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As an important indicator of the quality of life of individuals, residential environments are continuing to evolve, due to the rapidly changing production–consumption relations. However, in this evolving process, the effect of the differentiated residential environments on the individuals' residential satisfaction remains unclear. This paper aims to measure the effects of the varying residential environments on the overall quality of urban life (QoUL) in Kayseri, one of the most developed cities in Central Anatolia.

It is based on empirical data on the quality of life in the different residential environments of Kayseri. The research method used stratified purposeful sampling, and the household survey data were analyzed using factor analysis, multiple regression and ANOVA statistical methods.

The most influential factors on the overall QoUL of individuals living in different Kayseri residential neighborhoods were satisfaction with neighborhood and city-level urban services, neighborhood relations and belonging factor groups. The critical finding obtained in this study is that residential satisfaction in low-rise and compact form housing areas in Kayseri is higher compared to residential satisfaction in high-rise neighborhoods. This result reveals that the high-rise building typology that is dominant in Turkey's big cities should be seriously questioned, and urban development policies should be re-evaluated.

The study was designed to produce baseline data so that future changes in residential conditions as perceived by the residents of Kayseri could be monitored to support decisions for residential areas.

Comparative case studies, particularly on low-rise versus high-rise environments, are scarce. As a result, this research contributes to the field of comparative studies on residential environments.

This study aims to develop workplace well-being indexes for construction sites of different project types (infrastructure, high-rise and low-rise). Accordingly, the study objectives are to identify the critical factors that affect workplace well-being at construction sites, compare the critical factors between different project types, categorize the critical factors into subgroups and compute indexes for the critical factors and subgroups.

Data from a systematic literature review and semi-structured interviews with construction industry professionals were used to extract 19 potential factors that affect workplace well-being. Then, a structured questionnaire survey was distributed, and 169 valid responses were collected. Finally, the data were analyzed using normalized mean analysis, agreement analysis, factor analysis and fuzzy synthetic evaluation.

The study findings revealed that there are 11, 11, 8 and 12 critical factors across overall infrastructure, high-rise and low-rise construction projects. Out of those, six critical factors are overlapping across project types, including “general safety and health monitoring,” “salary package,” “timeline of salary payment,” “working hours,” “communication between workers” and “planning of the project.” Accordingly, the critical factors can be categorized into two subgroups within each project type. Finally, the development of indexes shows that infrastructure construction projects have the greatest index compared to other project types.

This study contributes to filling the current knowledge gap by developing workplace well-being indexes at construction sites across different project types. The indexes would assist decision-makers in understanding the current state of workplace well-being. This increases the commitment and recognition of well-being across different construction project types.

The first paper, entitled “Crime and the design of residential property: exploring the theoretical background” (Property Management, Vol. 19 No. 2), has argued that “perceptions” and the “image” of housing designs remain a largely untested avenue of investigation in the design‐effects‐crime debate. Presents and discusses exploratory research into the perception of crime/deviancy, fear of crime and “defensible space”, in relation to a range of characteristic UK housing designs. This investigation concerns the perceptions of planning professionals, convicted burglars and other users and provides both qualitative and quantitative analysis of results from a series of interviews which presented slide representations of terraced, semi‐detached and detached housing designs in addition to low‐rise/walk‐up flats and high‐rise flats. Where possible, two contrasting versions of the same design were presented to probe the influence of “image” in the perception of crime and “defensible space”. The results from this exploratory investigation underpin Newman’s theory of “defensible space” in that a “hierarchy of place” appears to exist with regard to housing designs. However, the “image” of each design is perceived to be a significant contributing factor in relation to the criminogenic capacity of each design presented. Wilson and Kelling’s “Broken Windows” theory is also supported by these research findings.

Transparent insulation materials (TIMs) have been developed for application to building facades to reduce heating energy demands of a building. The purpose of this research is to investigate the feasibility of TI‐applications for high‐rise and low‐rise office buildings in London, UK, to reduce heating energy demands in winter and reduce overheating problems in summer.

The energy performance of these office building models was simulated using an energy simulation package, Environmental Systems Performance‐research (ESP‐r), for a full calendar year. The simulations were initially performed for the buildings with conventional wall elements, prior to those with TI‐systems (TI‐walls and TI‐glazing) used to replace the conventional wall elements. Surface temperatures of the conventional wall elements and TI‐systems, air temperature inside the 20 mm wide air gaps in the TI‐wall, dry‐bulb zone temperature and energy demands required for the office zones were predicted.

Peak temperatures of between 50 and 70°C were predicted for the internal surface of the TI‐systems, which clearly demonstrated the large effect of absorption of solar energy flux by the brick wall mass with an absorptivity of 90 percent behind the TIM layer. In the office zones, the magnitude of temperature swings during daytime was reduced, as demonstrated by a 10 to 12 h delay in heat transmission from the external façade to the office zones. Such reduction indicates the overheating problems could be reduced potentially by TI‐applications.

This research presents the scale and scope of design optimisation of TI‐systems with ESP‐r simulations, which is a critical process prior to applications to real buildings.

Describes a problem‐oriented policing program in Jersey City that seeks to identify, analyze, and target drug, disorder, and violent crime problems in public housing. Describes the problem scanning and identification processes that were used to detect hot spot locations within six public housing sites in the study. Begins the research with a premise that public housing sites differ from one site to the next and that, even within some public housing sites, some common area places will have problems, while others will not. Research findings support this premise. Concludes that there is a distribution of crime problems both across and within public housing sites challenging the hot spot label universalistically applied to public housing sites. The problem identification process has implications for the way problem‐solving teams approach policing public housing sites.

The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of the legislative creation of high rise and master planned communities to provide a common basis for future discussions, research and international comparison in the field.

The case study addresses relevant legislation in the Australian state of New South Wales. This has been a model for that in other jurisdictions, including Singapore, the UK and the Dubai International Financial Centre. The legal terms and their significance are discussed in a way that is comprehensible to both lawyers and non‐lawyers.

The legislation is shown to have achieved a range of outcomes that are not possible in ordinary Anglo‐Australian property law. For example, it has created governing “bodies corporate” which regulate communities with private by‐laws and facilitates the continued enforcement of detailed architectural guidelines imposing a master plan.

The research describes the legal framework for the creation of communities in a single jurisdiction. More research is needed on the specific way that legal structures hinder or promote satisfactory community living in this and in other jurisdictions.

The paper will aid discussions between a range of academics and practitioners working on high rise and master planned communities. It will assist communication between lawyers and non‐lawyers, providing a clear description of the significance of legislation in the creation of communities. It will facilitate transnational discussion, as differences in legal systems and inconsistent terminology are a barrier to effective communication and common understanding.

Climatic conditions in Poland vary tremendously each year with temperatures exceeding 25°C in the summer and sub‐zero in the winter. Therefore the provision of adequate heating and cooling in residential, public and industrial buildings is essential. Poland has recently embarked on a refurbishment process known as “thermomodernisation”, which focuses on improving buildings' thermal and energy efficiency. This paper aims to present the results from a case study of refurbished apartments in Olsztyn, Poland, to determine whether this process increases market value.

The research focuses on property in Olsztyn, Poland where residential property is typically situated in apartments within high‐rise and low‐rise buildings.

The majority of housing stock in Poland was built during the 1970s to 1990s when the thermal properties of building materials were not considered in the construction process, the thermal performance in most residential buildings is very low and heating costs unacceptably high. The results suggest both occupiers and professionals consider thermomodernisation benefits the occupiers by reducing energy and maintenance costs and improving the amenity value of a home. However, whilst both thought that property value was increased this increase was not significant.

This paper provides information on the financial benefits to the occupier from “thermodernistion”, and encourages professionals to highlight these benefits when marketing property.

No published research has explored this issue. This paper addresses this situation.

Building defects are becoming recurrent phenomena in most high-rise buildings. However, little research exists on the analysis of defects in high-rise buildings based on data from real-life projects. This study aims to develop dashboards and models for revealing the most common locations of defects, understanding associations among defects and predicting the rectification periods.

In total, 15,484 defect reports comprising qualitative and quantitative data were obtained from a company that provides consulting services for the construction industry in Victoria, Australia. Data mining methods were applied using a wide range of Python libraries including NumPy, Pandas, Natural Language Toolkit, SpaCy and Regular Expression, alongside association rule mining (ARM) and simulations.

Findings reveal that defects in multi-storey buildings often occur on lower levels, rather than on higher levels. Joinery defects were found to be the most recurrent problem on ground floors. The ARM outcomes show that the occurrence of one type of defect can be taken as an indication for the existence of other types of defects. For instance, in laundry, the chance of occurrence of plumbing and joinery defects, where paint defects are observed, is 88%. The stochastic model built for door defects showed that there is a 60% chance that defects on doors can be rectified within 60 days.

The dashboards provide original insight and novel ideas regarding the frequency of defects in various positions in multi-storey buildings. The stochastic models can provide a reliable point of reference for property managers, occupants and sub-contractors for taking measures to avoid reoccurring defects; so too, findings provide estimations of possible rectification periods for various types of defects.

High comfort and low energy consumption communities have become an important topic for community planning & design in China. Considering the special situation in China, the meaning of high comfort and low energy consumption communities lies in three aspects: making utmost use of natural climatic conditions, providing enjoyable indoor and outdoor living environments in circumstances of high-rise and high-density development, and holistic design of adjacent dwelling units to provide utmost flexibility. This paper uses design proposals for two real projects in two different cities in China - one in Yixing in South China and another one in Harbin in north China - as examples of how to design high comfort and low energy consumption communities by following local climatological factors and by respecting occupants’ needs in the long run. This paper shows that such communities can be planned in two steps, with special attention to the local climate. First, climatically responsive site planning determines building layout, height of each part, and also the design of open spaces. Second, detailed planning & design addresses the disadvantages of the site, improving space quality. Following local climatological conditions is also one of the key issues in housing design for high comfort & low energy consumption communities. In the housing design of the Harbin project, besides consideration to climate, special attention was also given to flexible/variable dwelling unit design according to occupants’ long-term needs. The “1+1 mode” is put forward to provide utmost flexibility for families with 3 generations for their current and future lives.

The financial and economic risks associated with high-rise building projects are many. They make project stakeholders to undergo financial difficulties. However, very few past studies have discussed the management of these risks. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to provide a guideline for the effective management of these financial and economic risks associated with high-rise apartment building projects in Sri Lanka.

The study adopted the mixed research approach. A literature review and semi-structured interviews were used to identify the financial/economic risk factors of high-rise apartment building projects and their risk response measures. The data obtained were used for a questionnaire survey, and the findings were analysed using the mean score method. They were validated using pattern matching. The risk response measures that were identified were ranked according to their effectiveness.

The findings revealed that “financial problems arising from errors in estimating” is the most significant financial and economic risk factor faced by the property developers involved in high-rise apartment building projects, while “poor contract management” is the most significant financial and economic risk factor faced by the contractors of these projects.

The study recommends a guideline to manage, using effective risk response measures, the financial and economic risk factors that are significant in high-rise apartment building projects.