Search results

1 – 10 of over 2000
Open Access
Article
Publication date: 20 July 2023

Andrew Ebekozien, Clinton Aigbavboa, Mohamad Shaharudin Samsurijan, Ahmad Salman and Godspower C. Amadi

The organised self-help approach successfully enhances urban low-income earners' (LIE) homeownership in some developing countries. The technique can enhance urban resilience for…

Abstract

Purpose

The organised self-help approach successfully enhances urban low-income earners' (LIE) homeownership in some developing countries. The technique can enhance urban resilience for sustainable LIE homeownership. There is a paucity of studies concerning sustainable homeownership for Nigeria's urban LIE through a self-help approach. The study investigated the housing needs of the urban LIE via organised self-help mechanisms and how the same can enhance urban resilience for sustainable homeownership in the Ancient City of Benin, Nigeria.

Design/methodology/approach

Given the unexplored nature of the issue, 20 face-to-face interviews were conducted with experts and analysed through a thematic approach.

Findings

Findings identified eleven main barriers faced by the urban LIE. This includes the absence of government housing policy, funding frameworks, urban land scarcity, high property development costs, naira devaluation, high-interest rates, inflation, bribery and corruption, lax mortgage sub-sector, high cost of infrastructure, and government bureaucracy.

Originality/value

This study will contribute to pioneering the role of organised self-help mechanisms in urban resilience for sustainable LIE homeownership in developing cities via a qualitative approach. Also, findings would significantly contribute to developing countries' sustainable housing and urban resilience literature.

Details

International Journal of Building Pathology and Adaptation, vol. 41 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2398-4708

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 25 June 2019

Phan Anh Nguyen, Regina Bokel and Andy van den Dobbelsteen

Refurbishing houses is considered a key measure to improve the energy efficiency of the built environment. However, little is known about the implementation and outcome of housing

2839

Abstract

Purpose

Refurbishing houses is considered a key measure to improve the energy efficiency of the built environment. However, little is known about the implementation and outcome of housing renovation for energy upgrades in the Vietnamese practice. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the energy performance of the current housing stock in Vietnam and the potential to reduce energy use in households.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on a survey with 153 respondents in three major climatic regions of Vietnam. The survey focusses on building characteristics, environmental performance, energy performance and refurbishment activities. Data collected from the survey were statistically analysed to give insight into the current performance of the housing stock and its energy saving potential.

Findings

This paper concludes that building design and construction, particularly the building envelope, have a significant influence on the occupants’ comfort. However, the energy consumption in houses is not statistically associated with building design and indoor environment. It is suggested that financial status and occupants’ behaviour currently have a strong influence on the household energy use. The survey also showed that refurbishment improves the housing performance, especially if improving the indoor environment was one of the drivers.

Originality/value

There are very few studies on energy use in households in Vietnam, especially with regards to actual energy consumption. This paper brings insights into the actual energy consumption and reveals the “performance gap” in Vietnamese housing stock.

Details

Smart and Sustainable Built Environment, vol. 8 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-6099

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 31 May 2022

Koech Cheruiyot and Thabelo Ramantswana

Acknowledging that housing forms a large part of households’ and country’s long-term wealth, the South African Government has implemented various housing-related policies towards…

Abstract

Purpose

Acknowledging that housing forms a large part of households’ and country’s long-term wealth, the South African Government has implemented various housing-related policies towards that end. Among these, the government has extended transfer duty exemption to house buyers – both individuals or natural persons and companies or other parties – to enable them buy houses of their choices since January 1950 to date. This paper aims to investigate the relationship between historical transfer duty exemption and housing demand in the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) over a longer period, where a comprehensive data set on house sales and other predictors was available.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses multi-year data on repeat house sales from 2010 to 2020 and other macro- and socio-economic variables to test the relationship between transfer duty exemption and housing demand in the CoJ, a core part of Gauteng province, South Africa. After cleaning the original data, final analysis was based on 139,121 repeat sales transactions. Data was analyzed in R.

Findings

Findings suggest that, when macro-, socio-economic and yearly effects are controlled, transfer duty has a damping effect on housing demand in the CoJ. The results were consistent across all the estimated models. While the motivation behind the implementation of transfer duty exemption in South Africa continues to encourage home ownership, these findings are unexpected because they do not offer support to that policy intention. These unexpected results are partly explained by the prevailing complexities of the housing market and related policies and the progressive tax regime. However, there are welfare effects that all buyers achieve across the housing market ecosystem.

Originality/value

This paper extends work on housing markets research in South Africa through the investigation of mortgage-based housing market in the CoJ that presents one of the densest, developed, bustling and growing housing market in the country. It also presents a fertile ground where all the effects of all the housing policies coalesce – in the statistical sense, one can control the effect of some aspects of housing policies, while appropriately testing the link between a specific policy (in this case, transfer duty exemption) and housing dynamics.

Details

International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis, vol. 16 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1753-8270

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 4 August 2023

Christopher Amoah

In addressing the housing deficits for the less privileged citizens, the South African government began constructing social housing after coming to power in 1994. However, the…

Abstract

Purpose

In addressing the housing deficits for the less privileged citizens, the South African government began constructing social housing after coming to power in 1994. However, the construction of these houses is bedevilled with many issues; prominent among them are poor quality of the constructed houses. This study seeks to develop a quality management framework for achieving quality and efficiency in public-sector housing construction, a hallmark of the country's procurement goals.

Design/methodology/approach

Telephone interviews were conducted with construction professionals involved in constructing government social houses across South Africa, chosen randomly. The data gathered were analysed using the content analysis method.

Findings

The study found that the most significant cause of poor quality government-constructed social housing is multifaceted, categorised into project management-related, procurement-related, contractor-related, corruption-related and political-related.

Practical implications

Failure to develop and implement a quality management framework on government-constructed social housing leads to poor quality social housing.

Originality/value

The study has identified quality-related issues and has developed a Quality Management (QM) framework for the stakeholders involved in the construction of the houses to guide them in the project implementation process to ensure project success and quality standards.

Details

International Journal of Building Pathology and Adaptation, vol. 41 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2398-4708

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 7 September 2021

Tina Gudrun Jensen and Rebecka Söderberg

The purpose of this paper is to explore problematisations of urban diversity in urban and integration policies in Denmark and Sweden; the paper aims to show how such policies

1618

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore problematisations of urban diversity in urban and integration policies in Denmark and Sweden; the paper aims to show how such policies express social imaginaries about the self and the other and underlying assumptions of sameness that legitimise diverging ways of managing urban diversity and (re)organising the city.

Design/methodology/approach

Inspired by anthropology of policy and post-structural approaches to policy analysis, the authors approach urban and integration policies as cultural texts that are central to the organisation of cities and societies. With a comparative approach, the authors explore how visions of diversity take shape and develop over time in Swedish and Danish policies on urban development and integration.

Findings

Swedish policy constructs productiveness as crucial to the imagined national sameness, whereas Danish policy constructs cultural sameness as fundamental to the national self-image. By constructing the figure of “the unproductive”/“the non-Western” as the other, diverging from an imagined sameness, policies for organising the city through removing and “improving” urban diverse others are legitimised.

Originality/value

The authors add to previous research by focussing on the construction of the self as crucial in processes of othering and by highlighting how both nationalistic and colour-blind policy discourses construct myths of national sameness, which legitimise the governing of urban diversity. The authors highlight and de-naturalise assumptions and categorisations by showing how problem representations differ over time and between two neighbouring countries.

Details

Journal of Organizational Ethnography, vol. 11 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-6749

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 15 May 2023

Yin Ying Cai, Jin Xie and Lynn Huntsinger

Faced with the challenges of rural population decline, combined with the widespread expansion of homesteads in rural areas, local Chinese governments hope to strictly control and…

61337

Abstract

Purpose

Faced with the challenges of rural population decline, combined with the widespread expansion of homesteads in rural areas, local Chinese governments hope to strictly control and minimize rural housing land. Accurately decomposing the process of rural housing expansion and revealing its driving factors will be helpful for land-use regulation by the government.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, an unusually rich dataset of rural housing registration from Pudong New Area in Shanghai is employed. The study aimed to decompose the fragmented accumulation process and its expansion determinants on rural housing assets. The dataset covers all samples of rural households and housing plots at 72 surveyed villages in six towns.

Findings

Housing offers profitable capital and earning assets to villagers at the urban fringe, so they have a powerful incentive to build and expand more. The results of this analysis showed that the expansion of rural housing is largely due to the haphazard construction of auxiliary rooms by villagers, especially on plots of arable land that are adjacent to their houses that have been stealthily converted into auxiliary rooms and sheds. Low costs and weak penalties have led to an increase in rent-seeking expansions to rural houses. Houses with the smaller initial areas, families with more laborers and household heads, and the proximity of villages to downtown with convenient living services were the main driving factors for expanding houses. A concerted effort is needed to control the disorganized and unlicensed expansion of housing. This effort should include formulating areas for free use by villagers, high taxes on overused areas, serious penalties for unlicensed housing expansion and effective land-use planning.

Research limitations/implications

An understanding of the expansion status and control measures related to rural houses in Shanghai provides an important reference that can help to guide the formulation of rural housing policies, and the sustainable development of cities worldwide. Of course, this study cannot generalize about housing distribution and expansion status worldwide based on the study area in China, because China's land tenure policies are unique. But land registry data exists that makes research like this feasible. There is a need to carefully examine the detailed housing distribution in each country before it can be decided on how best to address the disorderly increase in rural housing stock, and promote the reduction of rural residential expansion.

Originality/value

First, the process of rural housing expansion by using an unique dataset which covers ten thousands of samples is revealed. Second, the results have policy implications for reducing the amount of idle and inefficiently rural homestead. The focus is on rural housing growth and its driving factors in Shanghai, and the villagers' motivations for housing expansion are explored.

Details

China Agricultural Economic Review, vol. 15 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-137X

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 27 May 2021

Mohammad Ismail, Abukar Warsame and Mats Wilhelmsson

The purpose of this study is to analyse the trends regarding housing segregation over the past 10–20 years and determine whether housing segregation has a spillover effect on…

1219

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to analyse the trends regarding housing segregation over the past 10–20 years and determine whether housing segregation has a spillover effect on neighbouring housing areas. Namely, the authors set out to determine whether proximity to a specific type of segregated housing market has a negative impact on nearby housing markets while proximity to another type of segregated market has a positive impact.

Design/methodology/approach

For the purposes of this paper, the authors must combine information on segregation within a city with information on property values in the city. The authors have, therefore, used data on the income of the population and data on housing values taken from housing transactions. The case study used is the city of Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. The empirical analysis will be the estimation of the traditional hedonic pricing model. It will be estimated for the condominium market.

Findings

The results indicate that segregation, when measured as income sorting, has increased over time in some of the housing markets. Its effects on housing values in neighbouring housing areas are significant and statistically significant.

Research limitations/implications

A better understanding of the different potential spillover effects on housing prices in relation to the spatial distribution of various income groups would be beneficial in determining appropriate property assessment levels. In other words, awareness of this spillover effect could improve existing property assessment methods and provide local governments with extra information to make an informed decision on policies and services needed in different neighbourhoods.

Practical implications

On housing prices emanating from proximity to segregated areas with high income differs from segregated areas with low income, policies that address socio-economic costs and benefits, as well as property assessment levels, should reflect this pronounced difference. On the property level, positive spillover on housing prices near high-income segregated areas will cause an increase in the number of higher income groups and exacerbate segregation based on income. Contrarily, negative spillover on housing prices near low-income areas might discourage high-income households from moving to a location near low-income segregated areas. Local government should be aware of these spillover effects on housing prices to ensure that policies intended to reduce socioeconomic segregation, such as residential and income segregation, produce desirable results.

Social implications

Furthermore, a good estimation of these spillover effects on housing prices would allow local governments to carry out a cost–benefit analysis for policies intended to combat segregation and invest in deprived communities.

Originality/value

The main contribution of this paper is to go beyond the traditional studies of segregation that mainly emphasise residential segregation based on income levels, i.e. low-income or high-income households. The authors have analysed the spillover effect of proximity to hot spots (high income) and cold spots (low income) on the housing values of nearby condominiums or single-family homes within segregated areas in Stockholm Municipality in 2013.

Details

Journal of European Real Estate Research , vol. 14 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1753-9269

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 22 December 2020

Jie Meng and Fenghua Wu

As a crucial institutional form established since the Chinese economic reform, the system of competitive local governments has been shaping the characteristics of China's…

1002

Abstract

Purpose

As a crucial institutional form established since the Chinese economic reform, the system of competitive local governments has been shaping the characteristics of China's socialist market economy to a considerable degree.

Design/methodology/approach

This study not only adopts the view of existing studies that attribute the economic motive of local governments to rent and consider land public finance as a means through which local governments carry out strategic investment but also attempts to further develop the view within a Marxist analytical framework.

Findings

As a result, the local governments have helped to maintain an incredibly high investment rate over a considerable period of time, facilitating the continuous, rapid growth of the Chinese economy.

Originality/value

This study concludes that China's local governments function as the productive allocator and user of rent in the strategic investment based on land public finance and thereby embed themselves in the relative surplus-value production initially arising from competition amongst enterprises, forming the dual structure of relative surplus-value production unique to China's economy.

Details

China Political Economy, vol. 3 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2516-1652

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 23 May 2022

Daphne Habibis

Safe, secure and stable housing is central to social, emotional and economic well-being for individuals and families. This is recognised by the United Nations as a fundamental…

Abstract

Safe, secure and stable housing is central to social, emotional and economic well-being for individuals and families. This is recognised by the United Nations as a fundamental human right, yet when it comes to Indigenous housing individuals disproportionately experience unsafe, unstable and substandard housing. The absence of housing security is therefore a significant contributor to the intergenerational poverty experienced by some Indigenous individuals and families. The long-standing nature of this issue makes it appear intractable and systemic, however, there is increasing evidence that this is not the case, and that governments, working in partnership with Indigenous organisations and communities, can begin to change these dynamics.

This brief is based on an extensive review of the multidisciplinary evidence base, including literature and policy analysis as well as empirical investigation. Sources include research articles, official reports and statistics and scholarly debates, as well as media commentary and debate. These, along with original data sources, are analysed to identify the key policy learnings for a framework for culturally appropriate and sustainable Indigenous housing.

Details

Emerald Open Research, vol. 1 no. 13
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2631-3952

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 16 February 2021

Alexander Styhre and Sara Brorström

Drawing on the literature on professional ignorance, here defined in affirmative terms as the capacity to act regardless of the incompleteness of available information in…

1304

Abstract

Purpose

Drawing on the literature on professional ignorance, here defined in affirmative terms as the capacity to act regardless of the incompleteness of available information in organizations and professional communities, the article reports empirical material from an urban development project wherein policy makers' instructions are vague and, in certain domains, inconsistent with market conditions.

Design/methodology/approach

Urban development projects regularly include uncertainty and risk taking, and policy makers' stated objectives regarding project goals may be incomplete or merely signal a political ambition. In such situations, first-line project participants need to make decisions as if uncertainties regarding policy objectives are manageable and preferably minimal. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the proposition that professional ignorance is a key mechanism in incomplete or imperfect governance systems.

Findings

Project participants actively questioned policy but acted on the instructions just the same, which is indicative of how professional ignorance is supportive of governance system that relies on first-line market actors and agencies to implement also incomplete or vaguely stated policy objectives. Incomplete policies derive from challenges in political deliberation and bargaining processes, uncertainty regarding the future and shifting preferences among policy makers and constituencies more widely. In practice, incomplete policies regularly include issues for first-level actors (e.g. on the urban development project level) to handle and to reconcile in their day-to-day work.

Originality/value

On basis of an empirical study of a major urban development project, the study contributes to a growing literature that recognizes the value of professional ignorance in governance systems and in project management practice. The study invites further scholarly research that takes an affirmative of professional ignorance but without overlooking its risks and potential malfunctions.

Details

Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal, vol. 16 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5648

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 2000