapidated, narrow and cramped at first glance,these neighborhoods are highly liveable places withsome of the finest examples of local architecture.
The area has been shaped by the local com-munities with strong social bond from the beginning.They reflect everyday social activities, tastes, liking,
abilities, limitations, and above all, life-style of thecommunities. The public spaces and local heritage areintegrated in the social life of the community and com-plement each other (Figure 2). The heritage is part ofeveryday life and is considered shared property of thecommunity. Most of the heritage buildings are living,actively used and are informally managed by the com-munities.
HERITAGE OF OLD DHAKAThe tangible or physical elements of the traditionalmahallas include a wide array of building forms, mor-phology, spatial layout, architectural styles, use ofmaterials, details and ornamentations (Figure 3). Thelocal forms, textures and architectural styles weregradually accumulated over the years, from differentinfluences such as the Mughal, European and tradi-tional vernacular (Imamuddin 1982). They are equal-ly rich in magnificent community buildings likemosques as well as in private residences.
The physical or tangible heritage of Old Dhakahas undergone the inevitable process of urbanchanges over time, with individual buildings added oraltered. However, the unique intangible elements thatimpart their heritage value have remained more orless intact over the years. The wide range of intangi-ble elements includes traditional crafts such as
Figure 4. Intangible heritage elements of Old Dhaka,
including traditional crafts, foods, businesses, skills andconstruction styles, source: author.
Figure 3. Tangible heritage elements of Old Dhaka,
source: author.
Figure 1. Aerial view of Old Dhaka shows the river
Buriganga and the high density urban fabric, source:www.google.com/earth/index.html.
Figure 2. Transformation and continuity of mahallas of Old
Dhaka with time as physical and sociocultural layers grow,source: author.
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Shankha, clay pottery and idol making, traditionalfoods such as Baker-khani, traditional constructiontechniques such as the Chini-tikri and terracotta, localhistory, lifestyles, oral stories, rituals, customs and fes-tivals, meanings, identity, collective memory, etc.(Figure 4).
Continuity of the intangible heritage elementsdepends on how actively the heritage buildings arebeing used. Often abstract in nature, these unquan-tifiable intangible elements are spiritual assets of thecommunities. In the traditional mahallas, the intangi-ble elements breathe life into the heritage buildings.(Figure 5)
HERITAGE AS INTEGRAL PART OF COMMUNITIES Bonnici observes, “Cultural heritage refers to goodswhich have been “inherited” and have a public value,and that therefore need to be preserved for future gen-erations, to be in turn inherited by them” (Bonnici,2009). It is critical to consider the meaning of heritageattributed by the communities that are using them.The meaning evolves over the years as a combinationof individual and collective memories, experiences,values and lifestyles of past leading to present. Thesecreate the character of the place that makes it differ-ent from the others. As UNESCO observes, “Any city’sfuture must be anchored in its individual identity. Its‘urban heritage’ must be the starting point for thedevelopment of urban policy. This heritage and itsaccumulation – the history of a city, its neighborhoodsand its residents – must be studied, recorded and told”(UNESCO 1996).
Collective memory of a place, complexity ofthese memories strengthens the social fabric of com-munities. Traditional built environments are oftenformed as socio-cultural norms imprinted on layers ofhistory; embedded both in tangible and intangible ele-ments. To preserve the identity of local communitiesand for cultural continuity, it is important to conservethese traditional elements of the built environment.Comprehensive heritage conservation encompassespreservation of the built environment along with thecrafts, arts, beliefs, values and lifestyles of communi-
ties. The Burra Charter defines Conservation as,“Conservation means all the processes of lookingafter a place so as to retain its cultural significance”(Australia ICOMOS 1999: 2). However, the BurraCharter also advocates a cautious approach tochange, “Do as much as necessary to care for theplace and to make it useable, but otherwise change itas little as possible so that its cultural significance isretained” (Ibid: 1). This change can be both physicaland socio-cultural. The living heritage of Old Dhakais an integral part of everyday life in the traditionalcommunities. Among different heritage values, socialvalue is often ignored, but deserves equal importanceas physical value. In the process of heritage conserva-tion, their place in overall urban development shouldbe recognized before any type of intervention, conser-vation or redevelopment.
SOCIAL CAPITAL IN THE MAHALLASThe Faro Convention (Council of Europe 2005) inArticle 2 seeks to define cultural heritage as: “a groupof resources inherited from the past which peopleidentify, independently of ownership, as a reflectionand expression of their constantly evolving values,beliefs, knowledge and traditions. It includes allaspects of the environment resulting from the interac-tion between people and places through time”; andthen defines a heritage community as: “a heritagecommunity consists of people who value specificaspects of cultural heritage which they wish, within theframework of public action, to sustain and transmit tofuture generations”.
The Faro Convention (Ibid) also declares inArticle 4: “a. everyone, alone or collectively, has theright to benefit from the cultural heritage and to con-tribute towards its enrichment; b. everyone, alone orcollectively, has the responsibility to respect the cultur-al heritage of others as much as their own heritage”.
The mahallas of Old Dhaka started as livingquarters of specialized artisans, craftsmen and tradersin very close-knit communities. Changing socioeco-nomic and political circumstances saw some of thecommunities to be partially replaced. However, mostof the mahallas have retained the original communitybond which originated from people living in closesocial contact in these high-density urban areas anddepending on their communities for support in socioe-conomic matters. The social bonding in rural commu-nities was successfully adapted in the early urban set-tlements. The close association of the communitiescame from sharing craft, trade or in cases a particularreligion. For example, in Shankharibazar, most of theresidents are Hindu Shankha craftsmen. Even thoughthere is shortage of urban amenities, the communitymembers continue to live in the mahallas; mainly dueto the psychological comfort that living in the commu-nity of their ancestors provides them.
Social capital is important in relation to com-munity infrastructures and existing social activities suchas heritage management. Coleman defines socialcapital by its function: “It is not a single entity, but avariety of different entities having two characteristics incommon: They all consist of some aspect of social
Figure 5. Tangible and Intangible elements of heritage in
traditional neighborhoods with forces of change, source:author.
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structure, and they facilitate certain actions of individ-uals who are within the structure” (Coleman 1990:302).
Vernacular construction styles and crafts survivewhere social capital exists. Loury describes social cap-ital as: “naturally occurring social relationships amongpersons which promote or assist the acquisition ofskills and traits valued in the marketplace . . . an assetwhich may be as significant as financial bequests inaccounting for the maintenance of inequality in oursociety” (Loury 1992: 100). Community is a socialentity, formed by people working together for sharedpurposes. Fukuyama relates the concept with peoples’ability to work together. He defines social capital as:“the ability of people to work together for commonpurposes in groups and organizations” (Fukuyama1995: 10).
Social capital is the most valuable asset in anycommunity. Especially, the traditional communities thathave been continuing for hundreds of years are richerin social capital. Without social capital the communi-ties fail to survive, as evident in many of the contem-porary neighborhoods. In Old Dhaka, social capitalconsists of the social, religious and cultural norms,vernacular knowledge of crafts, traditional construc-tion styles, greater social trust among the communitymembers, informal community bodies, and moreimportantly, social network, infrastructure, routine andspecial collective actions taken by the community.However, social capital goes beyond these valuedsocial networks and institutions; it is the glue that holdsthe communities together. People of traditional neigh-borhoods of Old Dhaka value this community bondand relationship among neighbors; greater than theirphysical environment. Unfortunately, when formalauthorities undertake conservation projects, in mostcases they fail to take notice of this important aspect.As a result, the conserved projects are often soullessand become detached from the local communities.
FORMAL HERITAGE CONSERVATION IN DHAKA:THE LIMITATIONSThe present scenario of formal heritage conservationin Dhaka is not very promising. Majority of the richcultural heritage of Old Dhaka are under seriousthreat and a good part of it is disappearing fast due tolack of proper heritage conservation and manage-ment. Only a few of them are considered for conser-vation by the Government due to limited resources.The formal top-down approach to conservation ishighly bureaucratic, mostly outdated and ill-equipped.Conservation projects are undertaken by personnelwithout proper knowledge of conservation process.There is no proper research, documentation or moni-toring of the heritage buildings. Thus, many illegalalterations and modifications go unnoticed.
The Department of Archaeology under theMinistry of Cultural Affairs is responsible for protectionand management of heritage buildings and sites. Thegoverning law for protection of heritage is theAntiquities Act, 1968 (Peoples republic of Bangladesh1968). The definition of “antiquity” in the AntiquitiesAct, 1968 includes: “any ancient product of human
activity, movable of immovable, illustrative of art,architecture, craft, custom, literature, morals, politics,religion, warfare, science or of any aspect of civiliza-tion or culture, any ancient object or site of historical,ethnographical, anthropological, military or scientificinterest, and any other ancient object or class of suchobjects declared by the Central Government, by noti-fication in the official Gazette, to be an antiquity forthe purposes of this Act.” (Ibid: article 2, section c).
A major problem is interpretation of the term‘ancient’. The Department of Archaeology currentlylists a heritage for protection only when it is at least100 years old. Thus, several important heritage build-ings that are not 100 years old go ‘under the radar’.Currently the Department of Archaeology has 397protected buildings and seven sites. With a poor eco-nomic condition, the Department only has about 20lac taka (approximately 30 thousand US dollars) avail-able yearly to conserve nearly 400 heritage buildingsand sites. Naturally, the fund allotment for projects hasto be prioritized. In several cases, there are specialfunds allotted to conserve a heritage building or site(in urgent need for conservation) with the conditionthat the fund allotted must be spent within a specifiedperiod, beyond that the fund is called back. Thus it isa general practice to do minimum or no research andspend it on conservation projects in a rush. This hasresulted in improper restoration work in several her-itage buildings.
There are no trained archaeologists or conser-vation experts in the Department. The Engineers of theDepartment, who generally look after conservationprojects, have little knowledge of conservation processor architectural styles. This leads to poor qualityrestoration that further damages the heritage thanconserving it. Even the number of engineers is notadequate; with 14 engineers in the Department now,while the requirement is at least 30. Thus, generallyone engineer has to look after 4 to 5 conservationsites simultaneously. In most cases, no real research isdone prior to conservation.
COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN HERITAGE CON-SERVATION: AN ALTERNATE APPROACH IN OLDDHAKADhaka is experiencing a rapid population growth andmigrants are mainly responsible for this. Especiallyover the past four decades, Dhaka’s population grewexponentially. Roy and Sarkar observes: “Althoughurbanization is often associated with increasingnational production and high per capita GDP, povertyremains a persistent feature of the urban life, both interms of income and living conditions” (Roy andSarkar 2006). The economic growth has failed tokeep up the same pace due to poor political deci-sions. The current yearly per capita income ofBangladesh is $1,180 (Per capita income now $1,1802014: 22 May). The poor economic condition affectsOld Dhaka even more as the area is already highlybuilt up and has a higher population density thanother parts of the city. This makes managing the localheritage highly challenging. While some of the com-munities have relatively better economic resources, in
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edmost cases the heritage management becomes possi-ble due to greater social capital in the communitiesdespite challenging economic conditions.
According to the Deschambault Declaration of1982, “Heritage is the combined creations and prod-ucts of nature and of man in their entirety and a richinheritance that may be passed on, which invites ourrecognition and our participation” (ICOMOS Canada1982). Contrary to the often ineffective formal conser-vation approach by government, the communities ofOld Dhaka have a very effective and integrated socialsystem that has maintained the local heritage for cen-turies. Dolff-bonekämper observes: “Exercise of theright to a heritage involves a right of access to a build-ing site, the right to interpret and to take action, aloneor with others, in a joint process of building heritage”(Dolff-bonekämper 2009). Most of the communities ofOld Dhaka have a traditional informal communitybody called Panchayet, formed by local communitymembers. Panchayet decides on most communityissues based on meeting of selected members andcollective opinions. It is an effective informal processof community decision making and majority of thelocal population is included in the process. AlthoughPanchayets have no legal or official standing, it hasthe ability to engage communities in an active partici-patory process. The existing strong community bondand social infrastructure in Old Dhaka helped inspontaneous implementation of the ideas of participa-tory conservation to ensure continuity of local heritagewithout any formal support. It has been more effectivein communities where social capital is greater.Observation from several case studies show informalparticipatory approach to conservation serves thecommunities of Old Dhaka better for the followingreasons:
1. Local representation: To make a common cause work meansactively soliciting ideas and building support of stakeholders.
2. Vernacular knowledge and greater social capital: In Old Dhaka,the communities with greater social capital often have better solu-tions to problems (as this is part of their life) compared to an out-sider.
3. Strong sense of common belongingness: The common consentensures compliance and better implementation (often by informalcommunity bodies). A sense grows that ‘this is ours’.
4. Multiple ideas serve better: Where idea of a few may fall shortideas of many (who know) are successful, as can be seen in manycommunities of Old Dhaka.
CASE STUDIESThis section demonstrates the issues discussed so farwith two case studies of informal heritage manage-ment by community bodies. They illustrate the impor-tant issues of community heritage management.
Case study 1: Kosaituli MosqueOne the most ornate mosques of Old Dhaka, theKosaituli mosque date back to 1919, during the Britishcolonial period. It has some of the best chini-tikri orna-mentation; a special surface decoration done withbroken porcelain pieces (Figure 6). It is mainly man-
aged by the Mosque committee with supervision of thelocal Panchayet. As the mosque is not under govern-ment’s list of protected heritage, it is still ‘owned’ bythe community.
The mosque is used both for religious and socialpurposes by the local Muslim community. Even withroutine maintenance, near the end of the twentiethcentury, the mosque’s interior was in a dilapidatedstate. The mosque committee took the initiative torestore the chini-tikri work in 2004. The work tooknearly two years and was headed by a senior mastercraftsman of chini-tikri. Due to funding limitations, therestoration is generally done on a need basis. Forexample, the mosque interior was more vulnerableand required immediate attention. So, the interior wasrestored first (during 2004-2005), which cost about17 lac taka (approximately US$ 25,000). The mosquecommittee plans to restore the mosque exterior next,which is estimated to cost about 30 lac taka (approx-imately US$ 43,000). The entire work was carried outwith voluntary contributions from the community mem-bers. Traditional master craftsmen of the chini-tikriwork were hired who supervised the work that involvednew apprentices. The restoration was carried outunder the supervision of the Mosque committee. Themosque fully regained its former glory under the man-agement of the informal community bodies.
Even though the mosque was restored suc-cessfully, the future of the mosque faces several chal-lenges and threats. Over the years, there has been agreat increase in the number of Muslims in the localcommunity. The original structure can barely accom-modate about 100 worshippers. A four story addition-al block was added to the east to accommodate theincreasing number of worshippers. The extension ofthe mosque to the east, though inevitable, alwaysremains a threat to the original mosque. Recentlythere have been some conflicts and disagreementsbetween the newly selected mosque committee mem-bers with former committee members over the man-agement of the mosque and the new extension andrestoration. Another threat is the diminishing numberof specialist chini-tikri craftsmen. Several of the seniorcraftsmen have died and others have left the profes-sion as only a limited number of jobs are available.
Figure 6. Kasaituli mosque, Kosaituli, Old Dhaka, source:
author.
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The members of the community bodies expressed theirconcern that they are not sure whether they will findsuch quality craftsmen when the next restoration willbe required.
Case study 2: Pogose High SchoolEstablished in 1848 as the first private school in thecountry by N P Pogose, Pogose High School is one ofthe oldest surviving schools of Dhaka. The school isone of the best examples of British colonial architec-ture (Figure 7). The school is informally managed bythe Pogose school committee with occasional helpfrom the local Panchayet. The school committee wascareful to maintain the authenticity of the heritagebuilding and decided to build new blocks within thelarge school compound to accommodate the increas-ing number of students. Regular maintenance ensuresthat there is no condensation on the surface and novegetation growth.
The school is managed by local private financein the form of the school fund, formed through dona-tions. An annual survey is conducted by the schoolcommittee to detect the areas where majorrepair/restoration work is required. The localPanchayet helps with organizing specialist craftsmenand skilled labors who know the building’s construc-tion style.
A major restoration work was undertaken dur-ing 2008-2009 as several of the doors and windowsand especially the wooden beams supporting the roofware attacked by termites and needed restoration.Authenticity of the original wooden and iron beamswas maintained during the restoration. Some of thewindow shades, door louver and facade details werealso restored. The restoration project was significantas it was carried out entirely with private finance, basi-cally from the donations of the community members.The restoration was jointly managed by the schoolcommittee and the local Panchayet. It shows that infor-mal heritage management system has been successfulin maintaining the authenticity of local heritage.
The adjacent developments are a threat to theschool building. Limited funds and resources is a com-mon problem. Even though the community bodies aresuccessfully managing the heritage, they need financ-
ing and in cases advanced technical assistance to bemore efficient. Government intervention is required tointroduce and enforce laws regulating the develop-ment surrounding the heritage building to help thecommunity bodies manage the heritage.
INFORMAL HERITAGE MANAGEMENT IN OLDDHAKA: PROCESS AND STEPS
The architectural heritage of Old Dhaka is managedthrough continuity of knowledge of traditional con-struction methods and materials. It is mainly carried onby building owners, community bodies, masterbuilders and their apprentices. There are severalunique features of local masonry; ornamentation anddetailing that are carried on by the local craftsmenand master builders through the system of apprentice-ship.
The community heritages like mosques, tem-ples, church, school, etc. are managed through delib-eration of multiple stakeholders from the community.The informal community bodies, building committeesand the senior master builders jointly decide thecourse of action before restoration.
The vernacular construction method of mason-ry and ornamentation are used in most cases.Generally a master builder oversees a team ofapprentices in the restoration work. Several steps likedeliberation, decision making and fund raising areinvolved in the heritage management process. A sum-mary of the different processes and steps of informalheritage management is described in Figure 8.
FUTURE CHALLENGES AND RECOMMENDATIONSThe informal community bodies have been managingthe local heritage and their living environment withtheir limited resources till now. This has been possible
Figure 8. Process and steps of Informal heritage manage-
ment in Old Dhaka, source: author.
Figure 7. Pogose High School, Shankharibazar, Old Dhaka,
source: author.
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edwith the existing social capital. This study shows twoclear issues. First, the informal heritage managementsystem with all their local traditional resources hasbeen continuing to protect and manage the local her-itage while fighting several challenges. Second,though they require external support, they want tokeep the ‘community ownership’. No formal interven-tion or conservation effort has been able to maintainthis.
The informal community management systemhas potential to be more effective in managing her-itage when properly empowered and included in theoverall conservation process, which may have formalsupport. However, several community membersexpressed that they don’t want to lose their ‘communi-ty ownership’ in the case of a formal intervention. Outof this concern, several community bodies have actu-ally refrained from asking support from formal author-ities. However, with changing urban forces and chal-lenging economic conditions, additional support fromthe external organizations may be required for thecontinuity of the local heritage. There is a strong infra-structure already established by several prominentNGOs working in the urban areas in Bangladesh. Thisinfrastructure can be effectively used to support theinformal community bodies in managing the architec-tural heritage. However, heritage management in thetraditional communities will require a better under-standing of the informal heritage management system.This is vital for any future collaboration with externalorganizations like NGOs to continue with similarresults.
The situation demands that any possible sup-port from formal authorities or NGOs has to bearranged in such a way that there is minimum influ-ence on the existing informal heritage managementsystem; to ensure their continuity. Figure 9 summarizesthe forces working against the vulnerable architectur-al heritage with a possible support system (with limitedinvolvement of public and private sector) which mayenable the informal community bodies to continuewith their heritage management. The long term initia-tives may be organized by NGOs and include trainingin contemporary heritage conservation techniques,better protection of the traditional knowledge, increas-ing awareness about the local heritage and revivingdwindling and lost crafts. These long term initiativesmay in turn restore the lost social capital in the tradi-tional communities. Following are some of the stepsthat can be taken to ensure the continuity of informalheritage management system:
1. Foster and enhance the already existing sense of ownership with-
in the community in the conservation process.
2. NGOs can fill up the gap left by the formal authorities and co-
ordinate all sources of external support and stakeholder involvement
in facilitating the continuity of the informal heritage management
system.
3. A balance of power and influence has to be reached between the
NGOs and the public sector.
4. Another possibility can be expanding the Department of
Archaeology’s capacity by hiring more skilled personnel in heritage
conservation.
5. Gather and share important data on local heritage involving com-
munity, arranging workshops, discussions, interviews, focus group
discussions, etc.
6. Foster the self-help approach to encourage voluntary contribu-
tions of labor and funding.
CONCLUSIONParticipatory conservation process recovers lost mean-ings, revives and re-establishes to assert the true spir-it of the place involving community. No global policycan address unique local community values; there is aneed for place-specific standards of best practice toguide conservation decisions. The people, their craftand living are an integral part of the heritage. Theconservation process can only be successful when thepeople actively participate in the process. Local spatialarrangements, architectural styles, customs and tradi-tions should be allowed to continue in time with mini-mum intervention. Intangible elements that are localand true to the place (both alive and lost) deservehighest attention.
Traditional Conservation approaches general-ly used by the bureaucratic system of the Governmentare not always appropriate for heritage conservationin historic quarters. An alternate to this can be the par-ticipatory approach to conservation with high involve-ment of the local community. Social capital is animportant element in informal heritage managementand should be fostered for the continuity of the her-itage of Old Dhaka.
Figure 9. A possible support system for vulnerable Informal
heritage management system in old Dhaka, source: author.
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Author(s):Iftekhar Ahmed
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1. Introduction
Metabolism is a technological-organic utopian vision.It is reclaiming an adaptable structure for third dimen-sion of the city fabric within the framework of meetingwith present and future needs of society and urbandevelopment (Kikutake K.1997). The challenge is re-defined on providing balance on bio-organic structureof the environment with new adjustments of develop-ing/growing city through modernism and technology.Gentrification and renovation of rapidly urbanizedareas are rendered within the metabolism for future ofcity that could be notified as one of the most innova-tive and comprehensive movement for phenomenalfuture-concepts. The paradox of urbanism andmegacities are embraced with variable fantastic solu-tions where technology meets with ecology as well aschanging needs of the society and development. Theradical challenge of megacities renovates buildingsand bio-organic mega-structures within timelessutopian optimistic futurism. The significant criticism isoverlapped with disbanding of the idea of city for pro-viding a pragmatic concern, in which city could gainorganic and socially generous proclamation within theframework of mega-structural look.
Since, future city has come to agenda lastdecades. It has been started to be discussed withindrastic challenges of 21th century; where limits ofgrowing urban environment capacity are stroked. Else,variable approaches have been asserted to envisionand sustain the future city regarding to conflict devel-opment of urbanization/city. However, the fundamen-
tal approaches in theory are not resided in rhetoricpractice. The gap appears with lack of consistent dis-cussion of existing/invested past concepts as a con-vincing tool for understanding future city of todaythrough re-considering valid indicators of environ-mental, economical, social and cultural entities. Thesplit of the city from past to present and present tofuture would be an ironic notion, where distinctivevarieties and urbanism pose challenges defining futureof cities. In to this, variable attempts are accomplishedto find adaptable solutions and to investigate a para-dox for these drastic changes and enforcement of citygrowth (Newman P.W. 1999). Since, cities demon-strate coherent transition or change depending ontheir growing hinterlands within four-sided dynamics(environment, culture, society, economy). Many chal-lenges of city are imagined and putted in an actionregardless to balancing urban growth and encourag-ing existing environment as a consisting whole. Thequestion is that how unrefined sequence of city devel-opment is attained to resolve notion of sustainabilityamongst balancing existing city structure with devel-oping hi-technology and modern era. Moreover, howfuture city will draw on it a continuous vision. Thefuture city must convince coherent paradoxes of novelevolutionary approaches by means of re-consideringsustainability of cities where city is ecologically respon-sive, economically viable and socially responsible.Thus, study refers understanding city as a process ofchange with re-reading declared solutions of past’sfuturistic vision “Metabolist City”, in which crucialfuture of sustainability is discussed in a real distortion
Cemaliye Eken
Abstract
Rapid urbanization and providing pragmatic solutions for its development is one of the fundamental agenda of last
decade. The metabolism is one of the latest post-war movements- founded in 1960 by Kenzo Tange where urbaniza-
tion and city as a process is re-examined within the framework of accelerated modernism and technology vision.
This paper discusses Metabolism movement in order to identify crucial intimations of its utopian architectural and urban
approaches as a tool for future city. The study examines four initial metabolist city approaches- Plan for Tokyo (1960-
62), Clusters/city in the Air (1960-62), Helix city (1961) and Ocean/Marine City (1962) that are designed for post-war
Tokyo city in Japan. The study gives modest insight of indentifying city design theory within in a series conception; such
as conducting to architectural characteristics regarding urban structure, tectonic vision between land-sea-sky and organ-
ic notion (city as process and mega-structuralism). Research method is embodied with examining relevant data of lit-
erature data. Upon discussions on theory, study aims to establish an ironic notion of future city by asserting familiar
characteristics or variations between four pioneer projects of Metabolist movement.
Keywords: Urban Growth, Urban Development, Future City, Sustainability, Metabolism
RE-READING CRITICAL INDICATIONS OFMETABOLISIM.
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- Tokyo city. Study also draws attention to the signifi-cance of getting lessons from past’s elucidated city forrecent criticisms.
2. Metabolism and City: Renewal of Future Metabolism theory was manifested ‘Metabolism 1960-the Proposals for New Urbanism’ in Tokyo WorldDesign Congress by Tange’s Tokyo Bay Plan, in 1960with their “avant-garde city design” (Lin Z. 2007). Theconceptual approach is harmonized amongst criticaland symbolical transition. The fundamental idealiza-tion of concept refers exploring opportunities of novelurban paradigms as a solution for urban sprawl andurban destruction of World War II. Thus, metabolistmovement is endured in Japan after World War II inorder to rebuild Tokyo city and to remove drastic signsof the past. Even, it intends to embody future processof contemporary urbanism (Oliveira F.M. 2011). In abroader sense, it could be identified as a concept ofanti-traditional and utopian speculation which exam-ined the contemporary socio-cultural ideologicalchanges and diverse local conditions (Lin Z. and HackG. 2006). The ideals of metabolism pushed mod-ernism forward within a critical revision. Formationalconcept and development of urban pattern is affirmedbased on contrasting bio-technical notions towardsmodernist paradigms of the city (Lin Z. 2011).
On this basis, fundamental aim of the metab-olism concept is involved with generating a mecha-nism that it is self-sustaining and able to cope withrapid growth of the city. Moreover, it is critically exam-ining growing limits of the city as an adaptable struc-ture through unpredictable changes of developingcontemporary cities (Lin Z. 2007). Therefore, the cityis tried to be envisioned in metabolism as an organic-developing structure rather than a mechanical systemof modernism paradigm. In other words, metabolismcreates an opposition towards to regular modernistplanning method by re-thinking the development offuture city more embraced with the radical structuralist(mega-structural) approach (Oliveira F.M. 2011). Thesociety is contributed as a vital process of this scheme.Though, biological sensibility of metabolism approachwithin design technology is embraced with consideringhuman vitality as domain and major factor (KawazoeN. 1960). In deed; as a result of the conflict that iscreated after the post-war, cultural claims of theJapanese society are re-discussed within a paradoxi-cal vision of alteration and stability (Lin Z. 2007a).This can be manipulated as reconstructing the city byclaiming materiality in technology and morality of thesocial sphere amongst intensely examining traditionalnorms of society. According to the metaphor of metab-olism; society and technology is overlapped with dif-ferent problems of the city where new orders of urbangrowth/development are proposed. Re-designing anovel society is elaborated crucial within structuralismalong with featuring radical series of mega-structure.Since, structuralism is embodied of biological worldand group of form. The group of form is identifiedthrough different modes of problem; idea of technol-ogy, anti-traditional theory (disregarding allusions ofpost-war – not any visual relation with the historical
heritage), regarding to the existing land by creating anartificial ground against to urban sprawl (Lin Z. andHack G. 2006). The elongated and interlocked fea-ture of initiated idea is strengthened with radical topo-graphic transformation where city is visualized as“metaphor of human body”, such as city flowing in thewater, city standing in the air (elevated city), etc.(Perrnice R. 2009). The concern of biological integra-tion (living and mutable entity) of the topographictransformation is altered with a metamorphosis thatendless change is evolved. Therefore, metabolismcould be adjusted as a strong attempt for controllingand planning the city, more on bio-organic contextdevelopment or metabolic cycles (analogy withnature). Thus, influences of modernist principles to city(minimized materials and detailing) are contradictedand vanished (Perrnice R. 2004). Flexible and dynam-ic cities (mobile and flexible elements) are merged withhigh-technology, mega-adaptable structures in orderto fracture the monotonousness (immobility; fixedforms and functions) of the city. Thus, the city willdemonstrate a pragmatic and capable notion toregenerate its parts according to the social, economi-cal, environmental and cultural needs of the society. Ina broader sense, limitless resource concept leads dis-cussions on city/growth through imitating the naturalability of the organism to change or transform overtime, according to the multi- dimensional needs ofsociety (Url1).
However, metabolism is fundamentally isadjusted for rebuilding and regenerating attitudes ofJapanese society for future dream of Japan within theconflict of urban redevelopment. Thus, global urbanparadigms are illuminated by foremost pioneers ofgeneral approach of metabolism movement. Isokaziviews progress of metabolist approach as a base forcontextualization of Japanese urbanization. Notably,he emphasis the importance of considering knowledgefrom Japanese history, culture and literature which ismore interlocked with external context by experiment-ing socio-historical environment of the Japan (IsozakiA. 1971). Nevertheless, the progress is not solely anddirectly rooted in particular Japanese tradition andurban culture. Furthermore, it is rooted the vision ofre-thinking multiple paradigms of urbanism as amega-structure and group of form towards the ruins ofpost-war Tokyo (Banham R.1976). Thus, collectiveidea of metabolist progress is linked to a conditionalsynthesis for split of human nature of modern timesbetween knowledge and feeling, reason and emotion,man and nature, science and religion (Giedion S.1942). Therefore, the past is interpreted with its chal-lenges by reclaiming the advance of technology, newmaterials and cultural conditions for innovation andexperimentation in metabolism theory. Since, absoluteconcepts are not convincing space and time anymore,but instead they are fragmented as relative and inter-dependent entities (Oliveira F. M. 2011). Thus,metabolist spatiality of a particular scientific space isdonated from space to environment. It is moreembodied with self- experience through a mechanisticview- perfect utopian machine for future universe.
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en3. Method of the StudyThe method of the study is developed based on ana-lyzing the selected cases within the framework of get-ting benefit from existing database of magazines, arti-cles, thesis and online web data on literature. Due tonone of the selected cases are constructed; examiningcases based on critical examination is became one ofthe limitation of the study. In order to determine thetypology of the cases, figures and drawings are usedas a significant aspect. On the other hand, analysis issupported with formulated table for better understand-ing the common and different approaches betweenthe cases.
Selection of Scheduled Cases The main aim of the study is structured on analyzingtypological mega-structural features of the proposedcity approaches of metabolism theory. Within theframework of the metabolism theory, indicators orimpacts for the analysis are identified as focusing onnature- living organism style, land-sea/sky relation,flexibility, immobility, adaptability, spatial organizationstructure, complexity and dynamism which are adjust-ed as the main keywords of metabolist concept.Metabolism is not fixed through a repetitive proposal.The general concept is evolved with various future cityapproaches as a result of idea of change and imper-manence. Futuristic concepts are envisioned based ondefining a deep integration with questioning ‘future ofhabitation’. In significant, the sea and the sky is ana-lyzed by metabolism as a novel extension of urbanfabric. Thus, “the land” is considered as one of themost important limit for the future development of city.On the other hand, transformation of the city (expan-sion from land to the sky or sea) is also critically ana-lyzed by founders of metabolism theory as a confron-ter for Japanese society of post war era (Lin Z. andHack G. 2006). On this basis, land-sea/air relation isconsidered as one of the main indicator for selectingthe cases in the study. Plan for the cover of the Bay ofTokyo, Ocean/ Marine City, Cluster in the Air andHelix City are selected for better identification of simi-larities and dissimilarities of the proposed future citybased on fragmented tectonics and urban growth(land-sea-air) of city. However, macro-level spatialorganization, structuralism, bio-organic formation,immobility and flexibility, complexity and dynamismfeatures are also used for short-listing the selectedcases. The social dimension of the cases is eliminatedto achieve a better formal link between the casesamong the framework of the study.
Selection of Documents for ReadingDocuments related with selected cases are chosenbased on a scientifically framed discussions and evo-lutions of the Metabolist movement. Merely explana-tory documents are used that are related with thecases in order to understand convincing approachesof proposed metabolist projects for future city.However, selected documents are used for betterexplanation of conceptual primitives of cases. Thecomparative analysis between cases is done accord-ing to the indicators that are defined through exam-
ined literature survey. Domains of documentary dataare accumulated from professional magazines, onlinedatabase, books, academic publications and onlinemagazines. The list of the documents is also present-ed in descriptive table (table -1) which is figured forthe cases.
4. Scheduled Cases in the Study4.1.1 Plan for the Cover of the Bay Of Tokyo, KenzoTangePlan for the Cover of the Bay Of Tokyo project is sig-nificantly very endorsing approach where urbansprawl is critically re-asserted. The fundamentals ofapproach are structured to impose novel physicalorder on the planning vision for the future of the Tokyocity. Thus, planning vision indicates further dialecticrelations on emerging characteristics of contemporarycity within an optimistic power of design. In against tochaotic urban sprawl referring to land use; the visionis shelled with the idea of expanding and regeneratingexisting city fabric with distinguishing “whole and theparts” as stable and provisional. Thus, urban conceptfor featuring the expansion of city demonstrates a lin-ear interlocking system. Metabolism approach offersillusion of organic metaphor between land and build-ing. Form-land-sea integration incorporates flexibleinterlocked modularity by means of referring to adjust-ment of water as a novel urbanization space for con-temporary urbanism (Figure 1). Through an in-depth
Table 1. Lists of documents of data accumulation for analy-
sis of each proposed city.
Table 2. Analyzed Metabolist City Proposals.
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analysis on the Tokyo plan, form- land-sea is harmo-nized within domestic context. Transformation of formfrom land to sea is re-framed with mobility which isimposing a linear civic axis (unfixed form and function).The linear city axis illuminates a contextual shift in theprocess of city development. However, the linear empha-sis is strengthened and differentiated both in vertical andhorizontal compositional form of the private-publicspaces.
Since, mobility and flexibility are considered assignificant criteria for re-shaping the city life rituals andinternal gentrification. Free layout concern is proposedfor breaking the static movement between existing cen-ters of the city. On this basis, independent spatial orga-nization within linear extension is leading a break pointon fixed individual communication movement throughthe flexibility and mobility of the city magnets. Novel spa-tial organization for the future city is accomplished to bea symbolic icon. The symbolic icon is defined as a dom-inant monumental axis for the transformation of socialcore of the city rather than being practical: transforma-tion of “urban centers” and to novel “civic areas”. Onthe other hand, the power of symbolic icon is engagedwith symbolizing the power of hi-technology/ mega-structural. The novel age of materialism is representedwithin a single modular linear system. However, themain ideology of the metabolism is more utopian basedon the organic representation in mega-structure. Theplan of Tokyo refers a systematical linear approach inplan typology (Figure 2). In this case, biologicalapproach is developed with the tectonic structure of theunfixed- modular forms in terms of three dimensionalfragmentation of expanding city typology. Flexibility intectonics is also reflected with linear capsules which aredesigned through steel and glass material. The steel-framed joint cores of the spatial organization are givingthe verticality emphasis as a spatial link.
4.1.2 City (Clusters) in the Air, Arata IsozakiCity in the Air idea is prospecting a dynamic minimalistdiscussion on urban sprawl and land use by proposingnovel volumetric spaces enduring the air (Figure 3). Thehints of the biology of nature for a utopian approach areinterlocked as the main theme. The ideology of city andbuilding development is viewed with enforcing compul-sory indications of novel ways to structure novel urban-ization in Tokyo.Thus, formalistic planning approach isfulfilled with a strong fragmented idea referring to theenvironmental discourse of the city. The land is entirely
important and urbanization poses risks for potentials ofthe land. Therefore, form-land relation is established todominate the skyline of Tokyo city with representing thepower of design. Sky is assumed as novel space andnovel paradigm for re-shaping the process of the city.The breaking point linking land and urbanization is re-structured within diagnostic metropolitan look; directingcity development to the sky- to another layer.
In consequence, spatial features of clusters onair are plugged in vertical core joints. Even, they areformed as hanged horizontal modules to joint cores.Free spatial layout on the ground is optimized as havingmore open spaces for the flow (movement) of urban liferituals. In additional to open spaces; modular unit ideais asserted on representing the private life. These are allresidential nucleus units that are significantly embodiedwith the modern interpretation of traditional Japaneseliving style. Each unit is flexible and moveable within itself(Figure 4). In a broader sense, each unit can be takenout- replaced or added according to the needs of thesociety and environment which encompasses the ideolo-gy of sustainability based on future needs. Moreover,functional organization bears flowing of space. The flex-ibility in functionality lays back to the traditional culturalcodes of Japanese life style- flexible space for meditation
Figure 3. Volumetric illustration of standing clusters in the
city context (Stewart B. and Yatsuka H. 2002).
Figure 1. Form- Land- Sea Relation of Tokyo Plan (Url 2).
Figure 2. Representation of Mega-stuctural tectonics within
linear system (Url 3).
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and reforming the human body. Since, plugged-group modular form (independent/indi-vidual flexible modules) demonstrates adaptabilityaccording to the changing needs of the society and nat-ural environment. As different as the other cases, bio-organic approach is conceptualized on understandingthe role-form-function-structure of leaves of tree. Verticaljoint cores are influenced from the main trunk of the treeand they are allocated for crating magnetic flexiblenucleus units for leading the city to the air. Thus, hori-zontal-detached expansions resume adaptability ofmega-gigantic structuralism of metabolism (Figure 4).
4.1.3 Helix City, Kisho KurokawaHelix city envisions urban structure for future Tokyo citythrough considering organic city planning as an as inno-vative infrastructure for socio-cultural and environmentalspheres of city. Bio-organic pattern for transformation isconcerned upon being central dwelling spaces of exist-ing urban fabric. Therefore, practical and symbolicarchitecture idea is overlapped on the principle of life rit-uals rather than solely being a utopian vision. Thus, for-malistic approach covering land- sea relation is criticizedbased on exchanging spatial life system. Novel trans-mission space is adjusted from land to sea. The sea isthe novel space for urban development. The linkbetween land and sea (magnificent axis of the existingurban fabric with sea) is amalgamated with organicallyidealized cluster forms (Figure 5).
Organic expansion of future city pattern is uni-fied as system where urban space is indicated as mag-nificent hub. The philosophy of spatiality is embodiedwith chromosomes of DNA for representing a metamor-
phic data transmission of generative modern Japan. Insignificant, spiral imaging of space defines immobilityand flexibility of transmission through representingchaotic rituals of modern Japan. In other words, the rep-resentation of the biological process is attempted to beachieved in spatial organization with the assessment ofstructural system as a physical connection to philosophyof Japanese life (Figure 6). On the other hand, the spi-ral system provides a novel order for the urban space byconnecting or bridging daily-life rituals. The private andpublic nodes in the space are arranged through housingthe public spaces on the ground floor and transmittingthe residential buildings within rising spiral form. In gen-eral, unity-space integration is achieved within a helixsystem which acts as a prototype of city responding tothe three dimensional growth of the urban pattern. Theideal city concern prospects mega-structuralism (hi-techbuildings for modern Japan) where technological devel-opment and progress of the society is symbolized as animplementation of power. The power of modern materi-alism is significant. On this basis, advances of the tech-nology are re-connected with notion of daily life ingigantic- building forms.
4.1.4 Ocean City, Kiyonori KikutakeOcean city exposes providing pragmatic solution forgrowing population of the Japan. The sea is interpretedwhere the modern Japan society meets with their socialneeds. A particular futuristic vision has been modulatedto question possibilities/advances of novel city develop-ment. Thus, the transition of urban center from land tosea is incorporated. Since, the ideology of metabolismbears re-building city amongst organic paradigms. Thesea and land reclamation is examined as a novel organ-ic development paradigm of city, in order to optimizefuture space. Therefore, form-land-sea relation isaccomplished in ocean city representing modernity ofpost-war Japan. In other words, the sea acts as a thirdorder of the city, rather than being a smart solution forcity growth. Apparently, the sea- land linkage congestsspatial realms for interconnecting, pulsing and living. Insignificant, rising cylinder cores joints flexible modules
Figure 4. Plan of modular units with joint service cores
(Stewart B. and Yatsuka H. 2002; Kurokawa K. 1998).
Figure 6. Representation of immobility and flexibility within
spiral space frame and plan (Url 5).Figure 5. Plan of the Helix City (Url 4).
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(movable houses-private spaces) in order to representthe spatial realms of public-private life, where circularfloating planers promotes public spaces. By this way, thecity which is designed on a gigantic artificial land (forwork-, leisure spaces, and agriculture-production andresidential) is completing organic irony of life cycle.Future life style within massive complex cylinders con-cretes hypnotic and repetitive pattern of utopian. The cityis innovative and remarkable by means of high-techmaterialism where whole complex is offering a movablebalance against to the waves of the ocean (Figure 7).
5. Reading of Scheduled Cases None of the selected proposed city concepts are built inreality; they propose sustainable and adaptable codesfor future city. According to the results of reading fourpioneer cases of Metabolist movement, there is not ageneric difference between approaches on urban plan-ning, architectural and technological features. In signifi-cant all cases prospect immense similarity in solutionapproaching to the urban growth problem and revitaliz-ing the social life for future city. There are significantlyfour main sections that are focused on the analysis partof the study- planning approach to the urban growth,form-land-sea relation, functional-spatial organizationand tectonic vision based on hi-technology. In all cases,planning approaches are fundamentally combined withthe idea of expanding the city where organic-techno-cratic utopian ideals are evolved. Each proposal demon-strates strong sensibility on organic development processof the city. However, formational plan of Plan for TokyoProject is formed within a systematic architectural linearcomposition rather than systematic -organic formationsof other scheduled projects. On one hand, organic-utopian idea is also embodied with their physical forma-tion of structural system or facades or spatial organiza-tion. In general, representation of utopian idea isachieved by exaggerated hi-tech mega-structure imag-ing on rising buildings. On the other hand, expansion ofthe city in proposed projects (except City in the sky) isreclaimed where sea/ocean is the novel urbanizationhub. Just through City in the Air; sky is referred as infini-tum novel urban hub for future of the city. Thus, thirddimension of the future city (novel flexible/moveable citycenters), which is renovating the social structure of theModern Japan, is supported in examined pioneer cityapproaches. Radically, moveable-flexible concern is notmerely solved proposing novel expansion hubs rejecting
the land, but also achieved separating public/privaterelation in spatial organization. Ground level is designedfor public functions. Rising floors are determined as res-idential units for private use of city life. As seen, the entirecases attempts to form adaptable and movable (adding,removing and replacing their places in the system) partsin whole system which grains the modularity ideology intheory. Thus, modularity between units as well as floatingor standing surfaces and vertical huge joint cores areobtained as another significant common feature that isrepresenting the main theme of metabolism. Moreover,the tectonic vision is strongly emphasized in examinedproposals within the structuralism/materialism; megaadaptable structures which are heavily influenced bymodern high-technology. In order to combine read dataof each case in a common structure; Table 3 is assertedto represent general features of each case based ondefined fundamental keywords of metabolism (Table 3).Urban planning approach and architectural features ingeneral is presented in which major vision of theory alsohighlighted as evaluating criteria in table. Apparently, itis probable to notify the dense commodity between allapproaches. There is pragmatic sensibility for renovatingenvironment itself in each case. Apart from reading theappropriable features of cases, table 3 presents majorideological keywords about metabolism theory for givinghints for today’s discourses; what might be evolved intoday’s visions on future city or how these can contributeto recognize fragile solutions and etc.
Consequently results of the study show that;metabolist movement defines innovative approaches forurban planning where it attempts to bring smart solutionsto rapid urbanization and development. Paradigm ofrevitalizing the environment and fundamentally society isresumed with employing illusions of high technology tospatiality where power of novel future is idealized in agigantic-utopian urban pattern development. Strong crit-icism and decisions revealing change towards future cityrationalized that change does not depend on a particu-lar location. Nevertheless putting vision into practicebrought the context dependent innovative paradigms byembracing adaptability of society to changing contextwhere salts of urban growth are imposed. In this manner,
Table 3. Characteristics of scheduled Cases.
Figure 7. Representation of hi-technology identical modular
composition within the structural pattern (Kurokawa K.1998).
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enmetabolist approach directs context based changethrough anti-traditional/utopian turn on the vision forstemming future city, where future reality is resulted onrealizing complements of urban growth. Since all pio-neer cases demonstrate that; transformation and renew-al of the city and architecture must be evaluated withinthe essence of understanding how to formulate changeupon change. Based on this fact, reading of cases showsthat pragmatic solutions of metabolist city are not justrenewal transformation but convincing crucial adapt-ability.
Conclusion In recent, cities are stressed with corresponding chal-lenges what Tokyo city faced after World War II. Citiesare under the phase of rapid transition where transitiondrastically executes hinterlands and societies. Upon this,it is possible to illuminate that there is rafting challengethat are decreasing the well-being of the earth at pre-sent. Population growth and economy strike the limits ofearth. Therefore, many challenges such as climatechange, environmental limits, rising inequality, recurrentcrises, social frustrations and global tensions are consist-ed within critical envisioning through various approach-es. In significant, these consultations are imagined andputted into action last decades significantly within theframework of sustainability theory. However, coherentsuggestions and proposals of sustainability are still wide-ly vague and mostly failed. Thus, there is pragmaticessence of re-thinking the ideology of sustainability byreferring to past approaches evolving future urbaniza-tion. Since, sustainability realm offers a defensive actioncontrolling risks of illuminative change. Likewisemetabolists movement questions coherent change forpresent and future city.
To conclude briefly, “metabolist city” is nevercompletely realized. Therefore, transferring themetabolist concepts into practice is also failed. However,metabolist movement heavily affected and contributed tothe 21th century approaches of the urban planning andarchitecture. Notions of the metabolist theory has beenregained its acceleration within current alerts on takinglessons about transformation and renewal of the city andarchitecture in terms of; tectonic vision, environmentalresponsive, sensibility on spatial character for humanscale and daily rituals, sensibility for change-metabolicchange and organic paradigms. Therefore, it could benotified that metabolism failed in terms of putting thetheory into practice, but it represent various coherentclues on understanding how to realize future city anddevelopment within a striking pressure of urbanization. Itgives a critical futuristic ideology on change for changeamongst rapid development and technology progress ofthe societies with taking its biological process as con-vincing models.
REFERENCES
BANHAM, R. 1976, Megastructure. Urban Futures of the Recent Past, Londonand New York.
GIEDION, S. 1942. Space, Time and Architecture, London: Oxford UniversityPress
ISOZAKI, A. 1971, ‘‘The City Demolisher, Inc.,’’ Kukan he [Toward Space](Tokyo: Bijutsu Shuppansha,)
KAWAZOE, N. et al. 1960, Metabolism 1960: The proposal for new urbanism,Tokyo: Bijutsu Shuppansha.
KIKUTAKE, K. 1997, Kiyonori Kikutake: From Tradition To Utopia, intro,Maurizio Vitta, L’arca Milano.
KUROKAW, K. 1998, From the Machine Age to the Age of Life, Book Art Ltd.
LIN, Z.and HACK, G. 2006, City as A Process Tange Kenzo and the JapaneseUrban Utopias (1959-1970) , UMI Microform 3225493, USA
LIN, Z. 2007, Urban Structure for the Expanding Metropolis: Kenzo Tange's1960 Plan For Tokyo, Journal of Architectural and Planning Research 24:2
LIN, Z. 2007, From Megastructure to Megalopolis: Formation andTransformation of Mega-projects in Tokyo Bay, Journal of Urban Design
LIN, Z. 2011, Nakagin Capsule Tower Revisiting the Future of the Recent Past,Journal of Architectural Education, ACSA
NEWMAN, P. W.1999, Sustainability and Cities: Extending The MetabolismModel, Landscape and Urban Planning 44 219±226
OLIVEIRA, F. M. 2011, Of Metabolism: Future Cities For Our ContemporaryWorld, Revista de pesquisa em arquitetura e urbanismo
PERRNICE, R. 2004, Metabolism Reconsidered Its Role in the ArchitecturalContext of the World, Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering
PERRNICE, R. 2009, Japanese Urban Artificial Island: An Overview of Projectsand Schemes During 1960s -1990s, J. Archit Plann, AIJ, Vol.74, No. 642,1847-1855
Stewart D. B. and Yatsuka H. 2002, Arata Isozaki: Architecture 1960-1990,Rizzoli International Publication, Inc.1191Url1- www.GlobalSitePlans.comUrl2 - architecturalmoleskine.blogspot.co.atUrl 3- http://www.architecturalassocdip16.comUrl 4- http://n-architekture. blog.co.atUrl 5- http://www.kisho.co.jp/index.phpUrl 6- http://www. archipress_stats.co/index
Documents analyzedTange,K., Tokyo Bay, Chosen Precedent Project for Brief 1.2: – available athttp://www.aadip16.co.jp/index.phpTANGE, K. 1960, Progetto Per La Copertura Della Baia Di Tokyo. - available athttp://www.archimole.com
STEWART D. B, and YATSUKA H. 2002, Arata Isozaki: Architecture 1960-1990,Rizzoli International Publication, Inc.1191.ISOZAKI, A., Cluster In The Air. - available athttp://www.urbanidades.co.jp/index.
KUROKAWA, K., Floating City. - available at http://www.archilips.com
KUROKAWA, K. 1998, From the Machine Age to the Age of Life, Book Art Ltd.
Struggling Cities: from Japanese Urban Projects in the 1960s. - available athttp://www.archilips.comKIKUTAKE,K., Marine City - available at http://www.ecoreducx.comKiyonori Kikutake’s Marine City- GSD Exhibition Brochure, Tectonic VisionsBetween Land And Sea.
Author(s):
Cemaliye EkenEastern Medıterranean Unıversıty, Faculty ofArchıtecture, Department of Archıtecture Via Mersin10 Turkey.
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1. INTRODUCTION
In many cities, some mass housing units are devel-oped with limited and isolated functions. Althoughmass housing has the direct effect of increasing thedensity of settlements, each unit performs as individualunits with little or no adequate opportunity for interac-tion between each other in the form of e.g. integratedpublic spaces, such as parks courtyards, commonseating areas etc.
In these mass housing developments, theboundaries between public and private; work andhome; inside and outside, are sharply defined. On theother hand, it is also possible to perceive the use ofpublic and semi public spaces such as balconies, ter-races and courtyards as creating a connection linkagebetween the inside and the outside. Therefore, design-ing and integrating the common space within privatebuildings is an ideal way of generating hybrid space.The courtyard of a residential complex could, e.g., beused as a public plaza (Zanjanian 2010; Malone2002).
In other words, the hybrid space can act as amultifunctional space in such cases. Terraced housinghas the possibility of enabling this integration and con-nection in bringing the units together as a single spa-tial entity as will be demonstrated by this research. Onthe other hand, the issue of cultural diversity createsmany different limitations in contemporary housingdevelopments.
It is commonly observed that the design ofrecent housing development in Iran is creating a gapbetween the users and their cultural traits. The isola-tion of people from their neighbours as a result of the
separate living facilities is one of the primary reasonsfor the creation of these gaps. Terraced housing, how-ever, provides and promotes an appropriate socialand cultural relationship between the residents.
In addition, the lifestyles of people change,and technology in the construction field also developsand changes over time. Therefore, all these changesrequire into consideration whilst developing newdesign proposals, as well as integrating the existingfabric.
The lack of natural energy resources hasbeen a major factor in recent developments.Moreover, the adaptation of the new built environmentaccording to the climatic factors, which have beentaken into consideration along with the utilisation ofthe natural environment features and materials venti-lation, sun saturation etc., is another major factor inthe final constructed appearance of terraced housing.
To be able to understand the issue of traditionprecisely, the actual concept of tradition requires someevaluation. In this respect, it has been arguedamongst many scholars in the fields of anthropology,geography, history and archaeology and taken intoconsideration in vernacular architecture. The conceptof tradition, in respect of the view of vernacular archi-tectural knowledge, can be described as the represen-tation of a dynamic past for contemporary people tointerpret, integrate transmit and adapt to present andfuture building construction (Vellinga and Asquith2006; Heat 2009).
In order to re-use traditional techniques intoday’s architecture, there is an essential need to studyand research and investigate particular regions of the
Ehsan Reza, Ozgur Dıncyurek
Abstract
This study explores the characteristics of a particular vernacular architecture, which is known as terraced housing. .
Terraced housing can be found in many different mountainous parts of the world such as the mountainous regions of
Bahrain, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Greece, Italy and Japan, which have different environmental and cultural characteris-
tics, and which were built in response to human needs according to the particular topographical conditions. Amongst
the examples mentioned, Iranian terraced housing remains distinctive with its local richness and variation, constructed
and designed according to the topography of the region. Accordingly the general overview of Iranian vernacular archi-
tecture and form is examined by focusing on the environmental factors of two specific Iranian villages.
The identification of these villages is evaluated according to the topography, climate, urban pattern and spatial orga-
nization of Iranian terraced settlements. As a consequence, the analysis of case studies and data processing will enable
decision makers, planners, architects and designers to become more aware of the existing architectural building tradi-
tion. The contemporary housing design problems can be solved by employing an appropriate method of design and
building construction with reference to the present vernacular housing stock.
Keywords: Terraced Housing, Steep Topography, Iranian, Vernacular Architecture.
THE VERSATILITY OF TERRACED HOUSING IN IRANIANVERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE LOCATED IN STEEPREGIONS.
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kcountry (Iran) in order to discover their potential, tothen organise the results of these studies and to pre-sent them in a categorized way, with a view to, subse-quently, putting them forward as principles to beapplied in the future proposals of new settlements(Reza 2011).
Vernacular architecture is demonstrated andrepresented by the dwellings, and other ancillarybuildings that are regularly built by local people inaccordance with the environmental situation, usingtheir localised knowledge and the experience of gen-erations to meet their particular needs and lifestyle. AsPaul Oliver states, “Unconscious work of craftsmenbased on knowledge accumulated over generationsthe very opposite of architecture, which involves a pre-meditated design process with a conscious appeal tothe intellect.” He also offers the following simple defi-nition of vernacular architecture as: “the architectureof the people, and by the people, but not for the peo-ple.” (Oliver 2003; Aziz and Shawket 2011).
Therefore, as aforementioned, the construc-tion method of vernacular buildings is visually andexperimentally transferred from generation to genera-tion. According to this, construction techniques do notdepend on any particular style or written structural cal-culations and drawings. Therefore, the craftsmen ofthese regions have adequate information in respect ofthe environmental factors, cultural issues, lifestyles andtheir needs. In order to understand the design methodof vernacular architecture, therefore, it is necessary tounderstand how architectural forms are generated bytradition (Dinçyürek and Olgaç Türker 2007; Hubka1979).
Nazar Alsayad commented on the study ofregional architecture as follows: “Traditions are alsoever changing but they somehow do not die easily.However, I have argued elsewhere that the built envi-ronments of the new global order exhibit a sense ofplacelessness resulting possibly from the fact that tra-dition and the practices of the vernacular are increas-ingly becoming less place rooted and more informa-tionally based.” (Heat 2009).
According to his conception, a house ordwelling place is a place of personal identity, a hier-archy of spaces and daily activities. Moreover, as aphysical structure, the form of a house is not only theresult of physical forces or any single causal factors,but rather it is, undoubtedly, the consequence and cul-mination of a whole range of socio-cultural factorsseen in their broadest terms. Forms are, in turn, mod-ified by climatic conditions and by construction meth-ods, local materials, technology, socio-cultural forcesand other secondary or modifying factors (Rapoport1969; Majid, et al 2012).
The main aim of this paper is to debate theimportance of vernacular architecture studies, espe-cially in respect of the terraced housing constructionmethod, with reference to the land topography and itscontribution to the new housing developments.
Many factors have a key role in shaping thespatial organization of settlements such as e.g.: geo-graphic algebra, economy, culture. Therefore, thesefactors are inter- linked. .
Housing as one form of culture, is thus alsostrongly affected by the above factors above. There isa link between behaviour and form in two senses; first-ly, in the sense that an understanding of behaviouralpatterns, including desires, motivations and feelings, isessential for the understanding of the built form, sincethe built form is the physical embodiment of these pat-terns; secondly, in the sense that forms, once built,affect human behaviour and lifestyle. In traditionalcultures, destroying the physical setting, including thetraditional house means that the culture, itself, is alsodestroyed (Rapoport 1969).
As Zargar (1999) pointed out all of effectivefactors (geography, economy, culture, community) areinterconnected in respect of the shaping of the villages(Figure 1). They cannot operate independently.
2. THE GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF IRANIANVERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE AND THE EVOLU-TION OF SOME VILLAGES IN IRANIran is a mountainous country. In view of the fact thatthere are many variations in the general topography ofthe mountainous regions of the country in respect ofboth the climate and the geography much, can belearnt from the existing vernacular architecture.Therefore, this study aims to identify and analyse thelocal vernacular architecture of Iran (Reza 2011).The characteristics of Iranian vernacular architecturewill be discussed by referring to the geographical,topographical and climatic factors. .
GEOGRAPHYIran is a wide land, which has a square area of1,648,000 km2, and is located in the southwest partof Asia. It is boundaried by Turkmenistan, Azerbaijanand Armenia in the north. Afghanistan and Pakistan lieto the east of Iran and Turkey and Iraq to the West. ThePersian Gulf and the Oman Sea define the southernborder of Iran. The total land border of Iran is 51,700kilometres in length and the total water border in thenorth and the south is 2,510 kilometres. Iran is locat-ed in the heart of the Middle East and is connected tothe Caspian Sea, which is one of the largest lakes ofthe world, and to the Persian Gulf. Iran is also a man-ifest intersection between the East and the West interms of spiritual, cultural and political factors(Shaterian 2011).
Figure 1.. Interactive factors of a village’s architectural dia-gram. Translated by author, [12] [13].(Zangar,1999;Jahromi,2009)
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TOPOGRAPHYIn examining the villages of Iran, their diversity is clear-ly visible. In mountainous regions, the settlementsdemonstrate the complex texture of houses that areprojected from the steep side of mountain ranges suchas Masouleh in the north and Abyaneh in the centre ofIran. On the other hand, some of the other settlementsset into recessed and they have difficult lines of com-munication with each other as in Kandovan village inAzerbaijan and Meymand village in Kerman (Figure2). Moreover, villages are tending to resemble as for-tified castles, with the houses intertwined with eachother within it. These types of villages can be found incentral Iran and the plains region (Zargar 1999).
Due to the variation of the geographical, cul-tural and climatic factors, the Iranians vernaculararchitecture has different definitions. In respect of this,this study will focus on the steep topography area ofthose Iranian settlements, which have an extravertedorientation.
Therefore, the focus will be on the villages ofMasouleh and Abyaneh, which have a similar steeptopography. Therefore, the climatic factors on the onehand and the socio-economical issues on the otherwill be the most important variable points. The first vil-lage, Masouleh is located in the northern part of Iran.This village is 1,050 meters above sea level in theAlborz mountain range, near the southern coast of theCaspian Sea.
The second village, Abyaneh, is located incentral Iran, on the north-western slope of the KarkasMountains and it is 2,500 meters above sea level(Figure 3).
CLIMATIC FACTORS With reference to the construction of vernacular hous-es, climatic conditions are of primary concern world-wide. Throughout the generations, human beingshave designed and constructed their dwellings accord-ing to the climatic conditions in order to achieve themost comfortable life style.
The climatic evaluations of this study arebased on the findings of Ghobadian (2009). As he
points out, Iran is generally classified as a dry country,but, in fact, it is climatically diverse and it can be divid-ed into four main climatic regions. As selected casestudies are located in first, second and third region,therefore the climate characteristics of fourth region isnot going to be explain in this study.
Therefore, these diverse climatic conditionsaffect the construction style of the houses in each cli-matic region. In the temperate climate of region one,houses have been oriented to the outside by means ofplacing the opening on the external walls in order tomaximize cross ventilation during the hot months ofthe year in the central plateau region, which is hot anddry in summer and cold in winter.
In region two which is the hot and dry regionof the central plateau, the interiors of the buildings arealso designed to be protected from the frequent sandstorms. These buildings are, therefore, inward orient-ed, which means that with the exception of theentrance door, all the doors and windows open ontoone or several courtyards. The houses in this regionare referred to as the houses for four seasons,because the northern wing of such houses, whichreceives direct sunlight, is used as the family livingquarters during the cold months of the year, whilst thesouthern wing, which is always in shade, is used dur-
Figure 3. Map of Iran, location of Masouleh and Abyaneh
[19]. (internet sources 5)
Figure 2. Map of Iran with the location of villages (left), Kandovan (1), Masouleh (2), Abyaneh (3), Maymand (4)
[15][16][17][18] (internet sources 1-5)
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ing the summer months. Wind towers are usually builtabove the summer wing. Moreover, the third region islocated in the mountainous and high plateau region,which has a cold climate character. The high moun-tain ranges of the Alborz and Zagros mountains aresituated to the north and the west of the countryrespectively. This region is cold in the winter and mildand dry in the summer (Ghobadian 2009;Mohammadabadi and Ghoreshi 2011; Keshtkaran2011).
In the cold climate of the villages of themountainous regions, most of the openings of build-ings are oriented towards the southern sunlight. Theother three sides of the house are protected from heatloss by earth or an adjoining building. The buildingtypology for the climate is given in Figure 4.
3. TERRACED HOUSING FORMATION IN VERNAC-ULAR IRANIAN SETTLEMENTS: MASOULEH ANDABYANEH VILLAGESSettlements are shaped according to the availablenatural resources, and as water is an essential require-ment for life, villages are established close to watersources such as springs, aqua ducts, oases and rivers.
“Masouleh Rood Khan” is the river, whichflows Masouleh village, but its source is located 200kilometres from this village (Golboo 2009).On the other hand Abyaneh Village receives its fromthe “Do Abi” spring, which flows throughout the year(Memarian 1997).
The old Masouleh village was establishedaround 1006 AD to the northwest of the current vil-lage. It is called old Masouleh or Kohneh Masouleh inlocal dialect. Local people moved from the old part ofMasouleh to the current village, because of attacksfrom neighbouring villages and the risk of infectiousdiseases, which has a square area of 150,000 metres.
There are many different opinions on the his-tory of Abyaneh village. According to this history, thecivilization of Sialk (archaeological site near Kashan)is said to be 6,000 years old. It is thought thatAbyaneh could have developed from one of those
communities. This village has a square area ofapproximately 70,000 metres (Ghorbanizadehand Abyaneh 2008).
3.1 TOPOGRAPHY of MASOULEH ANDABYANEH VILLAGESMasouleh and Abyaneh villages have been builton the mountainsides but at different elevations.They have high-density housing developmentsdue to the use of the natural environmental fac-tors. Therefore, residential units are located onthe steep slope with rectangular shapes and run-ning parallel to the main pathway of the villageor in other words, it can be stated that all build-ings in mentioned villages are built parallel tothe topography lines. Also the resulting differ-ences in levels means that the roofs of thedwellings can also act as pathways in both vil-lages. This approach creates a unique elevationof differing angles for these villages. Masouleh’s
settlements are positioned at a 60-degree angleapproximately and those of Abyaneh at around a 45-degree angle. As a result, Masouleh housing develop-ments are more dense in comparison to the housingdevelopments in Abyaneh. Therefore, the combinationand integration of public and private space, in respectof the use of the roofs as pedestrian paths is more vis-ible in the case of Masouleh village.
In both villages the interconnection betweenthe mountains, the village and the river creates anintegrated unity between nature and the built environ-ment. In accordance with this, agricultural fields arelocated to the east and west side of the valley andorchards are located in the southern part of these vil-lages.
There are two important issues for concernthat should be considered in respect of developmentslocated on the skirts of mountains. The first one is therisk of avalanches. As a result of their experience thelocal people have not carried out any constructionwork on avalanche routes. Secondly, if constructionwork did take place on the hillside for some specialreason, the villagers were always careful about thepossibility of falling rocks and avalanches and tooksome safety precautions. For example, in order toafford themselves some protection against possibleavalanches and falling rubble, they harvest and foragethe plans, which grow on the slopes because theplants because the presence of this flora increases thetemperature of the soil and as a result of the increasedtemperature the snow masses tend to move and cre-ate avalanches.
On the other hand, the probability of fallingrubble is another problem for Masouleh. There aremany large pieces of rock embedded in the hillside atthe highest point of this village. This has created aproblem for the inhabitants, when the 1990 earth-quake occurred, , the movement of these rocksdestroyed many houses and caused many fatalities(Zargar 1999).
Moreover, Abyaneh village is located parallelwith the ridge of Ghaleeh Kooh, the mountain behindit. These ridges run parallel to the direction of valley,
Figure 4. Climatic map of Iran, by author, [20]. (Ghobadian, 2009)
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and run perpendicular to the main transportationroute between Kashan and Nataz (Figure 5).
As has already been mentioned, both of thesevillages have high-density housing development dueto the natural environmental factors. Therefore, resi-dential units located on the steep slope with rectangu-lar shapes and parallel with the main pathway of thevillage or it can be claimed that, all buildings in thisvillage are built in parallel to the topography lines.This approach will create a unique elevation for thesesvillages with different angle.
3.2 CLIMATIC FACTORS of MASOULEH ANDABYANEH VILLAGES Masouleh and Abyaneh are villages with a mild moun-tainous climate, which has a limited space and inter-connection between mountain, village and river forcedlocal people to move their agriculture fields, far fromtheir settlements.
Masouleh village is located in between thesteep slopes of the Alborz Mountains where the cli-mate is cooler and drier, on the one hand and thehumid climate of the Caspian Sea, on the other hand.Abyaneh village is located between the central plateauregion, which has a hot and dry climate, and themountainous and high plateau region, which has acold climate. Therefore, these villages have a multi cli-matic character. (Figure 6).
As was previously mentioned the mountain-ous regions low have winter temperatures especially atnight. Therefore, creating a warm and comfortableenvironment for different human activities was themain concern of the traditional builders of these highlands. In view of the fact that the colder temperaturesinfiltrate the lower part of the valley at night the resi-dential units were not located there. The valley is alsosometimes subject to flooding. The northern part islocated in shadow and it very cold and windy. So thesouthern and the central regions of the foothills are theoptimum location for any residential development. Asa result of these factors, all the houses in both villagesare oriented in southerly and easterly directions withtheir windows and entrances facing south.
Moreover, the form and arrangement of theunits in Masouleh, were mainly developed accordingto the two principal climatic factors of high precipita-tion and high humidity. An outwardly orientated formis one of the best solutions in humid and moderateregions for the maximum usage of wind flow and airventilation (Ramezaanpour 2010). However, this out-ward-oriented design of buildings is also present inIran’s western mountains and the central plateau
where it is not so humid as e.g. with Abyaneh village.3.3 URBAN PATTERNS AND SPATIAL RELATIONSIn both villages, houses built above ground level areopen on two to four sides. Balconies act as kind oftransitional element between the built and the naturalenvironment, thus integrating internal and externalspaces. Therefore, local residents also installed largewindows on the main elevation. According toMemarian (1997), the urban fabrics of these villages,has created a kind of symbiosis between that of thegreen space of the natural environment and the archi-tecture as an artificial environment, this example,therefore, demonstrates one of the fundamental andsignificant principles of the nature friendly design(Memarian 1997).
As the result of these findings in the case ofmorphology, this village portrays very visible elements,which are inviting human beings, and it bears a typi-cal character in perspective.
Masouleh village has four main districts,which are; Khaneh-bar, Masjed-bar, Keshe-sar andAsad. There are also a further six subsidiary districts. Aspecial mosque dominates each district. There is anatural channel, which influences how the passagesare formed and located. Consequently very few of theroads run parallel in this village. Accordingly, there-fore, bearing this in mind, ‘perpendicular’ passageswith a gentle slope or stairs connect the different lev-els.
Abyaneh village has three major districts,which are: Heradah, Pal and Yosmoon. Also, thehouses in Abyaneh are made from a red-clay, which,interestingly, often creates an effect like dancingflames on the grey slopes of the mountain(Ghorbanizadeh and Abyaneh 2008).
The main pathways have an organic shape inthis village, and they run parallel with the contour linesof the terrain. Some of passages are cul-the-sacs.Perpendicular passages are connecting those longpassages with each other. Therefore, staircases areusually used in their construction. The plan, sectionand perspective of each village are given in Figure 7.
4.DISCUSSION Iran has mountainous geographic characteristics incomparison with its neighbouring countries. Therefore,
Figure 6. Location of Masouleh and Abyaneh on the Border
of different climatic regions (by author).
Figure 5. Location of Masouleh(left) and Abyaneh(right) vil-
lages(by author).
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many cities of this region are located between themountain ranges. Moreover, the populations of thecities are increasing nowadays. Therefore, newarrivals to these cities have already started to settle inlocations in the steep mountainous regions. Hence,there are many variations in the topography, climate,geographical position urban pattern and spatial orga-nization issues in these mountainous regions as hasbeen demonstrated with reference to Masouleh andAbyaneh villages (Table 1). Findings and observationsshow that, Iranian vernacular housing in theseregions, is climatically responsive the houses havingbeen built in accordance with the direction of the sun,the wind direction and the ambient temperature. Theinhabitants of these areas were aware of the climaticcharacteristics and using their experience, knew howto deal with these issues.
Under this scope, the Iranian vernacular casestudy examples used located on the steep topography,and projected out from the mountains. On the otherhand, both villages have an extroverted character as itis perceived. In addition to this and according to theclimatic aspects, Iran has four different climaticregions, which have special characteristics that arereflected in their vernacular architecture. From theabove analysis, therefore, it can be deduced that theorientation construction of the case study villagesused, is directly affected, give their multi-climatic char-acter, located, as they are, on the borders of theseaforementioned climatic divisions.
In addition to all these factors of adaptationrelated to location and orientation, houses are con-structed using simple design plans according to theinhabitant’s requirements. Mentioned unites are beingformed from one simple room and they integrated invertical, horizontal direction. Shared facilities such asbathrooms, toilets, bakery, etc. are design characteris-tic of these two villages. The categorizing of functionsas in private and public areas is also clearly visible inthese built environments. Flexibility of the design plan
is also another important feature of the rural houses.This is demonstrated in the use of winter-rooms, sum-mer-rooms, bay windows and balconies. These spaceswere developed in such a way as to provide a com-fortable living environment in both the summer andwinter periods.
Due to the urban form and the special rela-tionship between these two villages, when the topog-raphy becomes more Inclined, then the density orcompactness of the housing development increasescorrespondingly. The arrangement and extrovertedorientation of the unit on the one hand and the limi-tation of the spaces on the other, has created a denseatmosphere in these two examples. Therefore, theinter-relation of the interior and exterior spaces is oneof the most important topics. The access to thesespaces is, public or private, thus forming a hybridcharacteristic. These hybrid spaces in reality act asconnectors of the living, working and leisure spaces.The roof of a unit, that is a private space, becomes astreet in the village and becomes the courtyard of sev-eral units.
“The main characteristics of public space areaccessibility and usability for all citizens. However, cur-rent developments, primarily observed in cities, sug-gest the loss of a clear distinction between public andprivate space.” (Nissen 2008). This observation byNissen is not totally true for Iranian settlements sincethere is a clear distinction between public and privatespace. Spaces with public functions, like streets andsemi-private spaces, like courtyards are changing incharacter of private space like roofs.
“Spaces of hybrid character having roughlyclarified the meaning of public and private spaces arecharacterized by the partial or complete transfer ofstate or local rights to private or commercial actors aswell as by the reduction or even loss of public control”(Nissen 2008).
5. CONCLUSIONAs the interpretation of this comparison, it could bementioned that;
• The lack of natural energy resources has played avery significant role in recent developments. Therefore,the adaptation of the new built environment in accor-dance with the climatic factors that have been consid-ered in terms of utilising the natural environment, airventilation, sun saturation etc. is another major factorin the appearance of terraced housing. .
Table 1.Analysis of Masouleh and Abyaneh villages.
Figure 7. Situation map, Combination of the private and
public spaces and the Urban fabric of Masouleh(left) andAbyaneh (right) [24]. (Memarian, 1997)
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• Using the topographical features of the land will cre-ate the level differences which the form the design ofterraced housing.
• Dense housing units of terraced housing will provideeconomical sustainability.
• Creating hybrid spaces by using the characteristics ofterraced housing will create extraverted developments.
• Existing hybrid space will act as a multifunction spacein these cases. This description has the quality of allknown space that has been experienced by humanbeings, during their lives and collects them together asa single spatial entity.
• Recent housing development in Iran is creating agap between the users and their cultural traits.Unfortunately, the isolation of people from each other,as a result of their separate living facilities, is one ofthe primary reasons for the creation of these gaps.Terraced housing, on the other hand provides, pro-motes and enables an appropriate social and culturalrelationship between the residents.
• Over time, lifestyles change, and technology in theconstruction field also develops over the time.Therefore, these changes should be taken into accountwhilst developing new proposals, as should the inte-gration of the existing fabric.
From this perspective, there is undoubtedly valuablelearning to be had from researching and inquiring intothe vernacular terraced housing in these regions ofIran in respect of future housing developments, whilstconsidering the cultural attributes of the societies andthe environmental characteristics of this region.
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Reza, E., 2011, Identification of Staircase House Type in RuralArchitecture of Iran: Masouleh and Abyaneh Settlements, Institute ofGraduate Studies and Research, Eastern Mediterranean University,Gazimağusa, North Cyprus: Unpublished Master Thesis.
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[1] http://www.loadtr.com/385355-iran_haritasi_.htm[2] http://goctinnhanh.com/tin-nhanh/ky-la-thanh-pho-khong-ai-mac-quan-ao[3] http://perierga.gr/2013/11/%CE%AD%CE%BD%CE%B1-[4] http://www.anobanini.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=42[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Iran
Author(s):
Ehsan Reza,Eastern Medıterranean Unıversıty, Faculty ofArchıtecture,Department of Archıtecture Via Mersin 10 Turkey.
Ozgur DıncyurekEastern Medıterranean Unıversıty, Faculty ofArchıtecture,
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introductionresearchers have developed the various theories ofaging from the wide range of disciplines in an attemptto understand and describe how and why we age(bengston, silverstein, Putney, & gans, 2009). fromthe urban planning perspective, there is a need toknow how the patterns that are associated with age,such as health and longevity, are influenced by differ-ences in place, socio-economic status an demographic characteristics. the urban planning profes-sion is concerned about the impact of the built envi-ronment on the health and urban planners’ researchfocus on the role of spatial planning on health out-comes (crawford, 2010; framkin, frank, & Jackson,2004). urban planning research in aging explainsand describes the complex blend of the different disci-plines that occurs at both the personal and social lev-els to provide the big picture that summarizes the per-son-environment relationship (green & Kreuter,2004). however, despite the considerable researchthat examined the relationship between neighbour-hood environmental factors and elderly active lifestyle,the scales reliability and construct validity of the mea-sures attracted less attention. this pilot study aimed tofill this gab and examined the reliability and validity ofnine neighbourhood environmental factors hypothe-sized to promote active lifestyle among the elderly. thenine neighbourhood environmental factors ratingswere compared from previous studies scale and thenews scale among young elderly residing in taman-tun dr ismail (ttdi) neighbourhood in Kuala lumpurand taman Meru neighbourhood in ipoh, Perak(figure 1). the previous studies scale and newsscales were modified to fit the Malaysian context. theidentified items with appropriate reliability were usedto further examine the potential association betweenneighbourhood environmental factors and elderly
Hanan Elsawahli, Azlan Shah Ali
Abstract
Neighbourhood environmental factors are associated with active lifestyle. Despite the considerable research
that examined their relationship with elderly active lifestyle, the measures’ reliability and validity attracted less atten-
tion. This pilot study aimed at examining the reliability and validity of eleven neighbourhood environmental factors
hypothesized to promote active lifestyle among the elderly. The neighbourhood environmental factors ratings were
compared from previous studies scale and the NEWS scale among young elderly residing in two cities in Malaysia.
The identified items were further examined to identify their potential association with elderly active lifestyle. All the
measures showed valid values except for convenience in both neighbourhoods and accessibility in Taman Meru.
All items showed good-excellent reliability except for convenience in Taman Meru. All factors showed moderate-
good correlations with active lifestyle except for walkability and convenience in Taman Meru, maintenance and safe-
ty in TTDI. The neighbourhood environmental factors can be used in neighbourhood and relevant surveys.
Keywords: Elderly, neighbourhood Environmental Factors, Reliability, Validity, Active Lifestyle.
Measured neighbourhood environMentalfactors correlate with active lifestyleaMong elderly.
Figure 1. 1a States Plan, Malaysia; b Key Plan of Kuala
Lumpur; c- Plan of TTDI Neighbourhood; d- Key Plan ofPerak; e- Taman-Tun Neighbourhood.
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active lifestyle to provide a better understanding of theneighbourhood environmental factors that mightenhance social cohesion and promote physical activi-ty as major variables of elderly active lifestyle.
study background
active lifestyle is a conceptual criterion in the exami-nation of measured social cohesion and physicalactivity in neighbourhoods ( (strath Js et al., 2012). itis explained by the degree to which elderly physicaland social activities needs are met, and it is influencedby the physical environment and individual attributes ((aspinall P a et al., 2010). it also represents a way ofevaluating age-friendly neighbourhoods (Menec,Means, Keating, Parkhurst, & eales, 2011). socialcohesion and physical activity among elderly areessential issues that have attracted the attention ofmany researchers from the different disciplines. indeveloped countries, transportation and urban plan-ning research paved the way and provided the initialsteps for the multi-disciplinary research on the influ-ence of environmental factors on social cohesion andphysical activity (young, 2008). the capacity of theelderly to participate in the community and socializehas become a problem and a challenge; and alwaysbrings out the question of the role of the outdoor envi-ronment on our public life. urban planners have beenseeking a way to provide new, stylish, clean and safeoutdoor environment in an attempt to promote ourpublic life (avermaete & teerds, 2007).
social cohesion is a contested concept main-ly due to its diverse methodological and conceptual-ization understanding across multidisciplinary fields(Miciukkiewicz, Moulaert, novy, Musterd, & hillier,2012). decades of multidisciplinary research havestudied social cohesion as a variable studying thedynamics of urban settings (conet, 2008). from thisperspective social cohesion has been defined differ-ently in the field in which it is addressed. for local gov-ernment social cohesion represents a policy objectivethat aims at including people in their society in orderto contribute to their community and participate intheir community building (Miciukkiewicz et al., 2012).in the psychological field, it refers to the pro-active-ness of individuals and their involvement in all impor-tant fields of life in order to maintain lesser rates ofdepression, anxiety and social disorder (Kuo, sullivan,coley, & brunson, 1998). in the medical field, it rep-resents a positive health outcome resulting from socialinteraction, individual benefits and community well-ness (strath Js et al., 2012). in the transportation field,social cohesion refers to the even mobility distributionamong the different social groups across urban areas.this involves providing the elderly access to placeswhere they can socialize, participate in social activitiesand become part of the society (hu, 2006). in theurban planning field, social cohesion refers to theability of the physical environment to accommodatedifferences, behavior and values at different scales(Miciukkiewicz et al., 2012). at the neighbourhoodscale, social cohesion refers to the mutual supportamong its residents (chau-Kiu. cheung & Kwan-Kwokleung, 2011). neighbourhood design contribute toresidents’ homogeneity through the development ofthe physical environment to establish uniformityamong the residents (westaway, 2006). homogeneityand uniformity among residents are indicators ofsocial cohesion as influenced by the neighbourhood
physical environment (chau-kiu. cheung & Kwan-kwok leung, 2011). these include important aspects,such as, involvement in the public sphere, maintaingood relations with neighbours, trusting neighbours,feelings of belonging and security (conet, 2008).from this perspective, social cohesion in this study ismeasured by the degree to which elderly needs ofsocial interaction are fulfilled and the degree to whichsocial interaction is influenced by the existence of cer-tain neighbourhood environmental factors. based onthis argument, aelbrecht (2010) discussed the role ofurban design in promoting social interaction amongststrangers. in her study about the relationship betweenthe urban park design and social cohesion, she foundthat the existence of leisure activities, street furniture(benches) and the connectivity between the differentoutdoor activities play an important role in promotingsocial interaction between community members.furthermore, (King, 2006), found that encouragingsocial interaction and promoting physical activitythrough neighbourhood design can have a greatimpact on the chances of elderly people maintainingtheir independence for a longer period of time. (dutoit, ester cerin, evie leslie, & owenet, 2007), furtherargued that urban environment provides opportunitiesfor interaction among community residences. on theother hand, physical activity has been associated withthe health and wellbeing especially among the olderadults (Moudon et al., 2006) . another research per-spective by (abbott et al., 2004) showed the role ofphysical activity in promoting cognitive performanceamongst aged individuals. another study by (strath,isaacs, & greenwald, 2007), showed that elderly whoreside in areas with high levels of green spaces aremore likely to be physically active than their counter-parts who reside in less green spaces. Macintyre,ellaway, and cummins (2002); rodriquez, Khattak,and evenson (2006); strath Js et al. (2012), foundthat the built environment attributes such as width ofwalkways and pedestrian walks conditions and litterfree walkways encourage physical activity in the formof walking among the elderly.
however, physical activity in the elderly isaffected by two factors-personal factors and neigh-bourhood factors (satariano, 2010). the personalfactors include demographic characteristics, beliefs,attitude and knowledge about the importance of walk-ing. the psychological factors include self-efficacy,health status, perceived barriers to walking (resnick &nigg, 2003). the neighbourhood factors that mightinfluence physical activity among the elderly includeaesthetics and the surroundings of the neighbour-hood, walkway conditions (uneven surfaces), percep-tion of neighbourhood safety, lighting, traffic flow,presence of kerbs at cross walks and proximity toamenities (cunningham, Michael, farquhar, &lapidus, 2005; glanz, 2011). this study focused onthe neighbourhood factors, and identified social inter-action, walking, facilitators to walking, physical barri-ers to walking, convenience, accessibility, permeabili-ty, maintenance and safety as facilitators to social andphysical activities.
Procedurestarget Populationgilbert (2005), suggested a pilot sample between 10and 20 respondents as acceptable for a survey of2,000 respondents, i.e. 0.5% -1% of the sample size.on the other hand, saunders, lewis, and thornhill
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li(2009), suggested that the minimum number for pilottesting for students’ questionnaires is 10 respondents.however, (hill & lewicki, 2007) stated that the sam-pling distribution is normal as long as the sample sizeis large enough, for example 100+ observations.therefore, to include major variations in the popula-tion that are likely to affect responses, the researcherspilot tested the questionnaire on 200 respondentsresiding on the different urban setting, 100 respon-dents from ttdi, Kuala lumpur and 100 respondentsfrom taman Meru , ipoh.
according to the united nations age 60+ isconsidered the age for addressing aging issues (un,1982). however, in Malaysia the retirement age 58+
suggests the beginning of aging. the study is mainlyinterested in the active lifestyle among the youngelderly aged 60-75 years in residential areas.however, the study will also be including other agegroup under 60: (45+), to consider changes in activelifestyle needs as people ages.
selection Proceduresthe decision was to survey neighbourhood residentialareas from a cluster of districts with planning units ofhighest elderly population. a list of all planning unitswith highest percentage of elderly obtained from thedepartment of statistics, Malaysia, 2010 formed thesampling frame. the study areas were chosen basedon the fact that they are the areas with the highestelderly population. Perak is the state with highestelderly population in Malaysia (280,100), ipoh is thecity with the highest elderly population in Perak(72,421) and taman Meru is the residential area withhighest elderly population (2, 980). Kuala lumpur isthe city with the highest elderly population (127,400)and taman tun dr ismail (ttdi) is the neighbourhoodwith highest elderly population in Kuala lumpur(2,768), (dbi, 2012; dbKl, 2011; department ofstatistic, 2010). therefore, the target population isyoung elderly residing in taman Meru in ipoh-Perakand taman tun dr ismail in Kuala lumpur.
two clusters were chosen as having the high-est percentage of elderly population: ulu Kinta inPerak and Kuala lumpur in Kuala lumpur. the sampleis all the elderly residing in the selected clusters. theclusters are then stratified into planning units withhighest elderly population from which residentialareas are randomly selected to be the study areasbased on the following criteria:
1- the housing areas under the housing department in both citieswith highest population and hence highest percentage of elderly,
2- the housing area that has been occupied for more than ten yearsand therefore viable for assessment.
study areastaman Meru neighbourhood is located on the north-western part of ipoh city, at a distance of approxi-mately 10 minutes by car from the city centre. it has agenerally flat topography, a grid-like street system withconsiderable cul-de-sacs and moderate intersections.the population of taman Meru is 2,888 mainly Malaywith few chinese and indians residing in Meru-heights(approximately 1%). 9.7% of this population is elderlyaged 60-74 (department of statistic, 2010). the aver-age household is 4.04 (dbi, 2012). the area is char-acterized by large block sizes. the houses are mainlytraditional Malay one storey detached houses with
parking space provision. the main street is fairly busywith no retail shops or services but with wide unpavedsidewalks. the area park is within a 15-20 minuteswalking distance. there is also one worship facilityand one community centre along the main road.
taman tun dr ismail (ttdi) neighbourhood isa major neighbourhood in Kuala lumpur. it is locatedon the north-western part on the Kuala lumpur andselangor border. it has a fairly hilly topography, agrid-like street system with many intersections and nocul-de-sacs. the population of ttdi is 35,808. 6.9%of this population is elderly aged 60-74 (departmentof statistic, 2010). the block sizes are fairly large witha mixture of traditional housing style (two-storey ter-race houses, multiple storey detached and semi-detached houses). the main street is busy with fewbus-stops, fairly wide paved walkways and no retailshops or services. the area park is within a 10-15
Table 2. Independent variables.
Table 1. Dependent variables
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minutes walking distance, but there are few small chil-dren playgrounds within the residential area. the com-mercial area (retail shops, restaurants, offices and ser-vices) is within 20 minutes’ walk. there are two wor-ship facilities; one within the housing areas and theother along the main road. there are few communitycentres scattered throughout the neighbourhood.
research variablesthe research is conducted to cast light on the elderlyactive lifestyle provided by the existence of certainneighbourhood factors. elderly active lifestyle is pro-moted by enhancing social cohesion (chan, to, &chan, 2006), and physical activity (handy, cao, &Mokhtarian, 2008; rohe, 2009), table 1. theseinclude promoting social interaction (lund, 2009;oluseyi, 2006), encouraging walking (ewing &handy, 2009; glanz, 2011), satisfying the residentswith their residents and neighbourhood facilities-con-venience (alfonzo, Marlon, day, & anderson, 2008;gauvin et al., 2008; strath Js et al., 2012), enhanc-ing accessibility (aspinall P a et al., 2010), improvingpermeability (forsyth, Mary hearst, Michael oakes, &schmitz, 2008; lee & King, 2003), decreasing con-cerns about falling due to bad walkway conditions-maintenance (aspinall P a et al., 2010; osmond,2005), and decreasing concerns about leaving homedue to fear of crime-safety (Mendes de leon cf et al.,2009; newman, 1981), table2
Main surveyconsidering the age of the respondents, theresearchers chose to administer a face-to-face ques-tionnaire, because it includes respondents with limitedaccess to internet or limited ability to read. theresearchers employed five items to measure each con-struct in order to obtain measurement reliability. toavoid lengthy questionnaires that might influencecooperation, the researcher divided the questionnaireinto three sections. the first section included two activelifestyle attitude variables, each consisting of five itemsand based on five-point likert format. the second sec-tion included seven questions each consisting of fiveitems about the elderly active lifestyle in the area facil-itated or obstructed by the neighbourhood design.these questions are also based on a five-point likertformat. the third section included the backgroundinformation of the respondents.
data analysisthe statistical Package for social science (sPss) ver-sion 16 was used to analyse the data. this involvedseveral steps; first statistical techniques used to exam-ine the validity and reliability of the items used in mea-suring active lifestyle among the elderly. the validitytest involved the use of item to scale correlation andthe reliability test involved the examination ofcronbach’s alpha values. factor analysis is used as anevidence for the constructs validity. Means and stan-dard deviations are presented to compare the scoresbetween the respondents of the two neighbourhoodsto examine whether residents in different urban set-tings have the same perception of the same neigh-bourhood environmental factors or not. the analysisthen moves to inferential statistics to address casualrelations between the variables. this involved the useof spearman’s (rho) correlation to measure thestrength and direction of the relationship between theelderly active lifestyle and the neighbourhood environ-
mental factors.
sample characteristicsthe socio-economic characteristics of the residentsshowed that the majority of the respondents havestayed in the neighbourhood for more than 20 years;prevalence of house ownership; dominance of malerespondents; Malays constituted the majority of resi-dents in both neighbourhoods followed by the chineseand indian respectively; the median age of respon-dents was 60 years; the majority had attained an edu-cation above high school; the dominance of marriedcouples- high percentage of married couples espe-cially among the males; the majority are retired; themedian income rM3000 (table 3).
validitythere are different approaches to measure validity:criterion, content and construct-related. for the pur-pose of the study construct validity was used. factoranalysis, is used to assess the construct validity of themeasures by using correlation between the test items(Kim & Muller, 1978). devaus (2002); nunnally andbernstein (1994), suggest a validity coefficient of 0.3as the minimum value for a unidimensional scale; weused this value 0.3 for the study. all the measuresshowed values above 0.3 except for convenience inboth neighbourhoods and accessibility in taman Meruneighbourhood only. to place more confidence on the
Table 3. Demographic Characteristics of Respondents.
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measures we used the Kaiser Meyer-olkin (KMo) tohelp assess the validity of the measures. the index ofKMo ranges from 0-1. tabachnick and fidell (2007),suggested 0.6 as the minimum value for a valid con-struct. all the constructs showed a KMo value above0.6 except for convenience in both neighbourhoodsand accessibility in taman Meru only (table 4).
reliabilitythere are three methods of testing reliability: test re-test, internal consistency and alternative form(saunders et al., 2009). the internal consistencyinvolves checking the consistency by correlatingresponses with those on other items in the scale. themost frequently used method for calculating the inter-nal consistency is cronbach’s alpha-α (de vallis,2003; Kline, 2005). fleiss (1981), developed reliabil-ity estimates, suggesting moderate reliability for valuesof 0.40-0.60, good reliability for values of 0.60-0.80and excellent reliability for values of 0.80 and above.nunnally and bernstein (1994), suggested a reliabilityvalue of 0.5-0.6 as accepted values. on the otherhand, hair, anderson, tatham, and black (1998), sug-gested that the minimum accepted α value is between0.6-0.7. an alpha value of 0.7 is also used as theminimum accepted value for a scale by (devaus,2002). however, the researchers employed the abovemethod and used 0.7 as the minimum accepted α
value. the researchers revised reliability values foundby previous study to further support findings (table 5).Physical barriers to walking did not have recorded val-ues in the literature. social interaction items matchedactivities with neighbours items used by Mujahid, diezroux, Morenoff, and raghunathan (2007).convenience matched the same items for generalneighbourhood satisfaction used by strath Js et al.(2012).
table 6 shows the mean (sd) scores on theneighbourhood environmental factors betweenrespondents in ttdi and taman Meru neighbour-hoods. the mean values for the majority of neigh-bourhood environmental factors in taman Meru werehigher than in ttdi (table7). this may suggest thatthere are some differences in active lifestyle betweenboth neighbourhoods across the different urban set-ting in Malaysia.
the researchers further examined the correla-tion between the dependent variables (social cohesionand physical activity) and the independent variables(social interaction, walking, facilitators to walking,barriers to walking, convenience, accessibility, perme-ability, maintenance and safety) within the two neigh-bourhoods in the different urban setting (table 7). allfactors showed moderate-good correlations withactive lifestyle except for walking with physical activity(0.191, p>0.05= 0.057) and convenience with bothsocial cohesion and physical activity (-0.006p>0.05=0.95; -0.023 p>0.05=0.823) in taman
Table 4. Validity Test-KMO Coefficients.
Table 7. Correlation Coefficients within the two
Neighbourhoods.
Table 6. Mean and SD subscale scores for TTDI and
Taman-Meru neighbourhoods.
Table 5. Cronbach’s Alpha values of reliability test for
Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI), Taman-Meru neighbourhoodsand previous studies.
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Meru neighbourhood. in ttdi maintenance (0.038p>0.05=0.709; 0.083 p>0.05=0.410)) and safety(0.068 p>0.05=0.50; 0.083 p>0.05=0.410) didnot correlate with social cohesion and physical activi-ty as relevant domains of active lifestyle among theyoung elderly.
discussionthe main purpose of the study was mainly to developa set of valid and reliable neighbourhood environ-mental measurements that influence active lifestyleamong young elderly from the urban planning per-spective. the study further examined the associationbetween neighbourhood environmental factors withyoung elderly active lifestyle. the study focused onseveral prominent social and physical factors relevantto young elderly active lifestyle. it recognized socialcohesion and physical activity as relevant domains ofactive lifestyle and examined the impact of eachneighbourhood environmental factor on each domainrespectively.
the findings showed higher construct validityvalues for ttdi neighbourhood than taman Meruneighbourhood except for social interaction, facilita-tors to walking, safety and maintenance. this may bedue to the strong social cohesion in taman Meruneighbourhood. this supports dill et al. (2010) andKing (2006) findings that highlighted the importanceof neighbourhood design in promoting social interac-tion and physical activity.
on the other hand higher reliabilitychronbach’s alpha values were scored for tamanMeru neighbourhood than for ttdi neighbbourhoodexcept for walking, convenience and accessibility. allreliability chronbach’s alpa values were higher in bothneighbourhoods than reliability values in previousstudies except for walking, convenience and accessi-bility. this suggests differences in walking attitudes ofelderly in different countries. in Malaysia, despite thefact that the young elderly residing in both neighbour-hoods are both physically and socially active; they arevery auto-dependent. they drove their cars/motorcy-cles to all destinations, even when they want to dosome walking they would drive their cars/ motorcyclesto the nearest park.
the correlation test revealed some remark-able findings. all the neighbourhood environmentalfactors correlated with active lifestyle factors (socialcohesion and physical activity), except for mainte-nance and safety in ttdi neighbourhood and walkingand convenience in taman Meru neighbourhood.slovic, Peters, finucane, and Macgregor (2005)argued that elderly may not consider neighbourhoodconditions in details; they tend to rely more on affect,values and beliefs and less on physical factors.therefore, they are more likely to cope with positiveand negative neighbourhood conditions than youngergenerations. this finding does not support aspinall Pa et al. (2010) findings that maintained/good condi-tions of walkways and facilities promote active lifestyle.safety did not correlate with active lifestyle in ttdi,perhaps this is due to the weak social interactionfound in the area. newman (1981) explained thatsocial interaction is related to safety levels as peoplefeel that they have more control over their communityand hence feel safer. this finding supports strath Js etal. (2012) who found no correlation between streetsafety and physical activity among the elderly. but thefinding does not support strath et al. (2007) who
found that increased sense of safety was associatedwith social cohesion and physical activity. in tamanMeru walking did not correlate with young elderlyactive lifestyle. this may be explained by the fact thatthe neighbourhood lacked walkways and the few thatexisted in some parts of the neigbourhood are eitherunpaved or in poor conditions. these findings sup-ported cunningham et al. (2005) and glanz (2011),who found that absence and poor conditions of walk-ways discourage walking. Moreover, most probablythe no correlation is because the young elderly did notreally go for a walk, as mentioned above, they droveto the nearest area park and walked there. accordingto previous research (alfonzo et al., 2008; gauvin etal., 2008; takano, nakamura, & watanabe, 2002),convenience is reflected through certain physical char-acteristics such as availability of certain facilities, ser-vices, adequate public transport and mix-use. since allthese physical characteristics are absent within theneighbourhood convenience did not correlate withyoung elderly active lifestyle.
conclusionconsiderable research has proved the relationshipbetween active lifestyle and neighbourhood environ-mental factors. based on this theoretical framework weidentified nine neighbourhood environmental factorsshowed to promote active lifestyle among the elderly.the validity test results showed that all the constructswere valid (if not in ttdi in taman Meru) and mea-sured active lifestyle. since no past studies in Malaysiaassessed the validity of constructs measuring lifestyleamong elderly from the urban planning perspective,the results could be considered as a contribution toknowledge in the field. the reliability test revealed thatall the items were reliable and confirmed the reliabili-ty values of previous studies. the correlation resultsprovided essential insights into the neighbourhoodenvironmental factors that are most related with youngelderly active lifestyle and highlighted the impact ofcertain neighbourhood environmental factors on theyoung elderly active lifestyle. the principle findingsshowed that the young elderly residing in ttdi neigh-bourhood were more physically active than sociallyactive than their counterparts in taman Meru neigh-bourhood who were more socially active than physi-cally active. this implies that that there is a need tounderstand in more detail the association betweensubjective and objective neighbourhood environmen-tal measures. furthermore, it implies that efforts tocurb young elderly active lifestyle should be theresponsibility of multi-disciplinary research. this willassist in reflecting interests, concepts and views essen-tial to pursuing active life style and understand howdifferent research address the concept and theoryhosting it.
the above assessments and results are outcomesrevealed from two cities in two different urban settingsin Malaysia. it would be interesting for future researchto cross-validate the measures in different parts of thecountry. although the focus of the research was youngelderly the valid and reliable results can be general-ized and extended to other age groups and needs.
acknowledgementthis study received support by the iPPP grant (Pv100-2012a), university of Malaya.
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Mujahid, M.s., diez roux, a., Morenoff, J., d., , & raghunathan, t.(2007). assessing the Measurement Properties of neighbourhoodscales. from Psychometric to ecometrics. American Journal ofEpidemology, 165(8), 858-867. doi: 10.1093/aje/kum040
newman, o. (1981). Community of Interest. new york: anchorbooks.
nunnally, J.c., & bernstein, i. h. (1994). Psychometric Theory (3rded.). new york: Mcgraw-hill.
oluseyi, o. f. (2006). analysis of inter - connectivity levels ofurban street networks and social interactions in enclosedneighbourhood in Johannesburg rsa. Humanity & Social SciencesJournal 1(1), 79-95.
osmond, P. . (2005). Evaluating urban ambience-an investigationinto quantifying the qualities of the walkability city. Paper presentedat the the 6th international conference on walking in the 21stcentury.
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rodriquez, d., a.,, Khattak, a.J., & evenson, K.r. . (2006). cannew urbanism encourge Physical activity? Journal of the AmericanPlanning Association,, 72, 43-54.
rohe, w., M. (2009). from local to global: one hundred years ofneighbourhood Planning.Journal of the American planning association, 75(2), 209-230.
satariano, w. a. . (2010). lower-body function, neighbourhoods,and walking in an older population. American Journal of PreventiveMedicine, 38, 419-428.
saunders, M., lewis, P., & thornhill, a. (2009). Research Methodsfor Business Students (5th ed.). essex: ft Printice hall, Pearsoneducation limited.
slovic, P., Peters, e., finucane, M., & Macgregor, d. (2005). affect,risk and decision making.Health Psychology, 24, 35-40.
strath, isaacs, r.f., & greenwald, M.J. (2007). operationalizingenvironmental indicators for influencing Physical activity in theelderly Journal of Physical Activity & Aging, 15(4), 412-424.
strath Js, Michael J greenwald, raymond isaacs, teresa l hart,elizabeth K lenz, christopher J dondzila, & swartz, ann M. (2012).Measured and percieved environmental characteristics are relatedto accelerometer defined physical activity in older adults.International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity,9:40.
takano, t., nakamura, K., & watanabe, M. (2002). urban resi-dential environments and senior citizens’ longevity in megacityareas: the importance of walkable green spaces. Journal ofEpidemiology & Community Health, 56(12), 913-918.un. (1982). World Assembly on Aging. Paper presented at the thevienna international Plan of action on ageing, vienna, austria.
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author(s):
hanan elsawahli, faculty of built environment, university of Malaya,department of urban and regional Planning, 50603Kuala lumpur, Malaysia. email: [email protected],
azlan shah alidepartment of building surveying, faculty of builtenvironment-university of Malaya. Phd, universityteknologi Mara (uitM); Msc, university teknologiMara (uitM); b.buildsurv(hons), university tenologiMara (uitM) diP_harta, university teknologi Mara(uitM). email: [email protected].
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1. introduction
romani housing problems in serbia have beennoticed over the past decades. through the work ofinternational and local non-profit organizations deal-ing with romani questions, particular difficulties thatromani population encounters during the fulfillmentof their rights (thus including the right to housing andas such), have been analyzed and various strategieswere developed for their solution. in the Strategy forImproving the Position of Roma in the Republic ofSerbia one of the explicit tasks that publically shedlight on the fact that the deficit of expert knowledgeconcerning this problematics disables the develop-ment of corresponding tools and techniques for solv-ing this issue, is actually the demand to form stan-dards and norms and other technical regulations inthe urban and architectural design that would beapplicable for new construction and for the remodel-ing of existing housing units i.e. adequate housingspace. the failure of the heretofore practice was
based on the fact that designing social housing wastargeted to solutions whose bases were in liaison withan idealistic, uniform vision of the beneficiary familyand community, the apartment’s and housing unitbeneficiary, their principal needs and on the assump-tion of what is a priori and definitely necessary; theneeds of the romani culture and lifestyle specificitieswere completely neglected. the alterity of the romanilifestyle compared to housing stereotypes of themajority of non-romani population raised a questionof finding new stronghold points and key principles ofdesigning an adequate solution for this social grouphousing problem. With the fact that unplannedromani settlements in belgrade were formed by theromani themselves, without professionals’ influence,and that planned ones were transformed in time, thisstudy recognizes the curiosity that urban patterns andarchitectural structures of all settlements are actuallythe quality induced by the need to functionally orga-nize a community where everyday activities take place.also, the basic principles of romanypen, i.e. the
Milena Grbić, Ana Nikezić,
Abstract
Solving settlement and likewise housing problems of socially vulnerable Romani in Belgrade and Serbia still has not
found the right design approach. In contemporary plural society, it is a process of interaction of theoretical and practi-
cal tryouts set beyond the disciplinary limits. Insufficient awareness on Romani lifestyle elaborated in Romanypen, i.e.
the Romani cultural system causes a lack of methods, techniques and tools to choose from and develop for this untan-
gled complex problem. The intent of this article is to show that a collective lifestyle represents the essence needed for
developing adequate design decisions of Romani settlements, thus fulfilling the potential for improving adequate hous-
ing solutions.
The study starts on the assumption that in Romani settlements there is a strongly rooted relation between spatial
and social level that enables an understanding of what this cultural group produces as its own place. The urban pat-
tern of Romani settlements do not have an institutionally imposed organization; they are formed by the Romani them-
selves, by reflex rooted in needs of everyday life activities and consequently organized and built through inherited
knowledge and skills. The subject of this study is aimed at recognizing and thus establishing spatial expressions of the
Romani collective lifestyle in three types of Belgrade Romani settlements that, according to the differences in their inner
habitational pattern, display a representative model. It is based on the field analysis of five already created and devel-
oped unplanned settlements in Belgrade through observing and residing within them and by talking and questioning to
their residents.
This study shows that the key to understanding existing urban and architectural patterns, as well as the potential for
future design actions lies in reading out the processes of everyday life. Then, it demonstrates a tool that has a poten-
tial to divert previous housing politics towards a revitalization of design in relation to social profiles specificities. At the
end, the study opens a path to creating adequate architectural and urban parameters for housing care in accordance
to the lifestyle acceptable for each and every socially perceptible group.
Keywords: Romani Settlements, Housing, User Orientation, Lifestyle, Romanypen.
LifestyLe as a resource for re-structuringromani urban housing.
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romani cultural system whose elements are deeplyrooted into the romani everyday life, imply that theromani lifestyle is collective which makes a keychange in analyzing and reading out characteristics ofromani settlements spatial organization.
considering the fact that romani housing hasnot yet been approached from perspectives based onrecognizing and establishing spatial – social level rela-tion, the intent of this article is to demonstrate that it ispossible to successfully determine, explain and sys-tematize basic principles in forming spatial structuresof settlements based on the collective lifestyle context.
the research that presents and confirms thisintent and that will be shown in the second and thirdpart of this paper was done in referential types ofromani settlements, chosen in a fine shading of pref-erences. the case study method was done by fieldresearch i.e. everyday visits and stays inside the settle-ments for the period of 30 days while observing thehousing practice and having conversations with resi-dents. the observation was done daily, 4 times a dayin the same time intervals (8am, 12am, 5pm, 8 pm).
the concept of researching everyday housingpractice is based on interpretations of everyday life byJoe moran and michel de certeau. according to theirpostulates the simplest explanation of daily practicescan be obtained by treating individuals as usefulagents that spend time moving in space and when themass center is altered to observing the process andobjects are considered as products of the process (decerteau m. 1984. and moran J. 2005). christiannorberg-schulz explains this by saying that particularspace of a developed human must be observed in itswholeness including events that are experienced with-in. because special spatial qualities, its arrangementand order are reflected and expressed through sub-jects that experience it and live in it (norberg-schulz,2002:26).
in the third part of this study, comparing threereferential types of romani settlements in belgrade,key spatial characteristics and design principles wereisolated, expressing a collective lifestyle, that as a baseof acquiring knowledge represent the foundation to beapplied in establishing and realizing socially responsi-ble design concepts in solving socially vulnerableromani housing problems.
this papers contribution is visible in the con-clusion that establishing a relation between particularcultural patterns and their spatial identification can bethe key to properly solve housing questions of romaniand every other specific cultural group. only byunderstanding this relation it is possible to establishnew relation systems in housing that are fitted for theromani community, but are also open to formulatingother messages suitable for new social needs. in addi-tion, in a wider context of institutional social space,respecting the romani lifestyle represents a desirabledirection of romani treatments as a european minori-ty.
2. romani settLements in beLgrade: dis-course oVerLappingaccording to field researcher Vladimir macura
(macura V. 2002), 102 larger and 160 smaller settle-ments inhabited by romani were recorded inbelgrade. they are scattered all across belgrade terri-tory, a minority being settled in the central part of thecity, while majority are to be found on the outskirts ofthe city.
in regard to the city itself – its zones and pat-terns, the position and articulation of researched set-tlements have not shown valuable influences.settlements were actually formed in regard to an arrayof organizational and functional factors inside thecommunity itself and as such they adapt only it theirluminal area to the urban context in which they arefound. in that sense, looking from disciplinary positionthe settlement territory is expanded towards creating aplace that represents ‘an entity inside an entity out-side’, the space inside a space. it is not only a spacecreated through occupying one urban segment, butalso a space with its own symbolic value, a place thatrepresents cultural identity of its builders and habi-tants: such a phenomenon – of a city developed anddirectly influenced in its social, ethnic and culturalcomposition, in its architecture and spatial form. (Kinga. d. 2004)
2.1 World of signals: social – cultural discoursein the social-cultural tone, romani settlements are rec-ognized as authentic ethnical symbols of their own sur-vival strategy. they are considered as a basic synonymfor security and as basic defines it, they represent thesafest protection of identity that has been dynamicallychanging, but inside which a particular social and cul-tural pattern of behavior has been preserved – theromanypen (bašić, 2010:14). romanypen representsa term that semantically comprises a totality of theromani spirit, culture and common law. it is a set ofattributes, i.e. rules that romani should follow to trulyjustify their cultural heritage, i.e. tradition; simply –romanypen means to be romani. based on numerousacademic observations, the concept of romanypen ismore in the cultural frame, and not a mere respect ofhistorically accepted rules, since the proscriptions that
Figure 1. Positions of Roma settlements in Belgrade .
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, romani have suffered and the processes of assimila-tion that they have been exposed to, have compul-sively adapted romanypen to specific circumstancesdepending on countries that they found themselves in.Walter Weyrauch and maureen anne bell point outthat the decisiveness not to assimilate into a dominantsociety was of key importance for romani survival asa special entity since the romani community clearlykept and still keeps many of its beliefs and traditions(Weyrauch and bell, 2001: 29). in this key, theromani lifestyle is a product of the system whose mul-tiple relations of romanypen attributes produce sets ofregularities that represent ‘a mental law’ that eachsubject obtains through basic upbringing. the romaniculture is actually diverse and can hardly be universal-ized, but there are attributes on which this universalityreposes which applies to all romanis, and evenromanis in serbia – a strong identification of an indi-vidual to the community, as well as loyalty to familyand community, materialized in the social qualifica-tions sense – a kind of a collective lifestyle.
the collective lifestyle in romani in belgradeis dominantly noticeable on the family organizationlevel. a primary romani family counts five membersand is made of a husband, wife and three underagechildren. as field research has shown, when the chil-dren grow up and start forming their own families,they rarely separate and leave their birth home, butstay within proximate frames of the same householdthus creating an expanded family. this three-genera-tional structure that the romanis call – endaj, is themost frequent household organization in romani set-tlements in belgrade. a typical romani expanded fam-ily, is then comprised of a husband, wife, their sonsand daughters-in-law and their children, and yaronmatras instigates that a romani expanded family canalso include every common-law member, as well asdivorced members or widows that have returned tolive with their primary family (matras, 2008:4). thefact that expanding the family does not always impliesmoving or building a new house and creating a newhousehold but it primary points to the transformationand expansion of the parental house, the first questionis open about what kind of structural omnibus makesan entity that can be named a romani home. thomas
acton alludes to further complexification ofresearch observation saying that family unity accom-plishes its recognizable domination in the frames offamiliarity of the expanded family during everyday ges-tures. there, even if individual families have individualhousing units inside the shared residence, it is onlyostensibly, since the families have doors to their hous-es opened so that all members of the expanded fami-ly can unnoticeably and uninvited enter and exit allspaces of the shared residences (acton and mundy,1997:90). matras also claims that a family of onehousing unit can always be joined by any other mem-ber of the expanded residence (matras, 2008:12). inthe key of this social capital, as an answer to the sec-ond research question, it is necessary to apprehend a‘constructing’ principle of establishing relationsbetween elements i.e. principle of housing dispositionsand their mutual relations.
the term family in the romani culture is stillexpanding and it matches the term community wherethe individual is less important than a group. the indi-vidual ambition and desire for social rise and reputa-tion is generally not developed with the romani(mijailović, 2000:284), but a collective way of life onthe community level is preferred as a synonym for pro-tection, security, surveillance, guidance and previous-ly established rules so it wins its place over the indi-vidual lifestyle which is considered to consequentlylead to uncertainty and lack of protection and free-dom. as part of occasional everyday life in romanisettlements djurdjevdan festivities and weddings takeplace, and these are always collective acts and involveall residents of the settlement. the act of communitygathering itself, is a key because of the oral and visu-al practice that is accomplished in these momentssince it confirms the communicative memory built byoral practice, and as anne sutherland instigates, oralhistory is a dominant type of preserving traces of his-tory for romani, especially concerning family informa-tion since there are no written documents (sutherland,1975:263). these ascertainments open the thirdresearch question and drive attention to identifyingparticular spatial contents, compatible to housing,which gained their purpose based on a set of customsand behaviors inside the community.
2.2 World of spatial forms: architectural discoursespeaking in the architectural and urban research tone,romani settlements in belgrade can be classified intoseveral types, according to a fine difference betweenphysical characteristics of the place and the mode ofthe appearance. these are slums, insanitary settle-ments, and transformed planned settlements.
slum. slum was created as spontaneously developedsettlement made out of improvised shelters that in timebecame regular. the life in slum is led in dilapidatedhouses that are built from unstandardized material,most frequently waste material (old wooden beams,doors, nylon, tin plates or cardboard). a small per-centage of slums were made directly on terrainalready provided for other purpose adopted by thegeneral plan (gp). in relation to the city, slums areusually distanced from the city core, separated bycommunal and industrial areas and hidden in partial-ly abandoned areas, so they are on unobtrusive andsometimes neglected and insufficiently hygienicplaces. the form of slums is irregular and it is oftenconditioned by morphological characteristics. streetsvary in width and section and are rarely asphalted.slum residents are very poor and generally collect sec-ondary raw materials for living. Grmeč (app. 20 hous-es, 100 inhabitants) and Laudanov šanac (app. 90houses, 470 inhabitants) were chosen as representa-tive case studies for the research.
insanitary settlement. insanitary settlement is builtspontaneously out of permanent houses. this way ofhousing usually uses a non-built terrain for which noplanning documentation existed at the time of cre-ation. unlike shelters in slums, permanent houses
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were built out of standard construction materials(brick, concrete, concrete blocks). they incline directlyto the surrounding city web and are relatively regularin the border line, considering the fact that their limitsare defined by adjacent clearly defined urban pat-terns. the inner form of these settlements varies fromsettlement to settlement, but in a rough division urbanblocks are defined into an orthogonal or radial phys-iognomy, so the street network follows certain regular-ity. residents of insanitary settlements have a betterproperty status than residents of slums. they collectsecondary raw materials far less than in slums, they dolow income jobs, while a certain amount of the resi-dents does temporary jobs abroad in Western coun-tries. as typical representatives of this type, settlementsVojni put (app. 600 houses, 2400 inhabitants) andRupe (app. 300 houses, 1500 inhabitants) were cho-sen for this research.
transformed planned settlement. one part of romanisettlements (12%) on belgrade’s territory is createdaccording to detail regulation plan (drp). the posi-tion of these settlements is usually on the outskirts ofbelgrade. settlements were planned on non-built ter-rain away from the surrounding urban milieu. Withshrinking the city outside its borders, these settlementsslowly became an integral part of the surroundingenvironment. planned settlements are most frequentlyplanned and built as substandard. since the physicalborder of the house and the accompanying plot wasnot convenient and useable to residents from thebeginning, romanis expanded the obtained housingspace by illegal reconstruction. therefore, transformedplanned settlements were created methodically byincluding experts in conceiving housing units and theirspatial dispositions, but, because of numerous factors,they were transformed into slums. in that context theproper street network and the proper urban blockscheme have lost the rigor of their starting physiogno-my and can only be foretold today. the residents ofplanned settlements generally collect raw materialsand do other low income occupations. there are fam-ilies whose members are temporarily working abroadso the residents are mixed according to their materialstatus. the settlement Rakovica selo (app. 35 houses,180 inhabitants) was chosen for research, foundedbetween 1973 and 1985 and in the process of trans-formation ever since.
Key spatiaL properties of the pLace after having extensive field analysis of the observedsettlements, that possess a synthesis of spatial andsocial dimension of the place, characteristic spatialstructures and their elements were distinguishe desir-able for the future romani settlements:yard grouphybridized streetsgathering places
yard group (yg). as already mentioned, romanilifestyle is based on the extended family household,ostensibly established on the family residence, but itcannot be recognized as a single-family house. the
residence consists of several units which are spatiallyinterdependent and socially organized as a whole –the yard group (yg). representing the core unit of thesettlement, it is based on a collective romani lifestyleof expanded family. it is usually a semi-atrium forma-tion where the built and non-built spaces are clearlydefined and separated. the built space is made up ofa few housing units, usually three to four and a fewadditional utility units. at the beginning of the devel-opment of the family utility units are physically sepa-rated from the rest of the structure (main house), butin time, after several expansion they become connect-ed and afterwards even integrated. most frequentlythey are added perpendicular to the house, aroundthe perimeter of the plots depth. utility units usuallyserve to store secondary raw materials and machinery.non-built space of the yg is a front yard used as acommon space. it serves as a gathering place, kid’scorner, leisure space, a serving space used to hanglaundry, or to form a summer kitchen.
the existence of this complex entity as a keyspatial property is most evident in slums. a strong ten-dency towards this concept of units grouped aroundthe yard facing the street is also noticed in insanitaryand especially in transformed planned settlements,where the initial dual housing scheme in time suffereda transformation into this hybridized yard formation.
particularly interesting is the case that occurs
Figure 3. The yard group in Transformed planned settle-
ments.
Figure 2. The yard group in Slums.
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in densely built parts of insanitary settlements. it occursif the house units are built all around the yard. in theground floor an unbuilt part covered with the first flooris left inbuilt, i.e. open and is connected directly to thestreet. then, functionally, a part of daily activities aremoved from the yard to the street, so parts of it get therole usually intended for the yard. the manner of yghouses with a covered yard, only amplifies the thesisthat exactly determined ways of grouping units andtheir orientation entirely matches the characteristics ofmultifamily housing. this finding makes a key changein the approach to the future design of the settlementsfor the romani, since it directly transfers the focus froma single-family household to this functional multifami-ly organization. understanding the yg phenomenonas a spatial-cultural organization enables a recogni-tion and interpretation of numerous parts of the resi-dence itself. each unit within the yg has its own socialand spatial positions inside the whole structure. a col-lective lifestyle at the family organization level is man-ifested, numerically and structurally representing achangeable system that influences the formation andfurther development of the residence. as an adaptabledistinction and a principle of permanent change of thefamily household, expanding of the residence hap-pens according to functional necessities of the collec-tive lifestyle, following the imaginary frame of the yg.
due to the fact that expanding the familycauses the expansion of the initial family residenceinside the same plot, and not building another resi-dence and creation of a new household, the romaniresidence is permanently in the process of expanding.ones a basic space is created out of a living room,kitchen with a dining room and eventually a bedroom,with the family expansion, new units are added to theexisting bedroom. in slums and transformed plannedsettlements, because of poor quality constructionmaterial, these expansions are only in the ground floorlevel, while in insanitary settlements houses are most-ly made of solid material so these expansions can beconstructed also by expanding the first floor.
the arrangement of the space in the circum-ferential positioning of housing units around border-line of the plot creates a common open space, a poly-gon for the daily usual needs of the micro neighbor-hood. the existence of the inner courtyard where dailycollectively dominantly reside is also reflected in posi-tioning of an integral element of every romani house– the porch.
the porch serves as a space to prepare foodand have meals. its position in relation to the yg isdetermined by the cultural dimension of activities thattake place. in each unit of yg the position of theporch is such that it is visually explicit. this sort of ges-ture is deeply rooted into the romani cultural traditionand their relation to food. as acton and mundy insti-gate, not having food for a guest is a very shamefulgesture and the family would be marked as the onethat saves up on food (acton and mundy, 1997:90).the ascertainment that food is not only an item of bio-logical survival but also a ‘social phenomenon’ bringsinto immediate connection habits in nutrition with pro-ducing this spatial content. based on field research,the existence of a summer kitchen and dining tablewas noticed, found on the porch in all types of settle-ments and all types of houses. one of the conclusionsof this study is that the cultural distinction concerningfood initiated the existence of this space which enablesa visual exposition of the food preparation and con-summation process as acts of passing on ‘something’(one of the ways of presenting wealth) to their sur-roundings. it contributes to imagining the approach tohigher classes despite the fact that they are, objective-ly, based on real economical possibilities, closer tolower classes of society. in that key, the porch that hasprimarily a private use is positioned on a visible placein the courtyard of the yg and collaterally towards thestreet visually opening toward the community.
Figure 6: Porch in Romani settlements
this ascertainment is amplified in findings in insanitarysettlements with high building density where houses
Figure 5. Expansions of houses .Figure 4. Special case of the yard group in Insanitary settle-
ments.
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with a covered courtyard are detected. due to uneasi-ness of spatial limits, a covered courtyard is actuallyformed to correspond with its equipment and use to allprinciple of porch organization and structuring. theneed to visually represent preparing and consumingfood has influenced the covered yard to be set direct-ly towards the street.
hybridized streets (hs). streets in romani settlementscan be asphalted streets or dirt roads. in slums dirtroads prevail and their existence and physiognomy isrecognized by a beaten dirt track. field analysis of theuser beaten tracks in slums detect the fact that roadsare bifunctional, central part of the surface is used fortraffic communication and the peripheral for gather-ings.
parts of the road used for gatherings arealways connected to courtyards of the yg being ori-ented towards the street, thus creating a diagram ofspatial relations street – yard – house. opening theyg accomplishes a better mutual communication sothis particular sociocultural micro ambiance isexpanded to the surrounding neighborhood andwhole community within which a mutual dole is addi-tionally enabled in fighting everyday challenges. inparts of compact densely populated insanitary settle-ments in which residences with a covered yard are pre-sent, the street intensely used for prolonged residingactivities is clearly visible. the orientation of the cov-ered yard is always towards the street, and the visualcommunication made by ‘dragging’ facing and adja-cent covered yard across the street makes the streetadjusted by use similar to the courtyard of a usual yg.
the hs in romani settlements is, therefore,apart from being a standard space for communica-tion, also a space where the daily rhythm of residentsprolonged residing activities. this is an important pref-
erence for future designing, positioning, dimensioningand furbishing of street networks of romani settle-ments.
gathering place (gp). in all observed romani settle-ments, a gathering place is an open improvised spacebuilt simply on free terrain. if that area is built, due todensification and compaction, a new space is sought.in this context, the position of gp in the settlement isnot crucial; the important thing is that it is already pre-sent and that it can fulfill the function in relation to thecommunity’s need and capacity.
gps are venues for weddings, celebrations ofsaints, djurdjevdan, celebration of baptism and otherfestivities involving the entire community. all romanicelebrations, no matter the occasion, are similar byscenario and the way they use space. in spatial orga-nization it includes setting a long table where theguests sit and a main table where the immediate fam-ily holding the celebration is seated. in one part of thespace or tent, in case the space is covered, there is aplace for music and a free space for dancing. unlikehs, these meeting points represent an occasionaleveryday life and a general place of cultural interac-tion of the community where the collective awarenessof residents is amplified. gps represent crucial placesto preserve tradition, therefore for the survival of theromani as a specific cultural entity it is of upmostimportance for the future settlement designs.
concLusionbased on classification and systematization of knowl-edge obtained on methodological grounds of estab-lished relations between spatial and social level, char-acteristics of physical structure were seceded as anargued base of knowledge about romani housing. it
Figure 8. Gathering place in Romani settlements .
Figure 7. Bifunctional street in Romani settlements .
Figure 6. Porch in Romani settlements.
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, can be used as a basic set of principles for futureromani housing development and reconstruction,separating it from the usual approach in urban andarchitectural design of social housing.
the field research results show that the basicstructural unit is spatially and functionally an entityinterlaced into the complex system of yg which influ-ence, but also is influenced by other socio-spatialphenomena within the system. therefore, during thedesigning of a residence, it is necessary to questionthe parameters both for its independent agency as aprivate space, and for the agency as a romani com-munity space. the built area should be positioned in away that the yard stays in the center of the entity, thusestablishing a direct link to the street. the existence ofa porch is desirable in every romani house. it repre-sents a spatial controller of layering private, familyand common life, since it is private in use but visuallya common family place. in relation to mentioned usecharacteristics, the porch should be dimensioned incombining parameters for its dominant use of being adining room and summer kitchen (includes a space toprepare and not store food). the streets have a com-plex, hybridized appropriation. apart from being usedas car and pedestrian roads, the way of everyday col-lective community life has modified them into placesthat intertwine different families into a real communitywhole. in that respect, the street network designshould be witty in respecting these socio-cultural char-acteristics of romani community. this perspectivegave open space a semantic value. through their exis-tence a system of mutual references of a collectiveconscience is maintained providing group cohesion.in the designers sense meeting points should enable aspatial comfort for all residents during celebrations aswell as a corresponding geometry of the area, so thatit could be organized to simultaneously receive all set-tlement residents.
the potential of establishing a relationbetween particular cultural patterns integrated in theeveryday behavior and their spatial organization hasshown itself as a source of information that, recurrent-ly, has the potential to create adequate housing envi-ronment for the romani community. only after inter-acting with the user i.e. after establishing their needsand aims through visual and verbal communication itis possible to create a professional step forward –developing adequate principles for the future architec-tural steps that would be permitted in the articulationsystem of the mentioned community.
it does not only imply collecting facts in acommentarial manner for their quotational applica-tion, but, it assumes a conceptual production of cre-ative ideas to reconstruct the problem using in-situfacts. the use of space as relational parameter, under-stood in the right way, enables a revision and remod-eling of inherited designing procedures of applyingstandards and norms formed for an imaginary uniformuser. this procedure changes the professionalapproach because unlike the traditional one, it sug-gests a synthesis between an approach addressedtowards understanding culture. the hereby establishedmethodology with the focus on the dwelling process,
on the objectives and activities that motivate people toprefer a certain dwelling (coolen, 2015:76) can beapplied in solving housing problems of romani com-munity, as well as of other socially vulnerable groups.
acKnoWLedgementsthe paper originates from the research done bymilena grbić phd dissertation Improvement ofHousing Spatial Organization in Roma Settlements inBelgrade under Influence of Romanipen Principlesdefended at the university of belgrade – faculty ofarchitecture in 2015.
references
acton t. and mundy g. 1997, romani culture and gypsyidentity, university of hertfordshire press, hatfield, gb.
bašić g. 2010, politička akcija: romski pokret i promene [politicalaction: roma movement and changings], Čigoja štampa, beograd,srbija
cooLen h. 2015, affordance based housing preferences, openhouse international, vol. 40, 01: 74-81.
de certeau m. 1984, the practice of everyday Life, university ofcalifornia press, berkeley, usa.
King, a. d. 2004, spaces of global cultures, routledge, London,gb and new york, usa.
macura V. 2002, pregled romskih naselja beograda 2000 [reviewof roma settlements in belgrade 2002], društvo za unapređivanjeromskih naselja, beograd, srbija.
matras y. 2008, notes on romani culture (computer printout),university of manchester, manchester, gb.
miJaiLoVić J. 2000, cigani – usamljena ili paralelna kultura[gypsies – solitary or parallel culture], cigani/romi u prošlosti idanas: 283-291.
moran J. 2005, reading the everyday, routledge, London, gband new york, usa.
norberg-šuLc K. 2002, egzistencija, prostor i arhitektura[existence, space and architecture], građevinska knjiga, 2002,beograd, srbija.
sutherLand a. 1975, gypsies:the hidden americans, tavistoc,London, gb.
Weyrauch W. and beLL m. a. 2001, autonomous law making:the case of the ‘gypsies’ , university of california press berkeleyand Los angeles, usa.
figures 1–8: all drawings and schemes were made by milena grbićas an inscription during the on-site research.
author(s):milena grbić, phd arch, teaching assistant, university of belgrade – faculty of architecture,email: [email protected]
ana nikezić, phd arch, assistant professor, university of belgrade – faculty of architecture, email: [email protected]
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1 INTRODUCTION
The modernity does not necessarily reject the heritage.It is not a denial of the past but a way to bring the her-itage up to the contemporary level, and making thebest use of the recent scientific and technologicaldevelopments. The effective contemporariness helpsto reach a right vision towards the issues that face theArab architects. This modernization cannot beachieved away from the culture this thought belongsto. However, unfortunately, most architects associatethe term “local architecture” with vocabulary only,while actually it is a combination of experience, reli-gious and social reflections, solutions to environmen-tal and social problems, and response to the ages’needs (Mohammed, 2003). The factors of the localideologies are classified into three categories:Religious beliefs, Intangible factors, and Tangible fac-tors. In our societies, the built environment slowly dete-riorated and got separated from existing reality, formany reasons, such as: absence of the cultural, social,faith, emotional dimensions, demographic changes,misuse of foreign expertise, technology control, drift-ing most of Arab architect to the modernity, and thearchitectural education (Esawy, 2010) . The contem-porary interpretation of local architecture's crisis couldbe attributed to two main facts: first, dealing with theheritage from the consumer perspective in order to
promote superficially to the respect of culture, ideolo-gy, and the society. Second, is looking at the tradition-al architecture of the Local societies as prototypes thatshould be duplicated as is regardless of today’s needs(Abdel- Raouf, 2014). The current fabric in the Arabworld is a multiple of unorganized forms and does notfollow any concepts. Most of those forms are just dis-torted copies of the western trends. The question here:can we reach a compromise between the local her-itage and the modern ideology while preserving theidentity, culture, customs and traditions of the Arabsocieties? One of the solutions proposed by CharlesCorrea and Christopher Alexander is the RegionalArchitecture, which connects the local and globalarchitecture (Abdel-Ghaffar, 2000).
2 CONTEMPORARINESS OF THE LOCAL HERITAGEThe local architecture that is compatible with the con-temporary variables does not necessarily use the sametraditional vocabulary, but the way of thinking in solv-ing eco -friendly problems. This opens new visionstowards innovation that goes beyond learning fromwhat is already existing now. Consequently, the papersheds the light on some serious attempts to face theabsence of the legacy of local architecture in modernlife. Generally, this approach is more aligned with theintellectual, cultural, social, and spatial contemporarylife variables in the Arab societies (Zidan, 2007). It
Gasser Gamil Abdel-Azim
Abstract
The ideology of “Local Architecture” was about the religious experience, social and cultural interpretations non-aware-
ness, and solutions for environmental and social problems. This case aims at producing a compatible architecture for
this society. The problem of the paper deals with the absence of the local heritage in contemporary architecture. Most
of our buildings reflect western ideologies, and use the local vocabulary, as has happened in most of the Arab archi-
tecture, that deals directly with a language of shapes to create compatibility with the public. Hence, the aim of the paper
is to link the variables that the contemporary architecture formulated with concepts of local architecture. To meet such
aims, the research is pivot around two themes: Firstly, tackling how to extract the forces that lead to the contemporari-
ness of local heritage and formalize the DNA of any local community (Culture, Community Aspiration, Climate, and
Technology), as well as discussing some experience that dealt with local architecture. Secondly, discussing some recent
trials that learned from the previous attempts through history. The attempts strongly re-activate the local architecture in
the contemporary challenges, namely, the use of heritage forms as is to conform to environmental determinants, devel-
opment of these forms using contemporary materials through the visions of local architecture, and employing high-tech
solutions to achieve contemporary appropriateness within traditional ideologies. In the end, the paper presents new
ideas of the local architecture that learned from the previous experiences in our Arab societies to meet the needs of
today’s Arab societies.
Keywords: Traditional heritage, Contemporariness, the DNA of Local Architecture.
TOWARDS CONTEMPORARINESS OF LOCAL ARCHI-TECTURE: LESSONS LEARNED FROM PREvIOUSExPERIENCE.
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could be said that local architecture is the connectinglink among different forces in the process of formingthe architecture, these forces are: Firstly, the culturalheritage (H) of a huge reservoir continuously renewedthrough different ears. Secondly, community aspiration(C), which is a variable and volatile dynamic force.These two forces usually interact and are consideredthe core of the actions that are intangible and non-measurable. Thirdly, the climate/ environmentalatmosphere (E), which is a source of imagination andinspiration for any society, and it is involved in creat-ing the cultural inventory of any nation. Fourthly, tech-nology (T), which is rapidly changing in architecture. Itintervenes in all construction details and affects thearchitecture forms all over the world. These two forcesare considered the secondary connection that is spe-cific, measurable and determined. Thus, the maingoal is to combine those four forces in the contempo-rary local architecture (Sutton, 2007). We can say thatthe four basic forces that formulate the DNA of anylocal community are the Cultural Heritage (H),Aspirations of the Community (C), Climate/Environmental Atmosphere (E), and Technology (T).When these forces (HCET) interact, and becamemerged with the concepts and visions of contemporarylife variables, we can reach the so-called:
Contemporariness of the Local Architecture (CLA), orthe Contemporary Local Architecture (Figure1).
2/1 THE ORIGINAL MODEL: THE COMPLEX OF SUL-TAN HASANIn praise of the complex, al- Maqrizi writes; “There isno sanctuary of the Muslims, known in the lands ofIslam that equals this jāmic and its dome, the likes ofwhich has not been built-in Egypt, Syria, Iraq, NorthAfrica, or Yemen.” Both Ibn Taghri Birdi and IbnShahin describe it as an edifice with no equal and oneof the wonders of the world. In an elaboratemetaphor, Ibn Habib considers it superior to the pyra-mids of Giza and the Iwan of Kisra (H). The monu-mental porch stands four stories tall and is consideredthe largest portal in Cairo (T) (Al- Harithy, 1996). Theplan of the Sultan Hasan complex distinguishes thepublic zone (the jāmic, the major teaching āwāns,and the mausoleum) from the private of each of themadrasah units and adjusts scale and accessibility (Al-Harithy, 1996) (Figure 2).
It is clear that the design seems to haveaccommodated the site conditions and the sizes of themadrasahs in a more of a hierarchical fashion thatresponded more to the actual following of the fourmadrasahs in Egypt (C). The educational, social, andreligious institutions that constituted the main block ofthe building represented the people. Each institutionfulfilled a community need and referred to a different
social group (C).Placing the mau-soleum betweenthe complex andthe Citadel repre-sents the Sultan asstanding betweenthe people and theMamluks, (Kahil,2008) (Figure 3).
Figure 2. Complex of Sultan Hasan, Ground floor& the
main courtyard, Cairo. (Source: right, H. Al-Harithy, theComplex of Sultan Hasan, 1996, P. 56-63 &left, Author,2012)
Figure 1. Concept of the local architecture as a link between
the forces of the recruiting process of architecture (Source:Author, 2015).
Figure 3. The Four Madrasahs, Complex of Sultan Hasan, Cairo Source: H. Al-Harithy. The Complex of
Sultan Hasan, 1996, P. 53-72)
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3 LESSONS USING TRADITIONAL FORMS FORENvIRONMENTAL APPROPRIATENESS
These lessons have represented the designs that con-form to the social, economic, and political environ-ment. They referred to the traditional, popular formsand the available natural materials, which haveproved to be environmentally and economicallyappropriate.
3/1 Ramses Wissa WassefSaid; "Where I had been struck by the beauty of theNubian houses in the villages of the area, I learnedthat it was still possible to find bricklayers who couldmake vaulted roofs for houses”. He resolved to keepup their presence in his own architectural work for rea-sons of aesthetics, climate, and economics. He madeuse of the traditional artisans such as stonecutter, tra-ditional carpenters, glass blowers and potters who hadinherited the techniques and traditions of the Egyptianvernacular heritage (H). The choice of this traditionaltechnology also reflected his wish to transfer the val-ues of handicraft to succeeding generations in arapidly industrializing country. It reflects Wissa Wassef's
rejection of conventional modern Egyptian architec-ture, and his studies for ways of developing the tradi-tional mud-brick architecture to serve a wider range ofneeds. Wassef was firmly resolved never to sacrifice hisartistic vision for current trends of construction. Hesaid, "One cannot separate beauty from utility, theform from the material, the work from its job, the manfrom his creative art". The structural systems, materials,and techniques used are similar throughout, althoughthey too evolved in response to experience and differ-ing users' requirements (The Aga Khan Award, 1983)(Figure 4).
3/2 Hassan FathyHe has made many local and popular restorations,but his works were not without renovation. He addedthe old experience and represented newly developedsolutions for refined climatic and environmental prob-lems (E). Therefore, he re-discovered this method todeal with the architecture not only on the level of thebuilding detail, or on the climate change, but com-patible with the social environment, on the urbanlevel. His keenness and study of social aspects for anycommunity are one of the most important influences
Figure 5. Alpha Bianca Palace for Yannick Fu, Ben Jacooper Artists, Majorca, Spanish east coast, Spain, 1979 (Source:
Images from the internet).
Figure 4. Ramses Wissa Wassef Arts Centre, Giza, Egypt, 1974 (Source: The Aga Khan Award for Architecture, 0291.EGY)
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before the design (C). Moreover, he takes into accountthe economic level using available materials; it is acase of integration and compatibility with nature(Serageldin, 2009). The Alpha Bianca palace is one ofthe unique prototypes. It features on the other work ofHassan Fathy, by using the Andalusian style (H). Wefound that he has distinguished stems from respect forthe local culture, trying to find the roots of the originalarchitecture while keeping up with the time, and servein line with human environment, with the use of avail-able local material (E). It also adopted thought of thecooperative construction, and not as some believethat, his distinguished creativity and skills are only lim-ited to the use of mud, domes, and vaults (C) (Fathy,1992) (Figure 5).
3/3 Rami El Dahan and Soheir FaridMost of their works are for touristic services. This isbecause the success of these forms is to express thelocal heritage (H). Therefore, they used new vocabu-lary terms with the aim of giving the last versions of thecomposition by understanding the origin of these func-tions to use arcades, wooden works, walls, ceil-ings…etc. They also introduced a case of incorpora-tion with the surrounding environment additionallyprovided through the re-use of local forms that haveproven throughout history, most compatible environ-mental and climatic conditions (E). The idea of theirworks is to live with it, to live in it, and to enrich spiri-tually by it. This is not a new idea, it is a tradition thatcomes from a time when men’s lives were tied to theland and nurtured by it. Most of his projects were con-sidered an environmentally sound architecture thatbelong to the land upon which it has been built. Theyadopted the vocabulary of vaults and domes to meetthe function of the buildings. They built their projectsto show different experience and expressions in acommunity that are all in harmony together (C). Withinthe same vocabulary and style, they present a varietyof designs and different scenarios. Although the use oflocal materials contributes to create a local image, itdoes not help to create a local lifestyle, (Asfour, 2010)(Figure 6).
4 LESSONS DEvELOPING TRADITIONAL FORMSUSING CONTEMPORARY MATERIALS
Another type of lessons tends to understand, re- con-sider and develop the function of these basic, tradi-tional forms. Here, the modern materials are used withthe traditional ones. This combination does notbreach the environmental compatibility, but it createsa completely new formation that has the spirit of thecontemporary and the essence of the local architec-ture.
4/1 Abdel-Halim Ibrahim
Said; “It's a community Architecture and not a memo-rial one; it is based on the society thought where eachbuilding is an experience that includes continuing edu-cation process”. He came up with the form of lan-guage that stems from the heart of a local architectur-al thought based on a set of design principles thatexplore his vision. These principles include; First,urban condensation to fit the environmental andsocial conditions of any society benefiting from thelocal architecture. It is a recognition that the real valueof this creative legacy is a solution to the problemsfacing the society today and tomorrow. Second, theinteraction between the user and built environmentwithin its orientation, elevations forms, and the avail-able materials used to predict of the awareness. Heconsiders the principle of the interaction as the mostimportant aspect of the local architecture (Ismail,2003). It should be conserved using his full con-sciousness about the shift in the circumstances, tradi-tions, and habits that have taken place on our localsocieties. This shift dispossesses our communities fromany means of a mechanism to control the buildingprocess of their homes. However, he believes in recon-sidering and strengthening the concept of the produc-tive community, (Ali, 2011) (Figure7).
Third: the real response of the local environment,according to Ibrahim, “the obligation of maturing thedifferent spatial spaces and their relations to the envi-ronmental factors. The local materials will meet fortraditional architecture that is naturally in a well cli-mate treatment. Those spaces have an impact whichaffects the user and influenced it, thereby creating ahighly valuable architecture” (Ismail, 2003). The NileGallery, designed by him attempted to join the new
Figure 6. Al-Azhar Park Restaurant, Cairo, 2004, Kafr El-Gouna Resort, Hurghada- Red sea, 1993-2000 (Source:Asfour,
2010, p.80-83)
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modern function into heritage values. His main con-cern was to link the current art movement in Egypt withour cultural heritage. This was psychologically usingcolor, texture, and distinctive intimate masses. The roofof the main hall was supported by steel trusses thatcovered by a glass roof for natural lighting purposes.The mix of the use of stones, steel and glass in thefaçade creates another link between local visualimages and global high-tech (Salama, 1999)(Figure8).
4/2 Rasem BadranHis work involves the full spectrum of the built envi-ronment, from urban planning to each residence. Heconcentrates on making architecture that meets thesocial and cultural requirements of the people whouse it (C), as well as being place- specific in responseto environmental conditions. He inspires the ideas ofhis buildings from the architectural heritage of the citycontext, where the buildings are blending traditionwith the use of modern technology in construction,and where the social and religious dimensions linked
to the everyday activities. Moreover, he offers newinsights and distinctiveness to such governmentalbuildings while maintaining authenticity and prestige.Rasem Badran also entered the environmental studiesas one of the important factors influencing the build-ings forms (E). We see his works as an extension of thelegacy of the historic area. Rather, by the spirit of cre-ativity and innovation of the forms were not forged byto accommodate the building's needs, whether in thetraditional forms, external walls, openings, air move-ment and the ability to adapt the local material formodern forms (T) (Abdel-Gawad, 2013) (Figure9).
4/3 Tamer El-GabalyHe tries to revive the vocabulary of local architecturederived from the cultural heritage and geographicalclimate outstanding prevailing. This imposition ofsolutions in architecture to reshape the cognitive impli-cations of the character embodiment in the physicalspatial framework. In addition to, the respects of thereligious, psychological, ideological and venerationfor Mashrabiya in Arabic architecture and its implica-
Figure 7. Ministry of Housing competition for designing: One million dwelling units, third prize (Source: Ali, 2011, p.50-53)
Figure 8. The Nile Gallery, Opera Grounds, Cairo, 1997. An Example of Nationalized Modernism/ Modernized
Regionalism by Abdel Halim Ibrahim (Source: Author, 2015)
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tions (H). It does not only emphasis on the concept ofMashrabiya and its characteristics from an environ-mental perspective without blend elements of shadingsuch as tents and wooden pergolas (E). Moreover, thearchitect’s dependence on natural materials that arelocally available such as stone and wood is environ-ment- friendly. He also mixes between the Arab fea-tures of the building architecture and the natural envi-ronment of local vocabulary with its various elementsof palms, plants, fountains and the floor patternswhether it's the main plaza of the project or the gar-dens surrounding the building (E) . An integrated Arabenvironment in the contemporary image reflects onthe glass of the middle building. He uses sun breakersand elements of the shading from Mashrabiya manu-facturer of G.R.C, and all this in the framework of anintegrated perspective to emphasize the design con-cept of the project (T), (Khaled, et al., 2011)(Figure10).
5 NEW LESSONS LEARNED PREvIOUS ExPERIENCESThese attempts see the technology as potentialities tocreate solutions to satisfy the needs of the communi-ties, without referring to the traditional designs (T). Thisled to the emergence of innovative forms to create abalance between modernity and environmentalrequirements (E).
5/1 Mohamed M. Abdullah and Yousri H. KhalilThey introduced the second skin in an innovative wayas a series of panels open horizontally or verticallydepending on sun movement around the building. It isimportant to say that the architects showed a new wayto use shutters. The condensed arrangement suggeststhat it is not possible to produce the same traditionalshutters that are one century old. Moving along thisline of thinking, shutters design may come in differentgeometrical shapes producing pleasing skin patternson the facades with a variety of subdued light inside(T) (Asfour, 2013) (Figure11).
5/2 Gasser Gamil Abdel-AzimHe has attempted in his work to respect the constraintsof the site. One of these determinates was the site,which has several various urban patterns. The projectcame as a point corresponding to the place between
two contradictory patterns. The first was organic, infor-mal, which the fabric of residential communitiesaround confirmed. The second was the grid, formalthat represented by the public and residential build-ings designed by State institutions (H). From here, this
Figure 12. The site enclosed between two contradictory
patterns (organic vs grid) (Source: Author, 2013)
Figure 11. Economic Environmental Housing, KSA, 2010
(Source: Asfour, 2010, P.80-83)
Figure 10. Headquarters of the New Urban Communities
Authority, El- Sheikh Zayed, Egypt, 2010 (Source: Khaled,et.al., 2011, p.34-37)
Figure 9. Rasem Badran’s works is representing the com-
patibility between the heritage and contemporary (Source:http://[email protected], accessed June2015)
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strong constraint inspires the architect in his concept ofdesign and represents it in the form of the project asone mass divided into two parts. One of them is thegrid and formal through the cultural part. The otherpart of the project is organic and informal, (Figure12).
The irregularity of the land shape was anoth-er constraint that was stressing on the architect for achallenging a design idea and reforming the project.He tried to respect the landform, and good exploita-tion of its corners, despite some irregular ones, whichadded another difficulty, (inspired by Hassan Fathiworks). Thus, he put the open theater in the acute cor-ner of the site as a breathing hub that includes all pat-terns of events done from the public (C). The orienta-tion to the north is another constraint, added to thehigh temperature and the longest radiated periods ofthe sun, which classify the urban Egyptian societies.Therefore, the architect used circular shape andsloped roofs (E), which makes it a focal point thatwraps around all other elements of the project. Someof Hassan Fathy works inspired and influenced thearchitect, through using such different forms with mul-tiple grids and some environmental treatments, but ina modern way, (Figure 13).
The architect considered the environmentaland climatic constraint in his design decisions by frag-menting the project into two parts through putting acelestial courtyard provided with greenery to enter thenatural lighting and ventilation to all spaces of theproject (E). In addition, the architect tried to find a sep-arator space between the two different grids, which isinspired from the local architecture (H). In addition to,shading the entrances and outdoor spaces of the pro-ject with a set of thick concrete beams. Therefore, thearchitect took into account the harsh climatic condi-tions on the site (E), (Figure14).
The architect tried to use the local materialsthat were available in the site such as stone, marble,and wood (such as the base of the building, whichinspired from the previous lessons of Abd El-Halimworks). This base isolates the building from the weath-er, isolation and strong connection with the land (E).The architect uses the wooden ornaments, whichinspired from the informal residential wooden typessurrounding the site, but in a way of innovation andcontemporary. Moreover, the architect tried to convertthe sharp corner of the site from a point of weakness
to strength. He exploited the services of the open the-ater as a landmark for the plaza. Besides, he made itmore like the minaret, (because of the religious beliefsthat spread in these societies), (Figure15).
5/3 Tarek Abd El-Raouf and Gasser GamilIn their project, the site looked as a one coherentarchitectural mass divided into two uneven parts, con-nected with an internal pathway that represents themain movement of the physical axis. Moreover, it rep-resents the cognitive link between the service parts thatcreates, with its organized formation, a balancebetween the psychological atmosphere of the projectand its educational and cultural purpose. Thus, thedesign responds to the site needs and uses the cultur-al heritage stored in our minds. The result fosters thecommunity sense of belonging to this heritage, notonly in terms of its vocabulary but also in terms of itsinternal and external configuration, without disregard-ing the modern global trends. This helps to reach acompromise between the traditional framework andthe current environmental, social and cultural context.The cultural part was oriented to the north through acourtyard consider the environmental conditions,While, the service part respects the boundaries of thesite (E), (Figure16).
Figure 16. Mubarak’s library represents the cognitive link
between the two parts for homogeneousness and compati-bility (Source: Author, 2008).
Figure 15. The architect uses the stone& marble base all
around the building for durability and beauty issues, andtries to innovate the shapes of wooden types. (Source:Author, 2013)
Figure 13. The architect inspired by Hassan Fathy ideas, in
El-Mashrabia Touristic Center, 1976, Giza, Egypt (Source:Serageldin, 2009, P. 207& Author, 2013)
Figure 14. The courtyard used as a Separator between the
two contradictory grids for Environmental factors and forcedto shaded most of the outdoor spaces (Source: Author,2013)
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The character of the project is an expression and anunderstanding of what is behind these traditional for-mations. It is not a case of calling such forms, and notquoting from Western buildings. Thus, the designerswant to produce an architecture that is compatiblewith the local environment, and intellectually contem-porary for the user culture. The study of the charactersimply clarifies the reforming and access to all theprinciples and the ideologies of heritage, through anarchitectural vocabulary that does not affect the pro-ject economics. Several factors identified (derivedfrom the basis of the local architecture), to create avisual consecutive project to confirm a mental imageof the public, and respect their culture, (Figure17).
We see that the service part shows ally her-itage vocabulary to represent intimacy to the localcommunity. Traditional materials such as light anddark strips of stone (Ablque) finished that cluster (H).This part of the building makes a clear contrast withthe cultural mass, which represents the modernity (thatinspired from Abdel- Halim Ibrahim works), that masswas finished by contemporary materials such as glass,stainless steel, and metal sheets. In addition, the dou-ble skin is designed to control the lighting (T), and toshow the heritage of traditional and popular symbolscharacterized and known for its culture of communityand place, (Figure18).
The most important considerations of localarchitecture were taken into account:
Creating internal planted courtyards to fill in somespaces in the northern side, without overlooking theamount of the natural light allowed. Increasing thegreeneries in front of the noisy sides, and deliberatelyusing narrow openings as much as possible in thesides exposed to the southern and western. Thethought of the functional and philosophical projectstands in contrast with the idea of a strong challengeto the future extension of the project. Therefore, thearchitects adopted horizontal extension thought thevertical direction than in the horizontal direction.
6 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The paper has discussed the concept of re-connectingwith local architecture from the appropriateness of theplace point of view, the nature of life, and compatibil-ity with the culture of Arab societies. Accordingly, itbegan with the debate on the principles that estab-lished this architectural thought. Therefore, the paperhas shed the light on the factors that influenced theformation principles of local architectural ideology.The connection with the local ideology can happenonly through re-activating some factors, namely, reli-gious beliefs, non-physical (intangible), and physical(tangible) factors. However, it focuses only on the tan-gible factors as they can be scientifically measured,and they make the best use of the technologicaladvancement.
The paper has shed light on some of theattempts that take into consideration the four basicforces (HCET) that form the architecture DNA of anylocal community: inheritance Cultural Heritage (H),aspirations of the Community (C), Climate/Environmental atmosphere (E), and Technology (T).These attempts try to deal with the traditional formsthat characterize their societies in the contemporaryreality while producing local tint architecture to fit theplace, time and comply with the conditions and vari-ables. These lessons have been divided according totheir achievements of the forces related to the localarchitecture as follow:
Some attempts concentrated on the forces of CulturalHeritage (H), and aspirations of the Community (C)through re-using the traditional forms that providedgood solutions to environmental problems to find thisconnection with local architecture, and ignore the useof Technology (T). Other architects confirmed that thecontemporary technological and scientific variablesshould have an impact and changes in the vocabularyof architectural form in local architecture. Therefore,they decided to develop this vocabulary through usingnew materials besides the traditional ones that con-serve the environmental compatibility (the Technology(T) starts to represent here). Other attempts used mod-ern technology (T), in response to the climate restric-tions, and as an approach to combine contemporaryvariables with the local architecture. They believe thattechnology cannot be ignored. They see the moderntrends as potentialities that can be used nowadays toproduce buildings appropriate to the environment,regardless of the architectural structure. Here, theyignore the factors of Cultural Heritage (H), aspirationsof the Community (C).
The biggest challenge is related to the ques-tion of how the inherited civilization, the feeling ofnostalgia can be used to motivate the creative contri-butions of Arab architects to humanity within the cur-rent temporal and spatial framework of the seconddecade of the twenty -one century. Hence, the Arabarchitects, have a big responsibility to create spacesthat respect and relate to the distinctive Local archi-tecture, but at the same time, address the present andexplore the future.
Figure 18. The architects try to compromise between local
and modernity (Source: Author, 2008).
Figure 17. A bold attempt of G. Gamil, T. Abd El -Raouf to
make a docking between local heritage and contemporaryin harmony in the Library design (Source: Author, 2008)
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7 REFERENCES
MOHAMMED, TAREK A. (2003) . Manifesto Role in ArchitecturalTransformations, unpublished PhD thesis, Faculty of Engineering,Cairo University, pp. 28-29
ESAWY, SALLY M. (2010). Mass Communication and Architecture-towards Exploring a Communication Mechanism Affected for anUrban vulture, unpublished Master thesis, Faculty of Engineering,Cairo University, pp. 33-35
ABDEL-RAOUF, ALI. (2014). From Mecca to Las Vegas, CriticismsApproaches in Architecture and Sacrosanct, Madarat for Researchand Publishing, first Edition, Deposit No. in the Egyptian BooksHouse: 21649/2013, ISBN: 978-977-85022-5-1
ABDEL-GHAFFAR, AHMED M. (2000). Beyond the RegionalArchitecture, unpublished PhD thesis, Faculty of Engineering, CairoUniversity, pp. 70
ZIDAN, A. (2007). Modern Trends for Engineering the Shape andComposition in Dealing with the Islamic Heritage in ContemporaryArchitecture, unpublished Master Thesis, Faculty of Engineering,Cairo University, pp. 147
SUTTON, D. (2007). Islamic Design: A Genius for Geometry,Walker& Company; ASIN: B00OvNUKDE. Al-Harithy, H. (1996).The Complex of Sultan Hassan in Cairo: Readings between theLines, Muqarnas13, the American University of Beirut, pp. 68-79.
AL-HARITHY, H. (1996). The Four Madrasahs in the Complex ofSultan Hassan (1356–61): The Complete Survey, the AmericanUniversity of Beirut, pp. 49-55.
KAHIL, A. (2008). The Sultan Hassan Complex in Cairo 1357-1364.A Case Study in the Formation of Mamluk Style, Ergon; ASIN:B002ROOFP8, ISBN: 9783899136432.
The Aga Khan Award for Architecture. (1983).Technical Review,Website from http:// www.akdn.org/architecture/pdf/0291_Egy.pdf
SERAGELDIN, I. (2009). Hassan Fathi –the School and theExperience, Alexandria, Alexandria Bibliotheca, ISBN: 978-977-452-164-5, pp. 41
FATHY, H. (1992). Contemporaneity in the City. In Architecture for aChanging World, edited by James Steele. London: AcademyEditions, pp. 10
ASFOUR, K. (2010). The Hassan Fathi Award for Architecture,Alexandria, Egypt, Dar El-Kuttub depository number: 11853/2010,ISBN: 978-977-452-083-9, pp. 80-83.
ISMAIL, A. (2003). Architecture as a Bridge of Cultures, a Dialoguewith the Dr. Abdel Halim Ibrahim, Albenaa, Journal of ArchitecturalEngineering, issue154, pp. 6
ALI, A. (2011). Albenaa Alaraby, Journal of ArchitecturalEngineering, 6th year, issue 27 Nov.-Dec., Arab Company for thespecialist Media, Lebanon Square،, El-Mohandeseen, pp. 50-53
SALAMA, ASHRAF A. (1999). Submitted for paper in the RegionalSeminar: Architecture Reintroduced: New Projects in Societies inChange, Contemporary Architecture of Egypt: Reflections onArchitecture and Urbanism of the Nineties, The Aga Khan Award forArchitecture (AKAA) and The American University of Beirut (AUB)Beirut, Lebanon, 24-27 November 1999.
ABDEL-GAWAD, M. (2013). Architecture from Functionalism toDeconstructivisim, the Anglo-Egyptian library, 165 M. Farid street,Cairo, Egypt, deposit No.: 10074/3201, ISBN: 4-2846-05-977-978
KHALED, A. ET AL., (2011). Albenaa Alaraby, 6th year, issue 27Nov.-Dec., Arab Company for the Specialist Media, LebanonSquare،, El-Mohandeseen, pp. 34-37
ASFOUR, K. (2013). The Hassan Fathi Award for Architecture,Alexandria, Egypt: the Centre of Alexandria Studies andMediterranean, Dar El-Kuttub, deposit No.19313/2013, ISBN:978-977-452-254-8, pp. 7.
Author(s):
Gasser Gamil Abdel-AzimMisr International University (MIU), km28 Cairo-Ismailia Road, P.O.Box1, Heliopolis, EgyptEmail: [email protected]
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1. introduction1.1 Study background and purpose
housing defects affect the residents’ health and safetyboth directly and indirectly. the representative defectsinclude cracks in the wall, subsidence, water leak-age/infiltration, condensation, etc.; cracks in the wallor subsidence can lead to residential units collapsing;water leakage/infiltration or condensation can causemold to spread and eventually lead to asthma or skindiseases.
the ministry of Land, infrastructure andtransport surveyed the households as a foundationtask to implementing residential well-being and foundthat in 2010 there were 1,840,000 households intotal that did not meet the Korean national minimumhousing standard, making up 10.6% of the wholecountry, which is lower than that of 2006 (16.6%) andof 2008 (12.7%), showing a tendency towards a grad-ual reduction in substandard housing (Korea nationalStatistical office 2010). however, those householdsare in a very bad condition, with most residentsbelonging to the low-income class.
in order to improve the quality of their livingconditions and to support those who are beingexposed to health and safety dangers, we need todiagnose their housing conditions precisely andspecifically. however, to date no systematic surveyshave been carried out on housing defects in terms oftypes and number of defective cases and the degreesof the defective conditions. the purpose of this studyis to understand what health and safety dangers the
residents are at risk from by surveying the real condi-tions of these households regarding housing defects,and to find a way to improve them.
1.2 Study range and methodsthe study subject is the housing of the low-incomeclass. out of 10 monthly median household incomedeciles in Korea, we considered the households ofdecile 4 and below as the low-income class,i andgrouped them for the survey into 3 groups: decile 1,decile 2, deciles 3–4.ii (table1) Jungwon-gu andSujeong-gu in Seongnam city, the surveyed region, isone of the neighborhoods in Korea with a high pro-portion of low-income households. we limited the res-idential types to be mdu housing, with decile 4households and below.
we reviewed six of the surveyed defect types—subsidence, cracks in the wall, delamination, waterleakage/infiltration, condensation, contamination—and evaluated them by three degrees of the condition,that is, very serious, serious, minor. with mdu hous-ing where there are several households residing, wethought it difficult to judge the level of living quality ineach household through the exterior defects of thehousing, and decided to focus on the interior defects.the surveys were performed by trained surveyors overthree months from July through September, 2011,using a structured questionnaire and camera. thequestionnaire was prepared based on the housing sur-vey’s study(choi, w. and han, S. 2013; Kim, S. 2011;Lee, d. 2012; Lee, m. 2010) with modifications andadditions to fit the purpose of this study, and with the
Bong-Kuk Ko, Woo-Jung Lee, Jae-Hoon Lee
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to understand what health and safety hazards low-income households are subject to by sur-
veying the real conditions of the defective housing of low-income households, and to find improvement strategies. For
this purpose, we visited the concentrated areas of the multi-dwelling unit (MDU) (also known as multi-family residen-
tial) housing in Jungwon-gu and Sujeong-gu in Seongnam City, Kyunggi-do, one of the representative areas in Korea
with a massive distribution of the low-income class. Based on the survey data, the level of housing defects were com-
parison analyzed per income decile (decile 1, decile 2, deciles 3–4), and per housing location, in the categories of
subsidence, cracks in the wall, delamination, water leakage/infiltration, condensation, and contamination. The hous-
ing condition per income class was more defective in the decile 2 households rather than in the decile 2 households,
and in the substructure more than in the superstructure. Among the six defects, contamination problems, caused by sub-
standard living conditions, were the most frequent cases. Structural defects, subsidence and cracks in the wall, were
found in the main living areas—the bedrooms and the living rooms. It was confirmed in this study that the conditions
of low-income housing are serious, and that it is necessary to explore specific countermeasures in the near future.
Keywords: low-Income, Low-Income Housing, Housing Defects, Housing Condition, Healthy Housing.
A Survey Study on the defectS found in Low-income houSing: cASe Study SeongnAm cityKoreA .
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help of two maintenance experts in the review. Beforethe survey, in order to secure the objectivity in evaluat-ing the types and degrees of the housing defects, weused trained surveyors with the survey guidelines.
2. theoretical consideration2.1 housing defects and healthhousing defects mean that there is not enough sup-port secured in the foundation, structure, and roofingof each part of the structure or walls, floors, ceilings,etc (terms relating to contemporary architecturecompilation committee 2011). under the housinglaw, housing and construction defects are termed as‘flaws’ which are caused by errors in construction,such as cracks in the wall, deflection, subsidence,breakage, collapse, water leakage/infiltration, thatlead to the deterioration of a building or a facility in itsfunction, aesthetics, or safety.iii the causes of hous-ing defects vary but are mainly due to residential wearand tear or poor maintenance. Such defects seriouslyaffect the residents’ health and safety (who regionaloffice for europe copenhagen 1988).iv it is urgent toexplore improvement strategies through a systematicsurvey and analysis.
2.2 the formation background and current conditionof the low-income housing neighborhoods inSeongnam city (S-city)S-city is the first satellite city developed in the late1960s in an effort to disperse the population of Seoulas it was becoming overpopulated. S-city was select-ed to house the 550,000 homeless people from Seouland accordingly became a big residential town (Ki ecsocial problems 1986; Lee, w. 1996).
Also, the development of S-city was basedon 'the large gwangju complex' and a huge industrialcomplex was created, starting with labor-intensive lightindustry. S-city was developed centered on the moranmarket as its business hub, while Sujeong-gu(S-gu)and Jungwon-gu(J-gu) were being formed as part ofthe now old town. in 1989, centered on the southernpart of S-city, approx. 17.85㎢, 105,000 town houseswere built, thus forming the residential old town incontrast with the neighboring Bundang new city thathouses 420,000 residents—a new town with apart-ment towers.
until now, the new town and old town in S-city have shown a contrast in the residents’ character-istics and their current residential conditions, etc. inreviewing the low-income housing distribution in S-
city (figure1), the rate of households that fall in theincome decile 4 and below is 33.5% in Bundang-gu(B-gu), and 73% or more in J-gu and S-gu (SeongnamStatistical information 2011). Also, looking at the cur-rent residential conditions in S-city (figure2), the mduhousing rate is 9.8% in B-gu, whereas it is 66% in J-gu and S-gu. reviewing the service life of mdu hous-ing (figure3), in B-gu 15-30 year -old build-ings(1980~1994) account for 22% of the housing,whereas this figure is 57.6% in J-gu and S-gu. Also,the rate of buildings built before 1980 which haven’tbeen maintained with legal residential quality man-agement is 0.9% in B-gu, and 4.6% in J-gu and S-gu(Korea national Statistical office 2010). Likewise, thesurvey sites of J-gu and S-gu are heavily populatedwith low-income households, and with mdus that arein a seriously deteriorated condition, and thus areappropriate for the purpose of this study.
3. Survey of low-income housing conditions inSeongnam city3.1 composition of the survey subjectsthe survey criteria are organized into an evaluationtable with which we can qualitatively survey the defectsfound in the residential interior spaces, such asvestibule, living room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom,balcony, etc., along with general conditions such asincome class, household characteristics, occupationtype, area, number of rooms, number of residents. forthe interior defects, based on the related survey andprevious studies, we categorized the defects into twogroups: the first includes structural defects that aredirectly related to building collapses, such as subsi-dence, crack in the wall, delamination, water leak-age/infiltration, condensation; the second includesgeneral life- and maintenance-related defects, such ascontamination.
3.2 the housing condition discrimination referencematerialfor the housing condition survey, we ranked the sixtypes of defects by the three degrees of condition:“very serious”, “serious”, “minor”.with subsidence, through area and depth, weassessed the seriousness of the conditions of the ceil-ings, walls or floors. with the surveyors’ visual inspec-tion, if the potential to collapse was high and mainte-nance and repair work was needed urgently, then it
Figure 1- 3.
Table 1. 10 Income Deciles in Korea
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eewas considered “very serious.” though serious, ifurgent repair and maintenance weren’t required, wegrouped these cases into “serious”; and, though itshows subsidence, if the degree was meager, wegrouped these as “minor.”
with a reinforced concrete structure, a“minor” level crack in the wall doesn’t affect the struc-tural integrity as much, but “very serious” and “seri-ous” levels can be structurally critical; and we rankedthe degrees of the condition by measuring the length,width, and direction.
As for delamination, we ranked the degreesof the condition by the amount of the exposed area ofthe structure where the housing finishing material (tile,wall covering, etc.) was removed.
As for water leakage/infiltration and conden-sation, we ranked the degrees of mold spread accord-ing to the surveyor’s visual inspection result—becausewater leakage/infiltration and condensation promotemold spread—and ranked the molded area as “veryserious,” “serious” or “minor” based on the discrimi-nation reference material.
As for contamination, we differentiated thedegrees of the condition by the amount of area affect-ed: a widely contaminated area with strong odor wasranked “very serious,” where the situation could beimproved by replacing the wall covering it was rankedas “serious,” and when it could be managed with wip-ing out the stair as “minor.”
3.3 distribution characteristics of the surveyed house-holdswe conducted a survey of a total of 645 householdsin low-income housing in Seongnam city: 289 house-holds were in decile 1, 194 households in decile 2,and 162 households were in deciles 3–4. 62.9% ofthe low-income households live above ground and37.1% live below ground, which differs greatly fromthe national survey data from the office for nationalStatistics which quotes: 93.3% in the superstructureand 6.7% in the substructure (Korea research institutefor human Settlements 2010). this is probablybecause the surveyed neighborhoods are denselypopulated with low-rise mdu housing with substruc-ture residents, whereas nationwide this housing ismore spread out.
4. the real condition analysis of housing defectswe conducted a housing defect real condition analy-sis using the following process: first in 4.1, we dealtwith the overall defective cases and the degrees ofcondition of the low-income housing in Jungwon-guand Sujeong-gu in Seongnam city; in 4.2.1 wefocused on the income class; in 4.2.2, we focused onthe housing location, defective cases and the degreesof conditions were analyzed using comparative analy-sis; in 4.3, defective cases were analyzed as perincome class and housing location, using comparativeanalysis.
in each chapter, we first compared the over-all defective cases per household, and then groupedthem under two categories and subdivided themunder each for the comparison analysis: structural
defects (subsidence, cracks in the wall, delamination,water leakage/infiltration, condensation) and defectscaused by living and poor maintenance (contamina-tion). Lastly, out of the six defects, we assigned priori-ty to subsidence and cracks in the wall and located therelated sites.
4.1 the comparison analysis of housing defectsthere were 2447 defective cases out of the 645households surveyed, which translate into an averageof 3.80 cases per household. the comparison analy-sis in the two categories, structural defects and defectsfrom living, showed that contamination showed in2.00 cases per household, which is higher than the1.79 cases of structural defects. the contamination problem can be easily solved withresidents’ care and good management. consideringthe fact there are more contamination cases thanstructural defects, we assume that most low-incomehouseholds provide poor maintenance. Among the structural defects that we subdivided, therewere 0.92 cases of water leakage/infiltration, whichwas the highest-occurring defect. on the other hand,regarding the subsidence and cracks in the wall thatcan lead directly to accidents, such as residential col-lapse, there were 0.08 subsidence cases and 0.19cases of cracks in the wall, which were fewer than theother defects.
Although the most found defects from the sur-vey were contamination and water leakage/infiltra-tion, serious subsidence, with 28%, scored the highestof the defect cases rate by the degrees ofcondition.v(table3) next as a serious defect was waterleakage/infiltration, with 26%. it was the second high-est in the number of cases and the second most seri-ous defect by degrees, rating as the worst type of allwith 26%.
reviewing the housing areas where seriouscases of subsidence and cracks in the wall were found,which can lead to residential collapse, subsidence
Table 2. Note : SD : Structural Defects, DL : Defects from
Living. A : Subsidence, B : Crack in the Wall, C :Delamination D : Water Leakage/Infiltration, E :Condensation, F : Contamination
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a cases were often found in the bedrooms (6 cases) andliving rooms (4 cases), which are the main living areasof residents. their spatial location within each roomwas mostly in the ceiling, which can aggravate thechances of structural collapse.
As for cracks in the wall, serious defect caseswere found mostly in the secondary rooms, such as thebathroom (6 cases), vestibule (3 cases), and balconies(3 cases), where water is used or where there are bigtemperature differences. As for the bathrooms inKorea, mdu housing, these tend to be for commonuse by the residents and are therefore installed outsidethe bedrooms, which often discourages good man-agement.
4.2 the housing condition comparison analysisaccording to the income decilereviewing the housing conditions according to theincome class (table 4), we can see that there are moredefective cases in decile 2 households (4.39 cases)than in decile 1 households, which is the lowest inincome levels. we assume this is perhaps becausemany households that belong to the decile 2 groupare in fact as poor as those in the decile 1 group butdidn't pass some complex procedural tests.vi
the comparison analysis in the two categories, struc-tural defects and defects from living, showed thatstructural defects were most frequently found in decile2 households and that the defects from living weremost common in decile 1 households. reviewing the structural defects and defects from livingaccording to the income class, in decile 2 householdsand deciles 3–4 households there are more structuraldefects than the defects from living, whereas in decile1 households there are more defects from living thanstructural defects by 0.53 cases. we assume this is due to the fact that the physicalhealth conditions of the residents in decile 1 house-holds are below the economic activity standard.vii
in the comparison of the subdivided structural defects,the structural defects other than condensation (subsi-dence, crack in the wall, delamination, water leak-age/infiltration) were found mostly in decile 2 house-holds. from this result, as for the six defects, we cansee that decile 2 households are relatively more dete-riorated than others.
reviewing the rates of the number of defectivecases according to the degrees of condition (table 5),very serious and serious cases of all six defects werefound in decile 2 households. Among the seriousdefects in decile 2 households, subsidence was 40%,the highest, followed by water leakage/infiltration(33%), and delamination (32%). As for decile 1 house-holds, serious subsidence was 20%, the highest of all,followed by water leakage/infiltration (19%). on theother hand, in deciles 3–4 households, the highestrate of serious defects was in water leakage/infiltration(28%); and serious subsidence and a crack in the wall
Table 5. Ratio of Defective Cases by the Degrees ofCondition (by income class)
Figure 4. Crack in the Wall, Condensation and
Contamination Cases in 2 Decile Households (Case No. 24-1346, 24-1378)
Table 3. Note : A : Subsidence, B : Crack in the Wall, C :
Delamination D : Water Leakage/Infiltration, E :Condensation, F : Contamination
Table 4. Note : SD : Structural Defects, DL : Defects from
Living A : Subsidence, B : Crack in the Wall, C :Delamination D : Water Leakage/Infiltration, E :Condensation, F : Contamination
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eewere the lowest in six defects, showing the oppositeresult from decile 1 and 2 households.
comparing the cases of serious subsidenceand a crack in the wall that can lead to safety acci-dents, we found them most frequently in decile 2households, which showed the highest defect rates inall categories. on the other hand, as for deciles 3–4households with the smallest number of defectivecases, no cases of very serious level subsidence and acrack in the wall were found and serious level defectswere found to be lower than other decile households.
4.3 comparison analysis of housing conditionaccording to housing locationthe surveyed site was on a sloped hill. Since we limit-ed the range of the housing to be 2-3 storey mduhousing, substructures or semi-substructures took a lotof the surveyed data in the ratio. most residential sub-structures don't let in much daylight, have difficulty inventilation, and are influenced by temperature orhumidity. they cost less than superstructures for thisreason and therefore, low-income residents tend toreside in the substructure housing.
the number of defective cases per householdaccording to housing location (table 6) was 1148cases in total in 239 households of substructure hous-ing, which means there are 4.8 defect cases perhousehold. in general, in mdu housing the area ofsubstructure housing is less than that of superstructurehousing. this means that there were more defectsfound in housing of a relatively smaller area, and thatas such substructure low-income housing is in a dete-riorated condition.
we categorized the housing defects into twogroups, structural defects and defects from living, andcompared them; both in superstructure and substruc-ture, there were more defects from living, contamina-tion, than structural defects. overall structural defectswere found more in the substructure than in the super-structure housing, but subdivided structural defectsshowed more subsidence and crack in the wall casesin the superstructure than in the substructure housing.
table 7 shows the degrees of defect conditionper housing location, which is different from the resultwith the number of defective cases per household. Asfor subsidence, there were more defective cases insuperstructure than in substructure housing, and “veryserious” subsidence cases were found more often insubstructure housing. to the contrary, with water leak-age/infiltration, condensation, and contamination,there were more defective cases in substructure than inthe superstructure housing, but very serious defectswere found more often in the superstructure housing.reviewing the space and location of serious subsi-dence and crack in the wall cases according to hous-ing location, in the superstructure there were nine seri-ous subsidence and crack in the wall cases in the bed-rooms, followed by seven cases in the bathrooms; inthe substructure, there were three cases in the bed-rooms, followed by two cases in the vestibule, kitchen,and living room.4.4 comparison analysis of housing conditions inrelation to housing location and per income class
table8 shows the number of defective cases perhousehold in relation to housing location and perincome class: decile 2 households living in substruc-ture housing had 5.86 cases per household, showingthe most cases; in relation to income class, in all class-es there were more defects in substructure than insuperstructure housing; in relation to housing loca-tion, both in superstructure and substructure housing,decile 2 households had the most defective cases.
table9 shows the number of cases for struc-tural defects and defects from living: decile 2 house-holds of substructure housing had the highest rates,with 3.54 cases of structural defects per household,followed by 2.70 cases of defects from living. we cansee that the substructure decile 2 households areexposed to big risks both in terms of structural safetyand health hazards.
table10 shows the number of defective casesper household according to defect types. Substructuredecile 2 households had 2.70 contamination casesper household, which was the greatest, followed by
Table 7. Rates of the Defective Cases According to the
Defective Conditions (by Household Unit Location).
Table 6. Number of Defective Cases per Household
According to the Defect Types (by Household Unit Location).
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substructure decile 1 households (2.64) and decile3–4 households (1.97). Judging from the fact that themost frequently found defects were found in the sub-structure housing, we can say the housing locationcauses housing defects more than the income class.we gather from this that the housing conditions differmore by housing location than income class: all typesof defects (delamination, water leakage /infiltration,condensation, contamination), excluding subsidenceand crack in the wall cases, were found in substructurethan in superstructure housing.
whereas many defective cases were found inthe decile 2 households, serious subsidence and crackin the wall cases were found most frequently in thesuperstructure housing. in those cases, all the defec-tive conditions were found in the ceilings, which is anurgent matter that calls for the utmost attention, sinceit can cause the housing to collapse.
5. conclusionthe purpose of this study is to survey the current con-dition of low-income housing in Korea and to under-stand the problems due to building deterioration. forthis purpose, we conducted a visiting survey with thelow-income class (decile 1, decile 2, decile 3–4)households in the residential neighborhoods inJungwon-gu and Sujeong-gu in Seongnam city, whichare densely populated with mdu housing.
the survey results show that the number ofdefective cases per low-income household inSeongnam city was 3.80, which translates into almost4 cases per household. when grouped into structuraldefects (subsidence, crack in the wall, delamination,water leakage/infiltration, condensation) and defectsfrom living (contamination) cases, there were moredefects from living cases than structural defects cases.considering defects from living cases can be easilyimproved with good maintenance, we assume that the
low-income households provide poor housing mainte-nance. Among structural defects cases, water leak-age/infiltration cases were found most often, whereasthere were fewer subsidence cases. however, amongthe 50 subsidence cases, "very serious" and "serious"defects account for 28%, calling for urgent attentionfor repair, since these defects can directly lead tobuilding collapses.
the conditions of low-income housing inSeongnam city, compared by income class, showedmore deterioration in decile 2 households than indecile 2 households whose mean income level islower. we assume this is because decile 1 householdsreceive financial aid from the government, whereasdecile 2 households have to meet both the rent andcost of living with a not much better income and,therefore, sacrifice their housing related investment.
the housing condition in relation to housinglocation showed more defects in substructure than insuperstructure housing. the most common type ofdefect was contamination, followed by water leak-age/infiltration. Both defects were found more often in
Table 10. Number of Defective Cases per Household by
Defect Types (by Income Decile and Unit Location).
Table 9. Number of Defective Cases per Household in
Structural vs Living Conditions (by Income Decile and UnitLocation)
Figure 5. Delamination and Contamination Cases of the
Substructure Units (Case No. 24-1370)
Table 8. Number of Defective Cases per Household
According to Income Decile (by Household Unit Location)
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eesubstructure than in superstructure housing. weassume this is probably because most residential sub-structures don't let in much daylight, have difficultywith ventilation, and are influenced by temperature orhumidity. on the other hand, serious subsidence andcrack in the wall cases that can directly lead to build-ing collapses were found more frequently in super-structure than in substructure housing.
the comparison analysis of housing condi-tion according to housing location by income classshows that the substructure decile 1 households hadthe most defects with a mean of 5.86 cases. Amongthe subdivided defects, substructure decile 2 house-holds had the most contamination cases. on the otherhand, with the subsidence and crack in the wall cases,superstructure decile 2 households had the mostcases. especially, with the serious subsidence andcrack in the wall cases, most of them were found in thebedroom ceilings in superstructure decile 2 house-holds. these cases call for urgent attention for repair,since they could lead to building collapses.
we have found from this result that bothdecile 1 - 2 households need housing repair supportand urgent measures for the contamination and waterleakage/infiltration problems in substructure housingand for subsidence and crack in the wall problems insuperstructure housing. Also, future efforts are need-ed, as a follow-up of this study, to investigate the caus-es of the various defects, to establish the standard andsupport system for the quality management of theexisting housing through more detailed surveys, and toexplore strategies to provide repair support for low-income households.
i By deciles distribution ratio, one of the national representativemethods to indicate the income distribution per class, the lowest40% of the 10 deciles are called low-income households(wikipedia).
ii in this study, for decile 1 and 2 households, we selected thehouseholds designated by the ministry of health and welfare.
iii housing Law enforcement ordinance *6iv who guidelines for health promoting housing state that varioushousing elements affect residents in their physical, mental, andsocial health
v in this study, we evaluated the defective conditions by threedegrees of the condition, that is, very serious, serious, minor, andconsidered “very serious” and “serious” levels to be critical.
vi the qualifying decile 1 households earn below the minimum costof living per household, and there are no persons with a duty of careor, if there are, they are not able to provide the necessary care. wefound a number of decile 2 households that were earning below theminimum cost of living and yet couldn't be assigned to decile 1because they couldn't meet other requirements, meaning theyweren't getting help from the government.
vii we found in the cases of contamination, many residents were tooaccustomed to the polluted interior environment and didn't seem tofeel the discomfort.
referenceS
choi, w. And hAn, S. 2013, A Study on theAnalysis of Residential State and Improvement of Low-Income Brackets In the Outside of Gwang-ju. Koreainstitute of rural Architecture, 15 (3).
Ki ec social problems 1986, Seongnam local realitiesand the labor movement, minjungsa, Korea.
Korea research institute for human Settlements 2010,2010 Housing Condition Survey.
Kim, S. 2011, Research on Housing Conditions of theRural Area, Korean institute of rural Architecture, 13(4).
Korea national Statistical office 2010, 2010Population and Housing Census, Korea nationalStatistical office.
Lee, d. 2012, The Household Characteristics and theHousing Condition of Seoul, Architectural institute ofKorea, 28 (8).
Lee, m. 2010, A Study on the Analysis and Preventionof the Types of Defects in Communal Housing, Shresearch, Korea.
Lee, w. 1996, History of ‘Seongnam Region’, ethniccultural history, Korea.
Seongnam Statistical information 2011, SeongnamCity Social Studies Survey
terms relating to contemporary architecturecompilation committee 2011, Glossary of Building(AR positive), Seongindang
who regional office for europe copenhagen 1988,Guidelines For Healthy Housing, denmark: who
Author(s):
Bong-Kuk Ko, department of Architecture, dankook university,Korea
Jae-hoon Lee,department of Architecture, dankook university,engineering Bldg, 152, Jukjeon-ro, Suji-gu, yongin-si, gyeonggi-do, 448-701, republic of Koreae-mail: [email protected]
woo-Jung Leedepartment of Architecture, dankook university,Korea
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