Missing Hero: Co‐Producing Change in Social Housing Programmes

The aim of this article is to develop theory and generate knowledge about the challenges and possibilities of co‐producing change in a social housing programme. The purpose of the project was to implement the Housing First philosophy in the social housing programme in the city of Helsingborg, Sweden. The aim was also to create opportunities for service user involvement. Several innovative measures were implemented in order for these changes to occur from autumn 2016 to summer 2017. The social services commissioned a university course on which social workers and their clients studied together on equal terms to create project plans for the further development of their own workplace. A “Future” workshop was held by the researchers with representatives from all the different housing options (the shelter, transitional housing, category housing, Housing First apartments), both clients and social workers. Repeated dialogue meetings were conducted at the different housing options to discuss how service user involvement could be developed and to discover new ways of participation. This article is based on a strengths‐based perspective using the theoretical discussions on social traps, as well as the concepts of enabling and entrapping niches. We show the importance of social workers identifying and supporting missing heroes—service users who want to participate and be involved in co‐producing change. We also show that if an organisation is not prepared for the initiated changes, there is a risk of disappointment due to awakened expectations that are not fulfilled. Building trust is also an important component to emerge from the material, but we also found that change processes can be initiated that continue and have impact beyond the initial project’s goals.

Resilience in social housing developments through post-occupancy evaluation and co-production

The poor initial resilience of the ground-breaking Brazilian urban social housing programme ‘Minha Casa, Minha Vida’(MCMV) affects millions of people, who have tried to adapt their homes, survived the unexpected and have to reinvent themselves constantly. This study delimits the elements that compose the concept of resilience, namely: the impacts, vulnerabilities and adaptive capacities that characterize the resilience of the built environment in the case study selected. To achieve these aims, advanced Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) and Co-production techniques have been applied in the case study of a typical Brazilian MCMV development in Uberlandia (Brazil). The results highlighted factors going beyond the typical vulnerabilities already seen in most of these developments. They pointed out the adaptive recovery capacities as key factors for resilience. This case study provides the means to investigate resilience and its variables in depth within the specific context of MCMV’s social housing, subsidising designers and public policies makers in the elaboration of more resilient projects for these social housing communities.

Evaluating the health effect of a Social Housing programme, Minha Casa Minha Vida, using the 100 million Brazilian Cohort: a natural experiment study protocol

IntroductionSocial housing programmes have been shown to influence health, but their effects on cardiovascular mortality and incidence of infectious diseases, such as leprosy and tuberculosis, are unknown. We will use individual administrative data to evaluate the effect of the Brazilian housing programme Minha Casa Minha Vida (MCMV) on cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality and incidence of leprosy and tuberculosis.Methods and analysisWe will link the baseline of the 100 Million Brazilian Cohort (2001–2015), which includes information on socioeconomic and demographic variables, to the MCMV (2009–2015), CVD mortality (2007–2015), leprosy (2007–2015) and tuberculosis (2007–2015) registries. We will define our exposed population as individuals who signed the contract to receive a house from MCMV, and our non-exposed group will be comparable individuals within the cohort who have not signed a contract for a house at that time. We will estimate the effect of MCMV on health outcomes using different propensity score approaches to control for observed confounders. Follow-up time of individuals will begin at the date of exposure ascertainment and will end at the time a specific outcome occurs, date of death or end of follow-up (31 December 2015). In addition, we will conduct stratified analyses by the follow-up time, age group, race/ethnicity, gender and socioeconomic position.Ethics and disseminationThe study was approved by the ethic committees from Instituto Gonçalo Muniz-Oswaldo Cruz Foundation and University of Glasgow Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences College. Data analysis will be carried out using an anonymised dataset, accessed by researchers in a secure computational environment according to the Centre for Integration of Data and Health Knowledge procedures. Study findings will be published in high quality peer-reviewed research journals and will also be disseminated to policy makers through stakeholder events and policy briefs.

Il problema dell’alloggio : la contribución de Adalberto Libera a la vivienda moderna en Italia durante la década de 1940 = Il problema dell’alloggio : Adalberto Libera’s contribution to modern housing in Italy during the 1940s

ResumenEs relativamente poco conocida la componente teórica del trabajo que realizó Adalberto Libera como Director de la oficina técnica del programa estatal de vivienda INA-Casa, un cargo que desempeñó desde la aprobación del plan en 1949 hasta 1951. Este programa, el más ambicioso en Italia tras la guerra, terminaría construyendo más de 350.000 hogares durante sus 14 años de funcionamiento siguiendo, en buena medida, las directrices inicia­les marcadas por Libera en un momento clave para la asimilación de los tipos de vivienda moderna en Italia. Aún menos conocido es el profuso trabajo sobre vivienda que Libera realizó durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial en su retiro en Trento, y que resultó esencial en su designación para ocupar tal cargo en el programa INA-Casa. Libera proyectó tipos y agrupaciones de vivienda según condicionantes no sólo espaciales sino también socio-económicos de los destinatarios. En ese sentido, el trabajo no fue solamente gráfico: volcó algunas reflexiones sobre la condición del habitar y el habitante. Este artículo profundiza en estos estudios sobre vivienda con el fin de revelar cómo influ­yeron en el carácter de la arquitectura promovida por el programa INA-Casa; esto es, en la construcción de su discurso arquitectónico. Para ello se apoya en el material aún inédito que compone su estudio (textos, tablas, perspectivas y croquis), así como en los dos ma­nuales publicados por el programa INA-Casa para regular los principios de diseño de su arquitectura. El objetivo, por tanto, es doble: arrojar luz sobre un momento desconocido del autor y discutir su significación histórica en el marco del mayor plan de vivienda social del dopoguerra italiano.AbstractIt remains to some extent unknown the theoretical approach taken by Adalberto Libera while he was Director of the INA-Casa programme’s technical office (1949-1951). This Italian social housing programme promoted the construction of more than 350,000 homes between 1949 and 1963, highly influenced by the norms set by Libera’s department at a key moment for the assimilation of modern housing types in Italy. It is even less well known the extensive theoretical work on housing developed by Libera while he was retired in Trento during the war, which became essential to be appointed as Director of the INA-Casa’s technical office. Libera designed types and groupings of housing according to not only spatial but also socio-economic conditions of the prospective owners. In this sense, Libera’s work was not only graphic: he also deeply reflected on the problem of dwelling and on the inhabitant. This article delves into these housing studies in order to reveal how they influenced the cha­racter of the architecture promoted by the INA-Casa programme —i.e., the construction of its architectural discourse. To do so, it relies on the still unpublished material that makes up his study (texts, charts, perspectives and sketches), as well as on the two manuals published by the INA-Casa programme to regulate the design principles of its architecture. The aim is, therefore, twofold: to shed light on an unknown moment of the author’s work and to discuss its historical significance as a key piece of Italy’s largest post-war social housing plan.

Issues of Large-scale Dam Resettlement and Rehabilitation: Case of Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh

Large chunks of land have been acquired in different parts of India for large-scale infrastructure projects, such as dams, power stations, etc., in the past. The Bhakra Dam project, being one such large-scale project executed immediately after the Independence, displaced thousands of families without having any proper rehabilitation mechanism in place. The old Bilaspur town (OBT) was part of land acquired for construction of the reservoir for Bhakra Dam, known as Gobind Sagar Lake. The new Bilaspur township was established to rehabilitate families originally living in the OBT. Presently, second or third generation of these families are living on these allotted plots in the new town. This article is an attempt to unfold the flaws in the undertaken rehabilitation policy which has led to unplanned and haphazard development in the town as well as created problems for both oustees and public authorities. These problems continue to persist in present times also, thereby limiting the citizens to avail benefits of the recent policy for regularisation of encroachments and the newly launched housing programme—Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.