Multi-owner low-cost housing management in Malaysia : effects of owner-occupant characteristics and occupancy rates

Purpose – 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.
Design/methodology/approach – 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.
Findings – 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.
Practical implications – 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.
Originality/value – 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 use of public transport in coastal Australia : modes of travel to work and greenhouse emissions

Commuting to work is one of the most important and regular routines of transportation in towns and cities. From a geographic perspective, the length of people’s commute is influenced, to some degree, by the spatial separation of their home and workplace and the transport infrastructure. The rise of car ownership in Australia from the 1950s to the present was accompanied by a considerable decrease of public transport use. Currently there is an average of 1.4 persons per car in Australia, and private cars are involved in approximately 90% of the trips, and public transportation in only 10%. Increased personal mobility has fuelled the trend of decentralised housing development, mostly without a clear planning for local employment, or alternative means of transportation. Transport sector accounts for 14% of Australia’s net greenhouse gas emissions. Without further policy action, Australia’s emissions are projected to continue to increase. The Australian Federal Government and the new Department of Climate Change have recently published a set of maps showing that rising seas would submerge large parts of Victoria coastal region. Such event would lead to major disruption in planned urban growth areas in the next 50 years with broad scale inundation of dwellings, facilities and road networks. The Greater Geelong Region has well established infrastructure as a major urban centre and tourist destination and hence attracted the attention of federal and state governments in their quest for further development and population growth. As a result of its natural beauty and ecological sensitivity, scenarios for growth in the region are currently under scrutiny from local government as well as development agencies, scientists, and planners. This paper is part of a broad research in the relationship between transportation system, urban form, trip demand, and emissions, as a paramount in addressing the challenges presented by urban growth. Progressing from previous work focused on private cars, this present paper investigates the use of public transport as a mode for commuting in the Greater Geelong Region. Using a GIS based interaction model, it characterises the current use of the existing public transportation system, and also builds a scenario of increased use of the existing public transportation system, estimating potencial reductions in CO2 emissions. This study provides an improved understanding of the extent to which choices of transport mode and travel activity patterns, affect emissions in the context of regional networks. The results indicate that emissions from commuting by public transportation are significantly lower than those from commuting by private car, and emphasise that there are opportunities for large abatment in the greenhouse emissions from the transportation sector related to efforts in increasing the use of existing public transportation system.

Circle: orbital commutation

In exercising vision we employ strategies to perceive space and to distinguish the objects of attention. Some processes however remain invisible to us; how we process binocular vision; and how we resolve vision in motion. This work images invisible motion perspective. Revelation of invisible mechanisms of vision exposes the haptic qualities of sight and their contribution to proprioception and ʻaffordanceʼ. Figuring the ʻvortex of visionʼ also releases symbolic and metaphoric potentials. This innovative outcome of practical research develops imagery which depicts relative movement in space using the principles of motion perspective (Herschel) and optic flow (J. J. Gibson); the locative awareness of volumes in space through the dimensions of time and space presented in 2D imagery. The mural scale (3.5 metres) work presented in 'Circle', a group show of work around the idea of 'the circle' curated by Melinda Capp is derived from a large production of digital photographs made in the London Underground. In this work, the circle is associated with the orbit of the commuter which bends around the twin poles of home and employment, work and rest, circulating in an ellipse around the Ideal Life. Each traveller's path is a braid woven through gyrations of force and resistance. Optic flow, emulated with the rotating lens, tracing the moving subject, makes this visible.

Migrant Houses in the village Zavoj, Republic of Macedonia, 1988-2010

The focus of this data is on the transformation of the village Zavoj in the Republic of Macedonia, due to emigration from the village, recorded through the architectural changes to the houses in the village. The village had become by default a place for the accommodation of elderly people who did not want to join their offspring abroad in the cities of immigration, or in the fringe suburbs of nearby towns.

The data documents the ‘material history’ of the houses, and constitutes a longitudinal research project tracing the transformation of the architectural fabric of the village since 1988. It includes visual documentation such as photographs and drawings, and includes the houses as HOUSE-STATES as follows:

House-Traditional: Vernacular architecture still in use and maintained as a dwelling.
House-Construction: Buildings that are still being constructed, the house as ongoing construction site.
House-Fragment: An eMigrant house-fragment is juxtaposed with the vernacular dwelling. Typical and affordable techniques of single brick cavity and reinforced concrete structure are evident in the new fragment.
House-Closed: Many new houses have only one door and one window, height, size and volume are minimal; and are closed a lot of the time.
House-Ruin: Vernacular traditional dwellings that are deteriorating. Traditional vernacular dwellings are rarely renovated, reconstructed or repaired.

The data is complemented by several field-work methods including participant observation, interviews, documentation of the village as a totality, recording of oral histories and myths, festivities, and archival statistical research about the vicinity.

This dataset comprises photographic documentation, sketch/drawing documentation, digital interview recordings, and interview notes.

Case study of e-learning experts in Malaysia : impact of social capital and social networks

This paper examines the experiences of selected academics pioneering e-learning in Malaysian tertiary institutions. It begins with an overview of the broad factors shaping the Malaysian educational environment and then proceeds to examine the experience of individual teachers and e-learning programs. It takes an in-depth qualitative approach to engaging with this case study material drawing heavily on semi-structured interviews with key actors.
Conversations with several respondents suggested that the social networks of mentor relations found in the Malaysian case studies might be aptly described as ‘bamboo networks’. Bamboo, which happens to be plentiful in the Malaysian peninsula where these case studies are based, spreads from clump to clump through a series of underground connections involving a mature clump of bamboo sending out a subterranean runner, often over very long distances that then emerge into the open as a new bamboo clump.
All of those interviewed reported that they have found it difficult to find a support base in their first years of pioneering online developments. Consequently, they tended to fall back on their peer networks linked to the institutions at which they had studied. Prominent individuals championing e-learning in the institutions where they teach tend to form small groups for information sharing and networking. They do look to their management for tacit ‘permission’ rather than direct encouragement. Consequently, the active promotion of e-learning in Malaysia can be described as being ‘middle-down’ rather than ‘top-down’ in nature. That is to say, it is mid-level teachers that inspire those below them to join in the development of e-learning programs. They are internally driven and strongly motivated. In time, their activity should produce new generations of locally developed e-learning experts but this has yet to take place in a substantial fashion. This study shows that both men and women ‘academic guanxi’, or peer networks, play a key role in the adoption of online technologies. Key early adopters become change-agents by inspiring a small network of their peers and via their guanxi networks. It was also discovered that motivation is not simply an individual matter but is also about groups and peer networks or communities of exchange and encouragement. In the development of e-learning in Malaysia, there is very little activity that is not linked to small clusters of developers who are tied into wider networks through personal contacts.
Like clumping bamboo, whilst the local clusters tend to be easily seen, the longer-range ‘subterranean’ personal connections are generally not nearly so immediately obvious. These connections are often the product of previous mentoring relationships, including the relationships between influential teachers and their former postgraduate students. These relationships tend to work like bamboo runners: they run off in multiple directions, subterranean and unseen and then throw up new clumps that then send out fresh runners of their own.

Study on the visual performance of a traditional residential neighborhood in old Cairo

Traditional dwellings located in the hot arid zones of the Arabian regions are well known for their sensitive architectural response to the region’s climatic conditions and socio-cultural norms. The majority of these dwellings are well recognized for their courtyard arrangement and perforated fenestration system that evolved to control the harsh solar, climatic conditions without compromising the aesthetic quality of space and occupants’ wellbeing. However, the unique visual characteristics of these structures cannot be fully appreciated by assessing the visual performance of buildings in isolation from their urban context. Given the fact that much of the character of the traditional settlements of this region came from the collective visual perception of their architectural components as well as urban patterns. This paper presents a methodology that can be used to assess daylight behaviour at an architectural level as well as at an urban scale. The work examines the daylight behaviour of a well-known historic alleyway and of a courtyard house in the old city of Cairo. The variability in the visual perception and comfort for a typical pedestrian street and the occupants of the house was predicted using Radiance IES simulation modelling tool and a scaled model under an artificial sky dome. A comparative analysis between simulated results and measured values at target points was conducted and the results reveal a reasonable agreement with the simulation results. Preliminary results from the first phase of modelling were presented that give an insight into the overall visual experience in the traditional settlements in the Old City of Cairo where daylight has contributed to the place unique sense of identity.

Targeting and measuring housing problems in developing countries through urban texture analysis

Latin-american countries passed from predominantely rural to predominantely urban within few decades. The level of urbanisation in Brazil progressed from 36% in 1950, 50% in 1970, and scalating to 85% in 2005. This rapid transformation resulted in many social problems, as cities were not able to provide appropriate housing and infrastructure for the growing population. As a response, the Brazilian Ministry for Cities, in 2005, created the National System for Social Housing, with the goal to establish guidelines in the Federal level, and build capacity and fund social housing projects in the State and Local levels. This paper presents a research developed in Gramado city, Brazil, as part of the Local Social Housing Plan process, with the goal to produce innovative tools to help social housing planning and management. It proposes and test a methodology to locate and characterise/rank housing defficiencies across the city combining GIS and fractal geometry analysis. Fractal measurements, such as fractal dimension and lacunarity, are able to differentiate urban morphology, and integrated to infrastructure and socio-economical spatial indicators, they can be used to estimate housing problems and help to target, classify and schedule actions to improve housing in cities and regions. Gramado city was divided in a grid with 1,000 cells. For each cell, the following indicators were measured: average income of households, % of roads length which are paved (as a proxy for availability of infrastructures as water and sewage), fractal dimension and lacunarity of the dwellings spatial distribution. A statistical model combining those measurements was produced using a sample of 10% of the cells divided in five housing standards (from high income/low density dwellings to slum's dwellings). The estimation of the location and level of social housing deficiencies in the whole region using the model, compared to the real situation, achived high correlations. Simple and based on easily accessible and inexpensive data, the method also helped to overcome limitations of lack of information and fragmented knowledge of the area related to housing conditions by local professionals.

Study on the visual performance of a traditional residential neighborhood in Old Cairo

Traditional dwellings located in the hot arid zone in Egypt are well known for their sensitive architectural response to the region's climatic conditions and socio-cultural norms. The majority of these dwellings are well recognized for their courtyard arrangement and perforated fenestration systems that evolved to control the harsh solar, climatic conditions without compromising the aesthetic quality of the space and the occupants' well-being. The unique visual characteristics of these structures cannot be fully appreciated by assessing the visual performance of buildings in isolation from their urban context. Much of the character of the traditional urban fabric of this region came from the collective visual perception of its architectural components as well as urban patterns. This paper examines daylight behavior of a well-known historic alleyway and of a courtyard house in the Old City of Cairo. Using the Radiance IES simulation modeling tool and a scaled model under an artificial sky dome, the paper investigates the visual comfort in a typical pedestrian street and a selected house. A comparative analysis between simulated results and measured values at target points was conducted. The results indicate a reasonable agreement with the simulation results. The paper gives an insight into the overall visual experience in the traditional settlements in the Old City of Cairo in relation to daylight components and hence their contribution to the unique sense of identity of the place.

Unsung oz hysteries

The screening and funding opportunities for Experimental film in Australia has always had a problematic and underground history since the 1960s, moving through 16mm, super 8 and now digital moving image forms. One source of that history was Cantrills Filmnotes which expressed the rhetoric of a founding generation who experience the promise of a new Australian National Cinema and new film culture in the 70s, but whose mainstream product eventually left it behind. Experimental film inherited a marginal position through a lack of critical debate and because funding shifts left its identity somewhere between the fine arts and commercial cinema. It was consequently viewed as marginal to both. The general visual quality of this work meant it was perceived as apolitical, although it implicitly expressed and performed the denials and negations experienced directly by the migrant and working classes.

Through several cycles of emerging generations of artists (through such organizations as Fringe Network, MIMA and Experimenta), such artists knew more of the histories of work emanating from Europe and North America than their own, a general problem for Australian history. New underground opportunities are now arising to connect with the emerging and aspirant cultures coming out of Asia that reflect the shifts of global capital and the rise of China as an economic power. Asian work, registering a history of aspiration offers a re-integration of Peter Wollen’s avant-gardes split from the early 70s in the West. In the academy the Avant-garde’s strategies and techniques are studied, but are offered up in new work as aesthetic and lifestyle choices, rather than as the political imperatives announced implicitly or explicitly in their originating forms.

The more things change, the more they stay the same : the 2012 alternative film/video festival

The Alternative Film/Video Festival in Belgrade has historically been one of a triumvirate of critical festivals, with Pula’s MAFAF (1965-1990) and Zagreb’s initiating GEFF (1963-70), servicing experimental, exploratory, avant-garde, personal film in the former Yugoslavia, at Belgrade’s Academic Film Center (AFC) within the Student City Cultural Centre (DKSG). Initiated in 1982 it was resurrected in 2003 with a dual regional and international focus after a hiatus due to the collapse of the socialist states of the former Yugoslavia. As well as a series of curated and retrospective programs each competition program is now split into international and regional halves, selected by Greg de Cuir and Zoran Saveski with production support by Milan Milosavljević. Two film workshops were also available. One on scratch film by Ivan Ladislav Galeta, the other on filming and processing led by Vassily Bourakis. Initiated by de Cuir the first Alternative Film/Video Research Forum was part of the festival this year bringing together research on alternative/ experimental/ avant-garde/ underground film and video. Although I participated in this side-bar I will concentrate here more on discussions from the festival roundtable and contextualise a small number of films, a couple from competition but mainly regional work that I would find difficult to encounter without attendance here.

Modelling urban growth futures within inner metropolitan Melbourne

In the light of the Victorian State Government's move towards the development of 'Plan Melbourne' - a new metropolitan planning strategy currently being prepared to take Melbourne forward to 2050 - the following paper attempts to address the issue of how an inner city target of 90,000 new dwellings (Inner Metropolitan Action Plan - IMAP Strategy 5) will impact on existing inner Melbourne activity centres. Working with the prospect of establishing a more compact city within the inner Melbourne region, the paper will focus on key suburbs within the Port Phillip area. Working with a 'Housing Variance Model' based on household structure and dwelling type, the paper will attempt to assess the impact on urban morphology as capacity is progressively altered through a range of built form permutations.

2Loud? Monitoring traffic noise with mobile phones

The World Health Organization has recently focused attention on guidelines for night noise in urban areas, based on significant medical evidence of the adverse impacts of exposure to excessive traffic noise on health, especially caused by sleep disturbance. This includes serious illnesses, such as hypertension, arteriosclerosis and myocardial infarction. 2Loud? is a research project with the aim of developing and testing a mobile phone application to allow a community to monitor traffic noise in their environment, with focus on the night period and indoor measurement. Individuals, using mobile phones, provide data on characteristics of their dwellings and systematically record the level of noise inside their homes overnight. The records from multiple individuals are sent to a server, integrated into indicators and shared through mapping. The 2Loud? application is not designed to replace existing scientific measurements, but to add information which is currently not available. Noise measurements to assist the planning and management of traffic noise are normally carried out by designated technicians, using sophisticated equipment, and following specific guidelines for outdoors locations. This process provides very accurate records, however, for being a time consuming and expensive system, it results in a limited number of locations being surveyed and long time between updates. Moreover, scientific noise measurements do not survey inside dwellings. In this paper we present and discuss the participatory process proposed, and currently under implementation and test, to characterize the levels of exposure to traffic noise of residents living in the vicinity of highways in the City of Boroondara (Victoria, Australia) using the 2Loud? application.

Integrated approach of sustainability and climate change adaptation in a metro project

The new Melbourne Metro underground rail project will leave a legacy long into the future, with an estimated design life which will extend beyond 100 years. As such it is extremely important to consider the mitigation of any environmental impacts, providing a sustainable outcome. It is also essential to pre-empt required adaptation of buildings and infrastructure in the future against the impact of changes in the local climate. Designing a metro system in the age of climate change provides the opportunity to go beyond standard specifications and compliance requirements, creating innovative sustainable and climate resilient design outcomes. On the contrary, constructing an underground metro project presents various design challenges fuelled by complex constraints, many uncertainties and risks. This paper will review the methodology used to integrate environmentally sustainable principles and resilient design for climate change adaptation, within the concept development phase of the Melbourne Metro Underground Rail Project.

Thermal performance analysis of earth pipe cooling system for subtropical climate

Energy crisis is one of the major obstacles for human development. There are on-going researches to overcome this for a sustainable environment and economy. Passive air cooling system of earth pipe cooling is seen as a viable energy efficient technology for hot and humid subtropical climates. It can be an attractive economical alternative to conventional cooling since there are no compressors or any habitual mechanical unit. It utilizes earth’s near constant underground temperature to cool air for residential, agricultural or industrial uses. This paper reports the thermal performance of earth pipe cooling technology for a hot and humid subtropical climatic zone in Queensland, Australia. A series of pipes buried underground were used in order to increase the cooling performance of the system. To measure the thermal performance, a thermal model was developed for the earth pipe cooling system and simulated using ANSYS Fluent. Data were collected from two modelled rooms built from shipping containers and installed at Central Queensland University, Rockhampton, Australia. The impact of air temperature and velocity on room cooling performance has also been assessed. A significant temperature reduction is seen in this study, which will save energy cost for thermal cooling in buildings.

Working with 'housing variance' to model urban growth futures with inner metropolitan Melbourne

Continued population growth in Melbourne over the past decade has led to the development of a range of strategies and policies by State and Local levels of government to set an agenda for a more sustainable form of urban development. As the Victorian State government moves towards the development of 'Plan Melbourne', a new metropolitan planning strategy currently being prepared to take Melbourne forward to 2050, the following paper addresses the issue of how new residential built form will impact on and be accommodated in existing Inner Melbourne activity centres. Working with the prospect of establishing a more compact city in order to meet an inner city target of 90,000 new dwellings (Inner Metropolitan Action Plan - IMAP Strategy 5), the paper presents a 'Housing Variance Model' based on household structure and dwelling type. As capacity is progressively altered through a range of built form permutations, the research attempts to assess the impact on the urban morphology of a case study of four Major Activity Centres in the municipality of Port Phillip.