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The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the economics of providing well-located housing in the inner city of Cape Town. The paper emphasises the need to maintain an appropriate balance between the viability and affordability of the product offered to the market and overcoming the value versus cost challenges. While developers have limited influence over value, they do have influence over cost structures through the development approach that is chosen. Moreover, local authorities influence the viability of projects through standards and regulations. The conclusion drawn from the research has considerable implications for the formulation of market-driven housing policy interventions.

In addition to the review of urban economics theory and the literature on the drivers and costs of inner-city, higher-density residential development, a series of interviews with inner-city residential developers was conducted to access current property development cost data and to identify the parameters that determine the viability of inner-city, high-density residential development.

Cape Town, like other South African cities, suffers from being inefficient and inequitable largely due to its low density and sprawling nature. As a result, most planning- and housing-related policy interventions advocate the provision the higher-density, more affordable residential housing in well-located areas such as the inner city. However, to date, these policies have, on the whole, been unsuccessful in achieving these outcomes. This paper argues that this is because these policies largely do not take urban economics into account and fail to address the value versus cost tension that needs to be overcome to allow for the provision of such accommodation. Based on the viability calculations provided, the research illustrates the main cost drivers associated with higher-density, inner-city residential development and makes certain recommendations as to how these cost barriers can be reduced.

Financing arrangements and taxation implications have not been accounted for as these are often specific to the developer and thus cannot be generalised.

The solutions put forward by the paper offer lower-income households the ability to successfully compete with higher-income households and other land uses for well-located space in Cape Town’s inner city.

The findings of this research illustrate the type of interventions that the public and private sectors can consider to improve the viability and affordability of affordable housing units in city centres located in emerging countries.

While traditional urban economic concepts are drawn upon, the paper contributes to addressing the challenge of providing higher-density, more affordable accommodation in South African inner cities. It does this by applying these well-known concepts to the inner city of Cape Town and draws on current data and developer views to accurately diagnose the problem and, in turn, to offer pragmatic solutions.

It is now widely recognised that gradual renewal policies have failed to keep pace with the deterioration of the older housing stock. Commentators and critics are now calling for an increase in clearance and redevelopment. A policy debate is developing around a range of technical, resource, social and political issues. While it is generally agreed that a return to the slum clearance programmes of the 1960s would be unacceptable the future direction of clearance policies is unsettled. The paper considers three broad approaches to clearance which reflect divergent assumptions and political positions.

This paper aims to examine the housing experiences of Fijian migrants in Auckland, New Zealand, in response to recent calls for greater attention to be given to the housing experiences of a wider range of migrant groups. The paper seeks to extend the understanding of the housing experiences of a migrant group that have the economic and social resources that are likely to see them achieve housing outcomes beyond the usual “niche” and limited segments of the housing market usually available to migrants.

This paper used a questionnaire survey designed to uncover the housing experiences and levels of satisfaction of Fijian migrants living in Auckland. Developing on the works of literature that have addressed ethnic residential segregation and migrant housing outcomes, this paper addresses the housing experiences of a well-established migrant community that possesses significant human capital (skills, education, English language proficiency) but occupies a hybrid cultural identity.

The majority of the 84 respondents had attained homeownership. Homeownership was prized for conveying a sense of “independence” and was aligned with notions of Fijian Indian culture. Both homeowners and renters expressed high levels of satisfaction with the locational attributes of their homes. While the majority of renters aspired to homeownership, a lack of affordable housing was noted. Homeowners recognised that they had benefitted from accessing homeownership when house prices were more affordable and believed that current and future migrants would struggle to buy a house in the Auckland housing market.

In the absence of a sampling frame, this research employed a purposive sampling technique that distributed questionnaires among Fijian migrant community groups and ethnic businesses. As the first study of its kind into the housing experiences of Fijian migrants in Auckland, the sample size (84 respondents) and geographical distribution of respondents was deemed sufficient to offer insights into the community’s housing experiences. The findings of this research could be used to develop a larger-scale analysis of the housing experiences of Fijian migrants in Auckland.

While considerable attention has been given to documenting the locational distribution of migrants in Auckland, this is the first study to examine the housing experiences of Fijian migrants. The paper adds to the understandings of the variety of migrant housing outcomes by focussing on the experiences of a well-established migrant group that possesses significant human capital and occupies a distinct ethnic position within Pacific migration flows.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to show the changes to date between the apartheid (ideological) and democratic use and management of public space. The abolition of apartheid laws in urban areas led to a great deal of contestation for space and also to new forms of management of public space.

This paper looks briefly at the background which led to public space being “reserved” on a racial basis. It then examines examples of the contestation for space that developed with the relaxation and, finally, abolition of apartheid legislation. It finally provides and discusses some of the solutions that have developed in both the use and management of public space.

Little has been practically resolved in relation to contestation over various aspects of urban public space. Where public space interventions have been private sector led, such interventions are not without their own difficulties.

Generally the paper confines itself to Johannesburg. The paper relies on the personal experience of the author and research of written material – time constraints have not permitted research through questionnaires.

The practical implications of the results to date are summarised and recommendations made for application to other South African towns and cities.

Relatively little is available on the practical applications of the subject matter in South Africa. The paper could be of value in developing further debates, both in South Africa and in world cities subject to mass immigration.

HOUSING AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS IN POST-COMMUNIST COUNTRIES

This study aims to identify the motivations, challenges and desires of the various actors working in contemporary downtown revitalization in mid-sized cities.

Using Spokane, Washington, as a case study, 24 semi-structured interviews were conducted with key players in downtown redevelopment, including public administrators, private developers and non-profit representatives.

Results indicate that those conducting renewal projects are primarily motivated by economics, but additionally cite heritage preservation values and community development as significant factors. Moreover, contemporary renewal projects are found to be small-scale endeavours, undertaken by individual private investors, as government involvement has significantly diminished. Revitalizers tended to express frustration with a lack of investor and public awareness regarding renewal opportunities, suggesting that increased information dissemination might promote further renewal work within mid-sized urban downtowns.

Findings provide insight into issues with neoliberal policies in addressing contemporary urban issues, and suggest a more nuanced understanding of contemporary urban development processes beyond the narrowly defined profit-driven paradigm.

This article sets out to explore whether right wing parties have made a difference to the way housing policy was formulated in the UK and Israel. Both countries provide similar examples of national approaches to housing policy. We shall review two policy developments, rent control and improving housing conditions in the inner cities.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the transformation of inner‐city sites previously developed for industry use in Chinese city, which is driven by the unique social, economic and political settings in China featured by the emergence of the market mechanism for urban land use. The existing body of knowledge about urban brownfields suggests a lack of understanding and information about the transition‐led inner‐city brownfield development in China.

This paper adopts a case study approach using the R&F high‐density apartment project in the inner‐city of Guangzhou built on a former chemically polluted site to provide factual evidence for the state of inner‐city brownfield development in China. The paper identifies institutions, processes and practices that are related to the reclamation of inner‐city brownfield sites for high‐density residential use and preliminarily assesses its impact.

The paper suggests that, although issues about environmental impact appear to be carefully treated during the project execution, much less care is given to pre‐construction and post‐occupancy phases. There is also a serious lack of specific standards and policies that are designed for governing the issues directly related to inner‐city brownfield development. This could have substantial impact on the land use in China's major cities, but it has not been paid sufficient attention.

This paper shows that there is an urgent need to design and develop policy and industry standards specifically address inner‐city brownfield development.

The paper confirms the need for more careful treatment to inner‐city brownfield projects that are being “fast tracked” due to the pressure for high‐speed economic growth and the demand for inner‐city housing. This paper also contributes to the initiation of basic criteria that help identify inner‐city brownfield projects for more comprehensive investigation to further evaluate impacts of China's economic transition on its urban built environment.

The role of state intervention in stimulating inner‐city land markets for private‐sector residential development is becoming an increasingly important element of urban regeneration strategies. Considers how fiscal incentives are being employed in inner‐city Dublin to promote investment opportunity in the housing sector. Examines the operation of targeted tax‐based incentives with illustrations to show how a demand‐driven residential property market is being created in locations which were traditionally neglected by investors.