Technology, Users, and Sustainable Social Housing

Abstract This paper aims to contribute with results in relation to the challenges that users encounter with regard to technologies in sustainable social housing. The results are significant and show that in modern Danish sustainable social housing consideration is not taken for the users in relation to the technologies implemented in the buildings. The consequences are that the intentions of the technologies supporting economic, environmental, and social sustainability do not work for the users when the buildings are taken into use. The paper argues that developers and architectural practice should in future use simpler technologies that give residents the opportunity to individually regulate their homes’ indoor climate. At the same time, architecture and technology should reflect the consideration towards the climate in the local context and the users’ funda-mental living conditions. The paper argues for the development of a more user-oriented architecture, where the interaction between architecture and technology can work for the users and to a greater extent support the intentions with regard to sustainability.

Download Full-text

Technology, Users, and Sustainable Social Housing

European Journal of Engineering and Formal Sciences ◽

10.26417/ejef.v2i3.p31-41 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2 (3) ◽

pp. 31

Author(s):

Jan Johansson

Keyword(s):

Social Housing ◽

Social Sustainability ◽

Living Conditions ◽

Local Context ◽

Indoor Climate ◽

Architectural Practice ◽

Technology Users

This paper aims to contribute with results in relation to the challenges that users encounter with regard to technologies in sustainable social housing. The results are significant and show that in modern Danish sustainable social housing consideration is not taken for the users in relation to the technologies implemented in the buildings. The consequences are that the intentions of the technologies supporting economic, environmental, and social sustainability do not work for the users when the buildings are taken into use. The paper argues that developers and architectural practice should in future use simpler technologies that give residents the opportunity to individually regulate their homes’ indoor climate. At the same time, architecture and technology should reflect the consideration towards the climate in the local context and the users’ funda-mental living conditions. The paper argues for the development of a more user-oriented architecture, where the interaction between architecture and technology can work for the users and to a greater extent support the intentions with regard to sustainability.

Download Full-text

Towards eco-social housing in Vietnam: challenges and opportunities

MATEC Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/matecconf/201819301001 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 193 ◽

pp. 01001

Author(s):

Van Thuong Le ◽

Tuan Tran ◽

Truc Truong

Keyword(s):

Low Income ◽

Social Housing ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Housing Demand ◽

Living Conditions ◽

Local Economy ◽

Rapid Urbanization ◽

Long Run ◽

Challenges And Opportunities ◽

The Government

Since Doi Moi (Reform) policy in 1986, Vietnam has experienced rapid urbanization and economic growth. Urbanization has resulted in increasingly high housing demand in the urban areas but this has largely unmet, especially housing for low-income people. Development of social housing for low-income and under-privileged people in cities has been seen as an urgent and important task of the government to pursue stable social and economic development. Low-income people are most vulnerable to environmental impacts and in need of energy-efficient houses to reduce their cost of living. Eco-social housing is seen as a solution to protect the natural environment as well as to boost local economy, improve living conditions particularly for low income people. Through preliminary assessments of three social buildings at three distinct regions of Vietnam, this paper found that despite many challenges, eco-social housing is a solution to Vietnam's needs in providing houses with adequate living conditions to low-income people while protecting the environment and achieving sustainable eco-social development in the long run.

Download Full-text

Impact of Haitian migration on a social housing habitat in Santiago (Chile), from the perception of its residents

Población & Sociedad ◽

10.19137/pys-2020-270206 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 27 (2) ◽

pp. 105-133

Author(s):

Ana María Álvarez Rojas ◽

◽

Héctor Cavieres Higuera ◽

Angelo Patricio Ibarra González ◽

Ricardo Truffello Robledo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Qualitative Study ◽

Social Housing ◽

Living Conditions ◽

The Impact ◽

The City

In 2019, an exploratory qualitative study was carried out in a social housing neighborhood located on the outskirts of the city of Santiago, Chile whose purpose was to understand the perception of its Chilean residents regarding the massive arrival of Haitian migrants to the place. The results show not only their dissimilar and ambivalent perceptions regarding the impact of the arrival of this new population to their residential habitat but also a greater precariousness in both groups living conditions

Download Full-text

The Transformation of Dorćol Power Plant: Triggering a Sustainable Urban Regeneration or Selling the Heritage?

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su14010523 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 523

Author(s):

Ivan Simic ◽

Aleksandra Stupar ◽

Aleksandar Grujicic ◽

Vladimir Mihajlov ◽

Marija Cvetkovic

Keyword(s):

Power Plant ◽

Social Sustainability ◽

Urban Regeneration ◽

Industrial Area ◽

Danube River ◽

Local Context ◽

Financial Flows ◽

Sustainable Solutions ◽

Urban Core ◽

Private Investors

The power plant “Power and Light” (1932, Belgrade) was the first one to generate alternating current in Serbia. Situated along the Danube river, it represented a part of an industrial area positioned in the Dorćol neighborhood, close to the urban core. Since 2005, the whole area has been exposed to a significant transformation into a luxurious residential and commercial complex, triggered by the intentions of private investors and directed by the ideas of changing city authorities. Considering the unpredictable local context created by the dominant post-socialist transitional economy, the article focuses on the sensitive relationship between the social sustainability of the ongoing urban regeneration plans and the emerging neoliberal forces targeting the areas of industrial heritage. Consequently, the case of the Dorćol ex-power plant and the anticipated changes in its urban surrounding are analyzed according to the selected principles of social sustainability. Revealing numerous controversies, both on the level of preferred urban policies and their questionable application, this case addresses the problems of heritage (re)use and regeneration in an environment of fast-shifting governmental priorities and financial flows, with reduced receptivity to sustainable solutions.

Download Full-text

The Social Sustainability of Public Debt in the Framework of Middle East and North African Countries: Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey

Journal of Sustainable Development ◽

10.5539/jsd.v13n4p251 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 251

Author(s):

Wissem Ajili ◽

Hassan Ayoub

Keyword(s):

Public Debt ◽

Public Investment ◽

Social Sustainability ◽

Well Being ◽

Living Conditions ◽

African Countries ◽

Mena Countries ◽

Distributed Lag ◽

The Social ◽

The Impact

The paper’s main objective is to analyze the social sustainability of the external public debt of some MENA countries, namely, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey between 1990 and 2018. The study carries out a dual statistical and econometric analysis to determine the impact of external public debt on the population welfare. The first analysis aims to examine the evolution of the debt social sustainability indicators and the second uses the Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) panel data estimation technique. Statistical analysis reveals that the external public debt service weighs heavily on public spending in health, education, and public investment. While the econometric study establishes that the ratio of external public debt as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has a negative effect on the population’s standards of living. The study concludes that external public debt in MENA countries has been used to finance non-productive expenditures, which have no effect on the population’s living conditions. It highlights the need to consider the views of both debtors and creditors to achieve a comprehensive and sustainable approach to public debt. The latter should integrate the social and environmental consequences of debt on the well-being and living conditions of the population.

Download Full-text

Troubled Neighbourhoods: Encounters with Housing Authorities

Personalizing the State ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198807513.003.0005 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 110-135

Author(s):

Insa Lee Koch

Keyword(s):

Social Housing ◽

Social Behaviour ◽

Living Conditions ◽

Citizen Engagement ◽

Structural Problems ◽

Close Proximity ◽

Communal Areas ◽

Housing Estates

Chapter 4 analyses tenants’ encounters with social housing providers in their daily attempts to maintain neighbourhoods that they consider fit for living. Social housing tenants’ view of what constitutes ‘neighbour trouble’ is often fundamentally out of sync with what the authorities refer to as ‘nuisance’ and ‘anti-social behaviour’. For social housing providers and their partners, the language of ‘nuisance’ and ‘anti-social behaviour’ denotes individualized conflicts between tenants. However, this language tends to silence the decades of material neglect that have deeply marked Britain’s housing estates. This decline is the primary cause of what tenants refer to as ‘trouble’: badly insulated walls and ceilings, cramped living conditions, and poorly maintained communal areas give rise to tensions between neighbours living in close proximity to one another. While tenants learn to use the language of ‘anti-social behaviour’ and ‘nuisance’ to frame their claims for help, this chapter argues that these forms of state-citizen engagement further depoliticize the structural problems that tenants face, while reinforcing a climate of suspicion and mistrust between tenants.

Download Full-text

Mass Customization for Social Housing in Evolving Neighborhoods in Brazil

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12219027 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (21) ◽

pp. 9027

Author(s):

Luisa Felix Dalla Vecchia ◽

Branko Kolarevic

Keyword(s):

Mass Customization ◽

Social Housing ◽

Living Conditions ◽

Individual Needs ◽

Over Time

Mass customization is being adopted in many housing contexts worldwide to provide families with dwellings that suit their individual needs at costs similar to mass-produced items. However, in many social housing contexts, there are barriers that can hinder the adoption of mass customization, despite the benefits it could bring to residents. This is the case in the Brazilian social housing context considering house units for families of the lowest income range. This paper explores the possibilities and limitations of applying mass customization in this context to improve the living conditions in these neighborhoods as they evolve over time. This study analyzes the ecology of the system of provision of social housing for the lowest income range, pre-occupancy, and post-occupancy in the neighborhood’s development over time. This study argues that it would be more feasible and bring more and longer-lasting benefits to the stakeholders involved if mass customization were applied post-occupancy.

Download Full-text

Social Relations, Community Engagement and Potentials: A Qualitative Study Exploring Resident Engagement in a Community-Based Health Promotion Intervention in a Deprived Social Housing Area

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph17072341 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (7) ◽

pp. 2341

Author(s):

Abirami Srivarathan ◽

Rikke Lund ◽

Ulla Christensen ◽

Maria Kristiansen

Keyword(s):

Health Promotion ◽

Social Relations ◽

Ethnic Diversity ◽

Social Housing ◽

Local Context ◽

Health Promotion Intervention ◽

Community Based Interventions ◽

Post Intervention ◽

Community Based ◽

Housing Area

Emerging evidence points towards a lower quality of life, fragile social relations and suboptimal health behavior and status of residents living in social housing areas characterized by ethnic diversity and socioeconomic deprivation. Community-based health promotion interventions developed in collaboration with the target group and adjusted to the local context can affect the acceptance of and engagement in such interventions. However, few studies have investigated the potential of community-based interventions in deprived social housing areas. This study explores residents’ perspectives on engagement in a community-based health promotion intervention focusing on enhancing social relations. The study builds on qualitative methods including participant observations combined with pre- and post-intervention interviews with a selected group of residents (n = 9). Data were thematically analyzed with focuses on participation in an everyday life context, concepts of othering, and territorial stigmatization. Engagement in the intervention was motivated by the need to establish and enhance social relations, and to explore the world outside the housing area. However, barriers including cultural and language differences among residents, and competing contextual factors, challenged engagement. We conclude that participatory community-based interventions have a potential to enhance social relations in deprived social housing areas. However, adequate support and efforts to overcome the identified barriers are needed.

Download Full-text