scholarly journals Covid-19 Home Sign-Posts

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-62
Author(s):  
Diana Susan Nicholas ◽  
Yvonne Michael ◽  
Shivanthi Anandan
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Urban Families ◽  
Urban Housing ◽  
Single Family ◽  
Culture Of Care ◽  
Housing Environment ◽  
Equity And Access ◽  
Underserved Community ◽  
Pandemic Response ◽  
Risk Communities

The Integral Living Research (ILR) group advocates for five foundational principles in the urban housing environment: 1) privacy, 2) security, 3) access to healthy nourishment, 4) access to green space, and 5) self-efficacy enhancement through a culture of care and creativity. These principles have emerged from almost a decade of work in communities of need and are intended to guide designers working towards solutions to reduce stress and enhance health for urban families. In this paper, we examine and analyze best practices in WELL Buildings’ pandemic response guide among others, within the framework of housing, specifically single-family urban housing. Here, within the 2020 pandemic, best practices for alleviating the challenges of the urban single-family home in an underserved community are considered. In this analysis, five areas of focus called “COVID-19 Home Signposts” have emerged and been given additional lenses of equity and access. We describe those inequities and consider how to improve pandemic housing health for those in at-risk communities. We identify further areas for empirical study that are urgent: 1) to promote better understanding of how home, health, and housing improvement all play a role in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic; and 2) to devise appropriate strategies for addressing the fault lines in our cities and our society.

scholarly journals An evaluation of the self-help housing scheme in Botswana, case of Gaborone city

Spatium ◽  
2007 ◽  
pp. 28-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Horatio Ikgopoleng ◽  
Branko Cavric
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Families ◽  
Evaluation Study ◽  
Urban Housing ◽  
Urban Centers ◽  
Self Help ◽  
Housing Scheme ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

Botswana like other developing countries faces a problem of acute shortage of housing, particularly for low-income urban families. The current housing problems are the outcomes of the economic, demographic and social changes which the country has experienced since independence in 1966. In particular the urbanization process which surfaced in the early 1980?s. The government has sought to cope with the problem of low-income urban housing by establishing a Self-Help Housing (SHHA) program in the main urban centers. The evaluation findings reveal that, on the whole, the impact of the SHHA approach on the improvement of low-income urban housing has been unsuccessful. The major problems of the scheme are lack of serviced land and inadequate finances for plot development. This has been exacerbated by the high urban development standards which are out of the reach of low-income urban families. The evaluation study also reveals that, there are some indications of non low-income urban households living in SHHA areas. The available evidence reveals that the number of those people in SHHA areas is not as big as has been speculated by most people in the country. However this paper calls for more investigation in this issue and a need for more tight measures to control this illicit practice. The major conclusions are that housing policies in Botswana are not supportive of the general housing conditions in low-income urban areas. Therefore there is a need for urban planners and policy makers of Botswana to take more positive action towards the improvement of low-income urban areas. This would require pragmatic policies geared towards the improvement of those areas. .

scholarly journals Provision of health care for prisoners during the COVID-19 pandemic: an ethical analysis of challenges and summary of select best practices

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Berkemeier Brelje ◽  
Debra A. Pinals
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Legal Principles ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Health Care Policies ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
Pandemic Response

Purpose This paper aims to analyze the COVID-19 pandemic response in prisons, focusing on the USA, which imprisons a higher percentage of its population than any other country in the world. Design/methodology/approach This paper evaluates the current pandemic response in prisons based on legal and ethical imperatives for providing health care to prisoners. Findings Themes of best practices identified include increasing rapid detection of new cases, reducing transmission and advocating for both short- and long-term ethical health care policies. Halting progress now could risk dire consequences and is unacceptable on legal, ethical and public health grounds. Research limitations/implications This paper does not involve primary research with prisoners; rather it focuses on reviewing the pandemic response in prisons. Although it may be possible to translate findings in this study to similar environments (e.g. jails and detainment centers), there are unique characteristics pertaining to each that deserve separate, focused analyses. Originality/value Outbreaks that occur within prisons are likely to spread to the community and vice versa. Analyses based on ethics, law and public health point to the same conclusion: preventing significant outbreaks within prisons will benefit not only prisoners but also the general public. Furthermore, even though the scientific understanding of the pandemic may change with future research, the ethical and legal principles highlighted in this paper will continue to be foundational when considering just care for prisoners.

Intra Action Review of the COVID-19 Pandemic Response in Africa: Best Practices, Challenges, and Perspectives for the Future

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ambrose Otau Talisuna ◽  
Chinwe Juliana Iwu-Jaja ◽  
Joseph Okeibunor ◽  
Mary Stephen ◽  
Emmanuel Musa Onuche ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
The Future ◽  
Pandemic Response

Urban housing: a study on housing environment, residents’ satisfaction and happiness

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pankaj Kumar ◽  
Parveen Kumar ◽  
Ramesh Kumar Garg ◽  
Rakesh Garg
Keyword(s):  
Structural Equation ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Urban Housing ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Valuable Insight ◽  
Social Infrastructure ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Housing Environment ◽  
Maintenance Service ◽  
Housing Estates

Purpose This study examines the effect of housing environment on residents’ satisfaction and happiness using the data collected from selected residents of Gurugram, an urban locality in India. Design/methodology/approach Using the convenience-cum-judgmental sampling technique, data was collected from 321 residents of 17 gated private housing estates and tested by performing factor analysis and partial least squares – structural equation modeling. Findings The results revealed that maintenance service at housing estates significantly influences residents’ satisfaction followed by social infrastructure, dwelling attributes and residential amenities, whereas the accessibility aspect has no significant impact on residents’ satisfaction and happiness. Results also show a significant impact of social infrastructure on residents’ happiness, and most notably, residents’ satisfaction has a significant influence on their happiness. Research limitations/implications The findings of this study are likely to provide valuable insight into housing stakeholders (government officials; real estate developers; property and construction professionals, i.e. planners, architects and maintenance managers) to improve the attributes in urban housing setting and neighborhood facilities to upsurge the residents’ satisfaction and happiness level toward the housing estates and townships, which leads to quality and happiness in residents’ life. Originality/value According to the authors’ knowledge, the present study is the first to provide an inclusive way toward showcasing the key antecedents of residents’ satisfaction and happiness in the Indian urban housing context. Authors anticipate that future researchers will find present research as a valuable contribution to the residents’ satisfaction and happiness in urban housing planning and revitalization of urban locations.

scholarly journals Urban heritages: How history and housing finance matter to housing form and homeownership rates

Urban Studies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (16) ◽  
pp. 3669-3688 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Blackwell ◽  
Sebastian Kohl
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
Urban Housing ◽  
Housing Finance ◽  
Single Family ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Path Dependent ◽  
Historical Developments ◽  
Principal Tenure ◽  
The 19Th Century

Contemporary Western cities are not uniform, but display a variety of different housing forms and tenures, both between and within countries. We distinguish three general city types in this paper: low-rise, single-family dwelling cities where owner-occupation is the most prevalent tenure form; multi-dwelling building cities where tenants comprise the majority; and multi-dwelling building cities where owner-occupation is the principal tenure form. We argue that historical developments beginning in the 19th century are crucial to understanding this diversity in urban form and tenure composition across Western cities. Our path-dependent argument is twofold. First, we claim that different housing finance institutions engendered different forms of urban development during the late 19th century and had helped to establish the difference between single-family dwelling cities and multi-dwelling building cities by 1914. Second, rather than stemming from countries’ welfare systems or ‘variety of capitalism’, we argue that these historical distinctions have a significant and enduring impact on today’s urban housing forms and tenures. Our argument is supported by a unique collection of data of 1095 historical cities across 27 countries.

Mass Housing: Residents Satisfaction with their Housing and Environment

2007 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-49
Author(s):  
Lale Berköz ◽  
Ömer Lütfi Kellekçi
Keyword(s):  
Residential Area ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
Single Family ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Mass Housing ◽  
Housing Environment ◽  
Educational Backgrounds ◽  
The People ◽  
General Life Satisfaction

It is often necessary to assess the satisfaction of the house users with the house environment, in other words the compliance of the environment with their expectations, needs and goals. The quality of residence and environment affects the general life satisfaction of the human. If the residents are satisfied with their residences and residence environments, this influences their psychological and physical health and these all together have an impact on the structure of the society. Therefore if the variables influencing the satisfaction of the people with their housing environment are known, this will aid us to set the criteria for the design of the housing and its environment. The aim of this study is to define the expectations of mass housing users from the houses and their environment and to assess the satisfaction of Bahcesehir Mass Housing users with the area they live in. The needs and expectations of families with different ages, cultures, educational backgrounds and income levels have been analyzed and the kinds of conditions necessary for satisfaction have been defined. The factors necessary for the satisfaction of the users with the houses and their environment have been determined on the basis of the collected information about the features of the household, the houses and the house environment. The survey within the scope of this study was carried out through 400 questionnaires. 327 of them were filled out in multi-family houses and 73 in single-family houses. The findings of this study show that, not only the quality of the residence but also the environment of the residence is important. Residential environment constitutes not only the physical components of the residential area but also social and economic factors. The assessments within this study will serve as a guide for future studies aiming to increase the quality of mass housing by taking the wants and needs of the mass housing users into consideration.

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