People like us? Social status, social inequality and perceptions of public rental housing

AbstractOver the last three decades or so, neoliberal policies have had a significant effect on housing sectors across a wide range of societies. State rental sectors, in particular, have been in the ideological firing line. Portrayed as inefficient, unresponsive, monopolistic and anachronistic, they have been typically marketised, privatised and downsized. At the same time, wider societal changes have impacted on their social role and social composition. The overall effect on many public rental sectors is now very familiar – growing social and spatial segregation, enclaves of concentrated and multiple disadvantage and increased stigmatisation. Against this background, Hong Kong's public rental sector has survived relatively unscathed and continues to accommodate around a third of its households. This paper examines the experiences and perceptions of Hong Kong public rental housing among those within and outside the sector. How are public tenants perceived in relation to ideas of social status and social equality? How do public tenants see themselves? The paper draws on a survey of 3,000 individuals in Hong Kong which is part of a larger study concerned with housing provision and social change in the Special Administrative Region.

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Combined thermal and daylight analysis of a typical public rental housing development to fulfil green building guidance in Hong Kong

Energy and Buildings ◽

10.1016/j.enbuild.2015.09.032 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 108 ◽

pp. 420-432 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

Xi Chen ◽

Hongxing Yang

Keyword(s):

Hong Kong ◽

Rental Housing ◽

Green Building ◽

Housing Development ◽

Public Rental Housing

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Small-Scale Public Rental Housing Development Using Modular Construction—Lessons learned from Case Studies in Seoul, Korea

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11041120 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 1120 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jeong-hoon Lee ◽

Jin-sung Kim ◽

Hak-ju Lee ◽

Young-Min Lee ◽

Hyung-Geun Kim

Keyword(s):

Scale Development ◽

Construction Projects ◽

Rental Housing ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Small Scale ◽

Modular Construction ◽

Housing Provision ◽

Market Expansion ◽

Public Rental Housing ◽

Public Construction

Modular construction, which involves factory-based modular unit manufacturing followed by installation at a construction site, has been recognized as one of the sustainable construction methods. Its advantages are known to be implemented through (1) standardized design, (2) standardized production method, and (3) large-scale development (mass production system). These three conditions are basic requirements for modular construction market expansion, but it is difficult to define that these conditions are a prerequisite for judging whether modular construction applied or not. Nevertheless, public development companies in regions or countries where modular construction has just begun thought that modular construction should meet all three conditions that are suitable for applying public construction projects. This is because it is difficult to compare conventional construction projects with similar conditions to modular construction projects. This paper analyzes the cost and duration data of three small-scale public construction rental housing (PCRH) projects involving modular construction in Korea. These cases presented herein include a public college student dormitory, public low-rise rental housing, and public mid-rise rental housing in small-scale development projects. Those were applied not standardized design (common design and regulation), but were reflected in each project’s demands (different design and regulation). To compare it, this paper analyzed 91 public housing provision projects’ construction data from 2011 to 2017 from one of the public rental housing provision companies in Korea. Among them, 19 small-scale public rental housing data were extracted for comparing with modular construction project data. The results show that, even if not standardized, the design and production process, and modular construction durations, were more effective—but costs were similar or expensive. Based on the conclusion drawn from three cases, this paper presents important considerations for the application of modular construction in other small-scale public construction rental housing projects from the perspective of public development companies.

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