Search results

The purpose of this paper is to explore the challenges of transitional shelter provision for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in urban informal settlements. While there has been considerable research on postdisaster transitional shelters, less is known on shelters for IDPs in urban informal settlements.

A case study is presented based on field research at the communities in Olaria and City in São Paulo, Brazil. Collection of data included personal communication with the dwellers, surveys and interviews with representatives from Techo, one of the few organizations that provide transitional shelters for IDPs. A review of documents regarding the construction, design and users' adaptation of transitional shelter was also undertaken. Data was analyzed using thematic analysis.

The study found that Techo's program impacts positively on the nonphysical aspects of shelter, such as physical and mental health, security, household responsibilities and community participation. However, Techo's transitional shelter for IDPs in urban informal settlements and most postdisaster transitional shelters share similar problems. These programs respond to the needs of a small proportion of the affected populations with shelters of minimum quality and low durability.

This paper is limited to a single case study of the NGO Techo and further case study research is recommended to further develop and validate the study results in other urban development contexts.

This research contributes to describing and understanding the context and the provision of transitional shelters to IDPs in urban informal settlements and impacts in the community. With increasing numbers of IDPs settling in urban informal settlements in many parts of the world, this paper is valuable to policymakers, NGOs and researchers operating in this field to facilitate community development.

The most important need after natural disasters is the sheltering. However, most of the existing temporary shelters do not meet all requirements for long-term use and not provide adequate flexibility within the space. This paper aims to develop a transitional postdisaster shelter transforming from a closed shape to an expanded form in response to changing functional and spatial needs of disaster victims. The study also proposes alternative unit combinations for various functions, and settlement layouts to create a comfortable living environment for occupants.

The research methodology is based on theoretical and design frameworks which requires inductive and deductive approaches. Forming the background of the study, the theoretical framework consists of four parts which are literature review on temporary shelters presenting state-of-the-art; determination of design guidelines and strategies based on shelter standards; identification of technical requirements; and analysis of existing temporary shelters. Having three parts, the design framework includes design of transformable transitional shelter based on three-dimensional modeling, creation of different unit combinations to be used for various purposes and development of settlement layouts as case studies.

The analysis conducted in this study demonstrates that most of the existing temporary shelters have limited geometric configurations and major problems in terms of their performance, transportation and storage. On the other hand, the transformable shelter proposed by the authors can provide form and spatial flexibilities thanks to its expansion properties, occupy less space for transportation, easily be transported to any desired location in its compact state and be customized according to user needs. Several units can be combined either to serve larger families or to be used for different functions.

This paper contributes to the literature as presenting not only a theoretical framework on temporary shelters but also a design framework on transformable shelter design for the ones who are willing to develop similar transformable shelters based on the determined guidelines, strategies and requirements.

Through an overview of Goal's post tsunami shelter and reconstruction programme in Sri Lanka this study aims to highlight how design and implementation approaches had to continuously evolve in order to respond to changes in pace, priorities and policy as relief moved into recovery then permanent rehabilitation.

The study begins by describing the Buffer Zone Policy that prohibited construction within a certain distance from the sea and how the policy impeded the construction of permanent housing in some areas through lack of suitable relocation sites. Then using transitional shelter as an example, the effects of the persistence of the policy when most actors anticipated change can be seen in modifications to shelters driven mainly by comfort criteria as their occupancy had to be extended from an initially predicted six month period to around two years.

Following this, an overview of the permanent housing programme shows how an owner driven housing approach was chosen as an appropriate means of provision and how the process was developed through a local partnership. In this programme the owners' capacity to design and manage their own house construction was developed with the understanding that houses could be incrementally extended by the owner following the completion of the programme. Then, as the late change in the Buffer Zone Policy resulted in a sudden up-scaling of the project on a very limited time-frame, the study shows how, whilst still catering for individual aspirations and personal "ownership" in design and implementation, standardised designs were introduced to speed up the building process.

The study concludes by emphasising the need for flexibility in design and implementation in order to provide the best service to affected people within the ever-changing environment of disaster response.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the energy efficiency and life cycle carbon footprint of temporary homes in Japan after the Great Eastern Tohoku Earthquake in 2011.

An energy simulation and life cycle assessment have been done for three alternative shelter models: prefabricated shelters, wooden log shelters and sea container shelters.

Shelter materials have a very high share of life cycle emissions because the use period of temporary homes is short. Wooden shelters perform best in the comparison. The clustering of shelters into longer buildings or on top of each other increases their energy efficiency considerably. Sea containers piled on top of each other have superb energy performance compared to other models, and they consume even less energy per household than the national average. However, there are several gaps of knowledge in the environmental assessment of temporary homes and field data from refugee camps should be collected as part of camp management.

The findings exemplify the impacts of the proper design of temporary homes for mitigating their energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions.

Natural hazards occur frequently in Indonesia. When post-disaster recovery is prolonged and complicated, it is necessary to provide accommodations for homeless refugees in disaster areas. Since a transitional housing solution includes planning, design and execution phases, the design phase implements the decisions made in the planning phase and also affects the results of the execution phase. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to assist communities to effectively deal with various processes during the design phase involving transitional housing solutions.

Based on eight factors associated with “building back better” and ten principles of transitional housing, the paper identified three problems in the design phase: inappropriate selection of settlement sites, improper representation of housing facilities and ineffective scheduling of construction projects. To resolve these problems, this study integrated a geographic information system (GIS), three-dimensional (3D) building models and construction project management tools to assess settlement sites, confirm housing facilities and configure construction projects, respectively.

After this study tested conventional methods (e.g. paper-based maps, drawings, reports) and the proposed approach, the results revealed that communities can appropriately determine settlement sites based on the GIS. The 3D building models enabled the communities to understand the external and internal layouts of housing facilities. Through construction project management, the communities could consider construction activities immediately when preparing the execution phase for transitional housing solutions.

This study offers a useful reference for similar applications in post-disaster reconstruction and management.

Self-recovery in post-disaster shelter is not the exception but the norm. Following earthquake, flood or storm, the majority of affected families will inevitably rebuild their homes themselves, using their own resources, but there is little support from the international community to encourage good safe building practice. While the communication of key messages about safer building has been carried out effectively in development contexts, it rarely forms a major part of humanitarian response programming. If the humanitarian shelter sector is committed to the principles of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), more can be done to support the process of safer reconstruction among self-rebuilders. This paper argues the case for the humanitarian community to link post-disaster shelter programming with the more developmental approach of communicating building safety to a much wider audience than just the most vulnerable beneficiaries. It proposes the shelter sector and the donor community direct more resources towards support for this process, which would augment the effectiveness and impact of a shelter response.

Natural disasters not only cause dilapidated buildings and damaged infrastructure but also delay crucial aid for those affected in the event of a disaster and post-disaster recovery. An institutionally well-managed post-disaster housing strategy provides opportunities for physical and mental healing of its occupant. The time requires occupiers to remain in the temporary housing varies with circumstances. This paper aims to review post-disaster housing scenarios in India in comparison to two Asian cases from Indonesia and Japan. The study focuses on understanding Indian post-disaster housing strategies through a comparative review.

The research selects coastal cities of Tamil Nadu state, where the post-disaster temporary shelter and rehabilitation was planned and implemented after the Tsunami in 2004. The Tsunami created havoc in Nagapattinam and Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu. Nagapattinam district reported 6,051 fatalities and many more homeless people. After the Tsunami, the government took measures to supply safe, secured and on-site shelter provisions. Surprisingly, many such shelters were never occupied. In many instances, people actually preferred to spend years in a temporary shelter rather occupying government housing. This paper evaluates such events and investigates India’s post-disaster shelter strategy against the derived best practices. This study is based on the sequential/logical reasoning and understanding of the facts. Discussions and findings from this study can be further generalised into a comprehensive policy discussion.

The paper finds that the manner of planning and design of post-disaster housing programmes influence medium- to long-term recovery of its occupant. A certain element of trade-off between implementation and quality of habitation results into compromises to achieving the desired outcome. When faced with socio-political, economic and financial constraints, the decision-makers are required to make trade-offs in deciding the manner and quantum of allocating resources. Coordination among these agencies is troublesome. It is true for all countries and there is no distinct answer to it. Public consultation and community participation in long-term rehabilitation are crucial to meet the aspiration of the local people.

The paper contributes in discussing a comparison of post-disaster housing rehabilitation between India and the two cases from Indonesia and Japan. As a review paper, the objective is to highlight the synthesis and overall understanding of post-disaster housing strategies from two cases and compare it with India.

As a flood-prone region in Iran, Golestan province has encountered various disasters in its history. The last one occurred in March 2019, affected Aq-Qala County and caused irreparable physical, economic, social and environmental problems. The purpose of this study is to investigate the process of providing shelter in emergency, rehabilitation and reconstruction phases after the floods in the villages of Aq-Qala.

A research method is a hybrid approach. The collection of data involved a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches in addition to reviewing the documented texts in resources to collect the required data using observations, field survey activities, questionnaires and in-depth interviews. From April 2019 to December 2019, nine separate visits have occurred to collect the needed information.

This paper shows dissatisfaction with providing shelter and attempts to identify the factors which caused the challenges. The findings revealed issues such as hygienic problems in collective camps, lack of thermal resistance in temporary accommodations and rising material prices. These findings lead to a contributive list of suggestions avoiding the recurrence of the harms in the future.

This study proposes solutions and approaches to improve the post-flood settlement process for possible floods in the future such as equipped camps, proper temporary housing, monitoring the reconstruction and the price of the materials. If these approaches are used by authorities and people in similar rural areas, the long-term effects of inadequate post-flood shelter can be reduced.

To minimize risk of coastal communities arising from cyclones, several risk mitigation initiatives have been taken in countries. Cyclone shelters have proven to be an important critical infrastructure in saving lives from cyclones. A large number of coastal critical infrastructure in the form of multi-purpose cyclone shelters (MPCS) are built to provide safe shelter during disasters. Often observed, such critical infrastructures are non-operational during the normal period, which makes them difficult to use during any disaster. Efforts have been made to keep these infrastructures in working condition. This research paper aims to bring together various management practices adopted for the MPCS in the South-Asian region with a focus on Bangladesh, and India. It also suggests ways to improve these practices for sustainable management of the MPCS.

India and Bangladesh are the most vulnerable countries in the South Asian region. As per the Global Climate Index, India and Bangladesh come in the list of “in extreme risk” countries in the world and are vulnerable to several natural hazards, especially climate-induced hydrometeorological hazards. India has a vast coastline and out of 7,516 km of coastline, a large extent, i.e. 5,700 km is prone to cyclones and that keeps 40% of the population vulnerable living within 100 km of the coastline. On the other hand, Bangladesh has a coastline of 580 km, which is equally vulnerable to tropical cyclones. Safeguarding communities from impending coastal risk through coastal cyclone shelters are of prime concern. This paper uses a qualitative approach to analyze secondary data, and literature in the field of critical infrastructure, sustainability, cyclone shelter, and management practice for cyclone shelters.

To provide sustainability and community ownership of the MPCS, various service plans are adopted in different countries. This paper provides insights on service and sustainability efforts made for the proper functioning of the MPCS in India and Bangladesh. It also provides insight into the roles played by different institutions involved in maintaining the MPCSs.

The research reiterates understanding of the cyclone shelter management from different geographic locations in the South Asian region. Various gaps identified in shelter management practices are discussed in the paper and key recommendations are proposed for better management of cyclone shelters.

This paper aims to determine whether a combined set of process models for university contributions to social innovation can be effectively used to describe how higher education institutions facilitate and disseminate research for social value.

The author applies Cunha and Benneworth’s (2013) social innovation process model, with additions from the Nichols et al. (2013) model of campus-community collaboration and the Jain et al. (2020) social value framework, to a pair of case studies at Portland State University about research projects on homelessness. Information was gathered through primary sources, observation and secondary texts.

Applying the models to the case studies provides additional detail on the types and value of Portland State University’s contributions to addressing homelessness through social innovation. The models are found to be effective in describing and providing guidance for social innovation research projects at other higher education institutions.

The models may have widespread applicability in understanding or designing university contributions to social innovation, but additional case studies and analysis are needed to understand the full range of project types and institutional contexts to which they can be successfully applied.

The projects described in the paper’s case studies have not been analyzed elsewhere using social innovation frameworks and are valuable in their own right as social innovations worthy of replication. The findings of the paper extend the applicability of a process model for university contributions to social innovation.