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Article
Publication date: 15 December 2020

Yonca Hurol and Ashraf M. Salama

1124

Abstract

Details

Open House International, vol. 45 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0168-2601

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 1 February 2023

Francine van Tonder and P.D. Rwelamila

One of the greatest challenges faced by the 1994 post-apartheid government in South Africa is the housing problem that has persisted for almost 30 years into democracy. Innovation…

Abstract

Purpose

One of the greatest challenges faced by the 1994 post-apartheid government in South Africa is the housing problem that has persisted for almost 30 years into democracy. Innovation in research and practice is required to address this problem. This paper aims to discuss the aforementioned objective.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper presents an argument for housing knowledge management as one part of a much larger system of housing provision and critically compares information variations on one hypothetical, low-cost housing unit adapted for varying climatic regions. It aims to enquire if there is an overlap in information.

Findings

The findings do confirm a noteworthy overlap in the information of the varying units. Therefore, knowledge management of the information would prove effective and may contribute in part to housing provision.

Research limitations/implications

The study is limited to assessing the information changes made to the contract documentation of the housing unit.

Social implications

The paper argues that knowledge management of this overlapping information could impact housing provision by providing knowledge power to those affected by the housing problem.

Originality/value

The findings are a unique perspective presented through a knowledge management lens. In addition, the said knowledge management lens provides a platform to raise additional questions. When seeking answers to these questions, it is expected that research sub-themes would be identified focussing further research studies towards finding answers.

Details

Smart and Sustainable Built Environment, vol. 13 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-6099

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 21 July 2020

Gonzalo Lizarralde, Holmes Páez, Adriana Lopez, Oswaldo Lopez, Lisa Bornstein, Kevin Gould, Benjamin Herazo and Lissette Muñoz

Few people living in informal settlements in the Global South spontaneously claim that they are “resilient” or “adapting” to disaster risk or climate change. Surely, they often…

2663

Abstract

Purpose

Few people living in informal settlements in the Global South spontaneously claim that they are “resilient” or “adapting” to disaster risk or climate change. Surely, they often overcome multiple challenges, including natural hazards exacerbated by climate change. Yet their actions are increasingly examined through the framework of resilience, a notion developed in the North, and increasingly adopted in the South. To what extent eliminate’ do these initiatives correspond to the concepts that scholars and authorities place under the resilience framework?

Design/methodology/approach

Three longitudinal case studies in Yumbo, Salgar and San Andrés (Colombia) serve to investigate narratives of disaster risks and responses to them. Methods include narrative analysis from policy and project documents, presentations, five workshops, six focus groups and 24 interviews.

Findings

The discourse adopted by most international scholars and local authorities differs greatly from that used by citizens to explain risk and masks the politics involved in disaster reduction and the search for social justice. Besides, narratives of social change, aspirations and social status are increasingly masked in disaster risk explanations. Tensions are also concealed, including those regarding the winners and losers of interventions and the responsibilities for disaster risk reduction.

Originality/value

Our findings confirm previous results that have shown that the resilience framework contributes to “depoliticize” the analysis of risk and serves to mask and dilute the responsibility of political and economic elites in disaster risk creation. But they also show that resilience fails to explain the type of socioeconomic change that is required to reduce vulnerabilities in Latin America.

Details

Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, vol. 29 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-3562

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 20 March 2020

Debby Willar, Estrellita Varina Yanti Waney, Daisy Debora Grace Pangemanan and Rudolf Estephanus Golioth Mait

In responding to global issues of creating sustainable development, the Indonesian government has enacted regulations (i.e. Ministry of Public Works and Housing No. 05/PRT/M/2015…

19099

Abstract

Purpose

In responding to global issues of creating sustainable development, the Indonesian government has enacted regulations (i.e. Ministry of Public Works and Housing No. 05/PRT/M/2015) on the implementation of sustainable construction in infrastructure project execution. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the means of implementing sustainable principles in the execution of infrastructure projects in Indonesia by the main construction service providers and their partners. A lesson-learned is presented as a source of knowledge to underpin the extensive implementation of sustainable principles in the construction of infrastructure projects leading to an integrated approach in creating a sustainable infrastructure that fulfills the requirements of sustainable development.

Design/methodology/approach

The method used is questionnaire surveys with Indonesian construction practitioners who are working on building construction, road and bridge construction, water facilities construction and house and settlement construction.

Findings

From the results, the practices of sustainability principles by construction service providers in infrastructure project execution are imperative from the project procurement phase. The evaluation continues to the phase of construction project execution, which reveals the inconsiderable performance of sustainability indicators due to current constraints on the implementation of sustainability principles.

Originality/value

This research looks into the existing gaps between sustainable construction principles and their practical implementation in Indonesian infrastructure projects. This will foster a holistic approach in the practice of undertaking sustainable procurement processes, thus reinforcing project management techniques in the phase of sustainable construction project execution. This also strengthens the interrelated roles and responsibilities of project stakeholders by taking into account principles of safety, balance and the harmony of infrastructure and the environment.

Details

Smart and Sustainable Built Environment, vol. 10 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-6099

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 18 May 2020

Marwa Sobhy Montaser

This paper aims at contributing to our understanding of how self-settled Syrian refugees (registered and non-registered) use informal practices to forge their non-political agency…

1684

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims at contributing to our understanding of how self-settled Syrian refugees (registered and non-registered) use informal practices to forge their non-political agency and how this agency could be considered as political acts.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper was conducted per the qualitative data analysis (in-depth interviews and participant observation), attributed to the critical ethnographic approach, through which refugees’ everyday struggle is explored, additionally, that was incorporated with the analysis of Syrians’ Facebook groups and formal sources.

Findings

The research paper concluded that everyday struggle strategies are considered as political acts by acquiring rights that many self-settled Syrian refugees are stripped of by international humanitarian agencies and host government. Hence, registered and unregistered refugees equally forge what is called “informal citizenship” through their presence via a blend of agency forms ranging from hidden agency to explicit one and via their incorporating into the informal contexts, leading them to carve a position of semi-legality that help them to circumvent the formal structural hardship.

Originality/value

This paper endeavors to study how urban refugees as change agents can convert their illegal presence to “probably refugeeness” to unsettle the prominent recognition of them as illegal non-citizens in southern cities.

Details

Review of Economics and Political Science, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2356-9980

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 28 August 2024

Nadia Alaily-Mattar, Vincent Baptist, Lukas Legner, Diane Arvanitakis and Alain Thierstein

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to propose a methodology to empirically investigate the longitudinal development of social media content concerning buildings…

209

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to propose a methodology to empirically investigate the longitudinal development of social media content concerning buildings characterized by iconic architecture and second, to report on the application of this methodology.

Design/methodology/approach

We collected and analyzed empirical data of social media content shared via Instagram between 2011 and 2019 on 16 buildings that can be considered iconic architecture projects. Using an automated pipeline, we collected and processed 264,000 posts and 140,000 images from Instagram for the selected case studies. By studying the posting activity of Instagram users through time series analysis and conducting content analysis of the social media posts by means of both image classification and topic modeling, we report on the development of users’ capturing and reception of the selected case studies on Instagram over time.

Findings

First, we identify two distinct time patterns of social media content: instantly popular buildings whose popularity fades over time and buildings that gradually gain popularity over time. Second, we distinguish differences in the content of social media posts: some buildings are primarily covered for their architectural features and others for their cultural function and facilities.

Originality/value

Using empirical investigation of Instagram data on iconic architectural projects, we have identified a correlation: buildings primarily posted for their architecture are generally also the ones to gain instant online popularity that subsequently faded over time. In contrast, buildings primarily posted for their function and facilities slowly gained popularity on the social media platform over time.

Details

Archnet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2631-6862

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 25 September 2017

Adelle Thomas and Lisa Benjamin

This study aims to assess policies and mechanisms in Caribbean and Pacific small island developing states (SIDS) that address climate-induced migration and displacement. The…

16820

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to assess policies and mechanisms in Caribbean and Pacific small island developing states (SIDS) that address climate-induced migration and displacement. The migration of communities away from vulnerable regions is highly likely to be an adaptation strategy used in low-elevation SIDS, as the impacts of climate change are likely to result in significant loss and damage, threatening their very territorial existence. SIDS must ensure that residents relocate to less vulnerable locations and may need to consider international movement of residents. Ad hoc approaches to migration and displacement may result in increased vulnerability of residents, making the development and enforcement of comprehensive national policies that address these issues a necessity.

Design/methodology/approach

Interviews with United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiators for SIDS as well as analysis of secondary data, including Intended Nationally Determined Contributions, are utilized to determine policies and mechanisms in place that focus on climate-induced migration and displacement.

Findings

While climate change is acknowledged as an existential threat, few SIDS have policies or mechanisms in place to guide climate-induced migration and displacement. Potential exists for migration and displacement to be included in policies that integrate disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation along with national sustainable development plans. Regional bodies are beneficial to providing guidance to SIDS in the development of nationally appropriate frameworks to address climate-induced migration and displacement.

Originality/value

Existing gaps in policies and mechanisms and challenges faced by SIDS in developing strategies to address climate-induced migration and displacement are explored. Best practices and recommendations for strategies for SIDS to address migration and displacement are provided.

Details

International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management, vol. 10 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-8692

Keywords

Content available
Article
Publication date: 3 June 2014

Richard Dilanthi and Haigh Amaratunga

257

Abstract

Details

International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, vol. 5 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1759-5908

Content available
Article
Publication date: 21 September 2010

220

Abstract

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 11 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 31 May 2022

Pelagia Soultatou

This article aims at the sociological inquiry seeking to identify meanings ascribed to the term of vulnerability by official spokespersons, to explore a novel public health policy…

Abstract

Purpose

This article aims at the sociological inquiry seeking to identify meanings ascribed to the term of vulnerability by official spokespersons, to explore a novel public health policy with reference to vulnerable populations and to trace its enactment with particular attention to vulnerable populations in Greece; finally a case of contest among the state and the civil society over refugees' rights will be located against public health politics and biopolitics in the context of the pandemic Covid-19.

Design/methodology/approach

The interpretivist perspective towards analysis of textual data is adopted. Discourse analysis and content analysis are applied to analyze four sets of data.

Findings

The main findings show: (1) ambiguity over the terminology, (2) insufficient policy design and policy enactment towards the protection of vulnerable populations' health, (3) an illuminative case of contest among civil society and the state against infringement of refugees' human rights which may interpreted in terms of a tradition of solidarity.

Originality/value

The Foucauldian notion of biopolitics provides the grounds to understanding how market prevails over life at the expense of those in greater need, and how the state, serving homo economicus, intensifies instead of alleviating health vulnerabilities.

Details

Journal of Humanities and Applied Social Sciences, vol. 4 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2632-279X

Keywords

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