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This study on the knowledge/experience transfer regarding architectural space has two main objectives. The first of these is to develop an in-depth analysis on housing settlements and the second one is to provide pioneering and unique approach of a housing settlement in the 50s in Istanbul to architectural milieu. In the study, first how it is possible to propose such a method will be discussed, and will be followed by a review of the literature on the subject of housing and by which parameters it can be described. After this preliminary research, a systematic approach consisting of two steps (1. Reading, 2. Conceptualization) to analyze the housing settlements will be proposed and this approach will be exemplified by a housing settlement in Istanbul. In short, this article is primarily concentrated on tools required first to understand and then explain a housing settlement.

The purpose of this study is to inform policy and contribute to the existing literature on low-income housing.

In this study, a case study approach was adopted, and data were collected through secondary data collection that is literature survey and through empirical data collection by conducting face to face interviews and survey of key stakeholders, citizens, and government authorities, and in some cases supplemented by on site photography. The data collected from the field was analysed using quantitative and qualitative techniques. The questionnaires were coded for scientific analysis of data. The information was presented in a structured way that permits for in-depth analysis of the data.

In this study, many paradoxes were noted defying common sense, but nonetheless, they require a solution. It has been concluded that, while efforts to improve settlements and anticipate future ones are becoming more common, the desire for eradication persists in many towns in Botswana.

The major limitation of this study is that it was done during the period of COVID-19 induced movement restrictions. As a result, the preferred face to face interviews with key informants were not possible.

This research informed policy on low-income housing in Botswana. The Government of Botswana can use the findings of this study to formulate policies which help in alleviating challenges currently faced in practice when implementing low-income housing projects. The concept of low-income housing has been adopted by many developing countries including in Africa. As such, results of this study can also be applicable in other developing countries where they can be used as a starting point for evaluating the success of policies and the practice of low-income housing.

This work made original contribution to knowledge by putting the plight of housing the urban poor in Botswana will in perspective.

A key development in South Africa's response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic has been the recognition that there are a number of external factors in the socio-economic and physical environment in which people live that are central to the spread of the epidemic. A growing body of evidence suggests that poverty, inequality, inadequate shelter, overcrowding and other symptoms of underdevelopment are fundamental drivers in undermining people's ability to practice and negotiate safe sex, thereby enhancing vulnerability to HIV infection. Similarly, these factors affect the ability of individuals, households and communities to cope with the subsequent health and socio-economic effects of infection. In a context where large numbers of South Africans live in poverty, without adequate shelter and access to basic resources and services, HIV/AIDS will thus have far reaching and serious impacts, not only on citizens and communities but also for and on the state.

The South African government has shifted its approach to housing development from the provision of housing to a sustainable human settlements approach, as encapsulated in its 2004 development plan ‘Breaking New Ground’. This paper explores the conceptual and theoretical links between this sustainable human settlements agenda and HIV/AIDS. It argues that the creation of sustainable and integrated human settlements is potentially a crucial component in the response to HIV/AIDS. However, this can only be achieved if HIV/AIDS becomes an explicit component of sustainable human settlements planning, development and management. In light of this, the paper discusses key characteristics of integrated, sustainable human settlements and reviews the current instruments for the implementation of a sustainable settlement agenda in South Africa in relation to the dynamics and implications of HIV/AIDS both for the South African state and its people. The paper concludes with a set of policy recommendations to make HIV/AIDS an integral component of the sustainable human settlements agenda.

Solving settlement and likewise housing problems of socially vulnerable Romani in Belgrade and Serbia still has not found the right design approach. In contemporary plural society, it is a process of interaction of theoretical and practical tryouts set beyond the disciplinary limits. Insufficient awareness on Romani lifestyle elaborated in Romanypen, i.e. the Romani cultural system causes a lack of methods, techniques and tools to choose from and develop for this untangled complex problem. The intent of this article is to show that a collective lifestyle represents the essence needed for developing adequate design decisions of Romani settlements, thus fulfilling the potential for improving adequate housing solutions.

The study starts on the assumption that in Romani settlements there is a strongly rooted relation between spatial and social level that enables an understanding of what this cultural group produces as its own place. The urban pattern of Romani settlements do not have an institutionally imposed organization; they are formed by the Romani themselves, by reflex rooted in needs of everyday life activities and consequently organized and built through inherited knowledge and skills. The subject of this study is aimed at recognizing and thus establishing spatial expressions of the Romani collective lifestyle in three types of Belgrade Romani settlements that, according to the differences in their inner habitational pattern, display a representative model. It is based on the field analysis of five already created and developed unplanned settlements in Belgrade through observing and residing within them and by talking and questioning to their residents.

This study shows that the key to understanding existing urban and architectural patterns, as well as the potential for future design actions lies in reading out the processes of everyday life. Then, it demonstrates a tool that has a potential to divert previous housing politics towards a revitalization of design in relation to social profiles specificities. At the end, the study opens a path to creating adequate architectural and urban parameters for housing care in accordance to the lifestyle acceptable for each and every socially perceptible group.

The relationship between people and their home environment has always been an important research theme. Cooperative works of different disciplines and research areas, such as environmental psychology, social psychology, community psychology, home environment studies, urban planning and architecture have developed an understanding of relationships between quality and residential spaces. In this study an attempt has been made to analyze quality issues in housing environments by providing a general review related to quality housing research and by establishing a model that can be used to evaluate the concept of quality in housing. Focusing on a specific housing settlement as a case study, the goal here is to open a debate based on design concepts and their social and spatial consequences in architecture and to provide important data for future housing projects in Turkey. In the scope of the work, the Belerko Housing Settlement in the City of Trabzon has been selected as a research area. Aim of the study is to develop an understanding of the social, psychological and the physical characteristics that contribute to spatial quality in this specific housing environment.

Sparse attention has been paid to the inevitable processes of change that enable progress in today's globalizing urban centres, but also threaten their unique identity, historic memory, and cultural heritage. The aims of this work are to understand the urban dynamics that trigger these change processes, uncover their effects, and discuss how these changes can be utilized to achieve sustainable development. The case study, which uses a comparative mixed method strategy consisting of archival research, fieldwork, and semi-structured interviews, is the Kosuyolu Housing Settlement, a project dating to the 1950s that represents one of Istanbul's best examples of urban development and housing culture. Displaying the architectural and urban planning ideals of the Modern period, this settlement is a concrete example that reflects the period's considerations regarding social housing. Through this case, change in housing has been evaluated in terms of sustainability indicators. The derived evidences show the significant role of governance and the maintained land use pattern for the achievement of the sustainable development and these evidences are used to suggest the development of an adaption guide that will assist in sustainable development in the short term, and the creation of alternative scenarios that are flexible and easy to adapt, active, and based on participatory processes for the long term.

The purpose of this paper is to give an insight into lessons learned so far on the in situ upgrading and eradication of informal settlements in South Africa. This is with a view to accessing progress made to date, the line of focus and to ascertain whether in situ upgrading or eradication of informal settlement is the best option in solving the problem of informal settlement integration into the large society.

The research is conducted with reference to existing theoretical literature, published and unpublished South Africa research. The study is mainly a literature survey/review and looks at challenges that have been overcome to bring about the success made to date, thus striving to achieve the goals and objectives of a city without slums. The research ties up the identified challenges with recommendations to the problems to enhance the reality of having a city without slums.

One of the primary findings that emanated from the study revealed that all development where people have to be displaced or inconvenienced has come with problems. Other findings attribute the little success achieved to date to the in situ upgrading of the existing settlement and the eradication of the settlement. Though policy activated has not been well implemented for the betterment of all, progress has been made nonetheless.

The upgrading and eradication of informal settlement have long been a subject of global discussion, which has taken firmer root since it was declared to be one of the Millennium Development Goals agenda. The paper contributes to this body of knowledge.

Homeownership is considered both economically and socially beneficial for homeowners. However, in the collective living arrangement, reaching a consensus with regard to the residential environment is difficult. The purpose of this paper is to identify factors that can reduce the conflict among the stakeholders in multi‐owner low‐cost housing in Malaysia.

This study tested three hypotheses examining whether the demographic and socio‐economic characteristics of owner‐occupants and occupancy rates affect owner‐occupants' satisfaction with stakeholders' relationships. Data were collected through questionnaires from owner‐occupants of multi‐owner low‐cost settlements in Selangor state. Data on housing characteristics were collected from chairpersons of the respective owners' organisations. The data were treated as parametric, and analysis of variance was conducted.

Four factors – number of children in the family, duration of residency, participation in social activities and participation in meetings – were found to affect owners‐occupants' satisfaction with the stakeholders' relationships. The significant effect of occupancy rates was also indicated.

The Management Corporations (MCs) should encourage social relationships among residents. To avoid conflict, the costs and benefits of participation must be balanced. Policy makers should take two key aspects seriously: owner‐managed strategy practices by the MCs and high rates of tenant‐residents. A mechanism should be identified for assisting the MCs in housing management and for protecting the benefits of homeownership for owner‐occupants.

Past studies on low‐income household settlements examined public housing or low‐income homeowners of single detached dwellings. This study adds to the existing body of knowledge by examining low‐income homeowners in multi‐owner low‐cost settlements.

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate whether the leading argument of construction firms, which have been active in the mass production of housing for the past 10 years in Istanbul, that in addition to the features of the house itself, the position of the house in the city, in other words its location, the new lifestyles the house offers and the social reinforcements the house provides are of great significance is valid or not. This was done by analyzing the contents of the advertising copies of houses present in the printed media.

In this study, the printed advertising copies of the projects realized by the mass housing construction firms which have carried out at least six projects in Istanbul housing market, have been analyzed and assessed by “content analysis”, one of the qualitative research methods of social sciences. As it can be observed from the results of the analysis, the house, while being regarded as a product and marketed via its features, also has become a product presented to the consumer as a result of its position in the city, in other words its location, the new lifestyles it offers and the social reinforcements it provides.

As this study has demonstrated, marketing strategies based on attracting the attention of the customer by making use of means of communication are also valid for housing in Istanbul housing market. Housing is marketed not only according to its features as a product but also according to the urban area where it is situated, new lifestyles and social reinforcements it presents. In this marketing process, the features of the housing itself; its size, construction technology, quality of the fine materials, earthquake resistance, etc. as well as the urban area where the housing is situated, the location of it, opportunities of infrastructure and superstructure of the housing become the foregrounded arguments in the advertising copies.

This study is that, as a requirement of modern-day marketing, the consumption relation of the consumer to the house is not simply based on the features of the house, that modern-day marketing tries to capture the attention of the consumer via the position of the house in the city (location), which is the equivalent of the other symbolic values associated with the house, the lifestyles it presents and the social reinforcements it provides.

While a substantial amount of study of informal settlements has been undertaken, they remain largely unstudied in terms of urban form. In this analysis, the purpose of this paper is to set forth a conceptual framework, which considers the context in which informality takes place, the settlement itself, the houses contained therein, the dwellers of those houses and the process through which a settlement is designed and transformed over time.

This is a literature review.

This framework aims to be sufficiently flexible to be deployed across diverse national settings. Its formulation is important because informal settlements are a permanent fixture of the global urban landscape, and are increasing in scale.

Any sustainable strategies to improve informal settlements depend on a better understanding of their urban space, as well as of the producers of this space – the residents themselves. Finally, professional designers may be able to learn from this contemporary urban vernacular grammar – perhaps the only one left in the era of sanitized, contrived and prosaic urban design.