Aproximación a los aspectos críticos y de éxito en el hábitat de los macroproyectos de interés social nacional: análisis de factores de satisfacción residencial en ciudad verde, Soacha, 2010-2015

Actualmente, la producción de vivienda de bajo costo representa uno de los grandes retos que afrontan los gobiernos en términos de problemáticas sociales. El sector público, con la inversión del sector privado, desarrolla proyectos de vivienda a gran escala para ofrecer un considerable número de unidades habitacionales en la periferia, que reduzcan las cifras de déficit sin sacrificar los suelos urbanos con alto valor inmobiliario. En esta dinámica de producir en cantidad, cabe preguntarse, ¿La producción de vivienda social considera la calidad ofrecida? ¿Responden las soluciones a las necesidades y expectativas de la población vulnerable? La clave para responder a estos interrogantes reposa en comprender el vínculo entre las características del hábitat ofrecido y la respuesta afectiva que éste provoca en los residentes de un territorio particular; así, la satisfacción residencial se convierte en el método fundamental para lograr la comprensión integral de la calidad en los proyectos de vivienda.

The trajectory of social housing policy in Brazil: From the National Housing Bank to the Ministry of the Cities

This paper discusses social housing policy in Brazil since the 1990s by analyzing government programs’ institutional arrangements, their sources of revenues and the formatting of related financial systems. The conclusion suggests that all these arrangements have not constituted a comprehensive housing policy with the clear aim of serving to enhance housing conditions in the country. Housing ‘policies’ since the 1990s – as proposed by Fernando Collor de Mello, Itamar Franco, Fernando Henrique Cardoso and ´ Luis Inacio Lula da Silva’s governments (in the latter case, despite much progress towards subsidized investment programs) – have sought to consolidate financial instruments in line with global markets, restructuring the way private interests operate within the system, a necessary however incomplete course of action. Different from rhetoric, this has resulted in failure as the more fundamental social results for the poor have not yet been achieved.

The trajectory of social housing policy in Brazil: From the National Housing Bank to the Ministry of the Cities

This paper discusses social housing policy in Brazil since the 1990s by analyzing government programs’ institutional arrangements, their sources of revenues and the formatting of related financial systems. The conclusion suggests that all these arrangements have not constituted a comprehensive housing policy with the clear aim of serving to enhance housing conditions in the country. Housing ‘policies’ since the 1990s – as proposed by Fernando Collor de Mello, Itamar Franco, Fernando Henrique Cardoso and ´ Luis Inacio Lula da Silva’s governments (in the latter case, despite much progress towards subsidized investment programs) – have sought to consolidate financial instruments in line with global markets, restructuring the way private interests operate within the system, a necessary however incomplete course of action. Different from rhetoric, this has resulted in failure as the more fundamental social results for the poor have not yet been achieved.

The trajectory of social housing policy in Brazil: From the National Housing Bank to the Ministry of the Cities

This paper discusses social housing policy in Brazil since the 1990s by analyzing government programs’ institutional arrangements, their sources of revenues and the formatting of related financial systems. The conclusion suggests that all these arrangements have not constituted a comprehensive housing policy with the clear aim of serving to enhance housing conditions in the country. Housing ‘policies’ since the 1990s – as proposed by Fernando Collor de Mello, Itamar Franco, Fernando Henrique Cardoso and ´ Luis Inacio Lula da Silva’s governments (in the latter case, despite much progress towards subsidized investment programs) – have sought to consolidate financial instruments in line with global markets, restructuring the way private interests operate within the system, a necessary however incomplete course of action. Different from rhetoric, this has resulted in failure as the more fundamental social results for the poor have not yet been achieved.

Accelerating innovation in the social housing sector in UK

The UK government has been promoting innovation in the construction sector to improve the sustainability of the built environment. It has the potential and strength in developing construction research in design and engineering, but the impact of these processes seems to be slow in reaching the residential sector. While funding remains a major constraint research show that a number of detrimental issues including; organisation, risk, mind sets of the stakeholders, planning constraints,reluctance to accept change and the unexploited markets are major contributing factors. Most of these barriers can be overcome with research, development and information and knowledge transfer techniques. Educating all stakeholders can act as an accelerator for innovation. Given the large stock of existing dwellings, the situation is compounded, by issues related to climate change, to the point that this problem can no longer be ignored and requires an urgent response from all sectors involved. This paper attempts to highlight some of the key issues that are important in accelerating innovation in the housing sector. It briefly looks at the process of innovation in housing and presents lessons learnt from two research projects. The drivers and barriers and the role played by the government are examined in relation to the housing context.

Social housing and land use planning in Medellin during the period 2006-2011. Steps towards socio economic and residential segregation

This paper presents an approach to the relationship between land use planning and socioeconomic residential segregation, from the location of social housing in Medellin, Colombia, during the period 2006-2011. The first part introduces the land use regulations regarding the location of social housing, identifying ambiguities in the current spatial plan. Next, we present the intersection of  regulatory information and the location of the projects that were under construction during the  study period, highlighting the need to consider the location as an important characteristic of social housing and residential segregation as a phenomenon that must be recognized and worked on land  use planning in our cities.

Evaluating the triple bottom line in the implementation of photovoltaic systems in UK social housing

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warnings regarding the detrimental effects of carbon dioxide emissions and global warming have gained acceptance amongst many governments (IPCC 2001). The UK government has agreed to reduce emissions, implement a package of enabling measures (UKCCP 2000) and issued an Energy White Paper (HMSO 2003) calling for a diversification of energy supply policies which will include renewable sources.

Housing accounts for approximately 25% of UK CO2 emissions and as providers of social housing, Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) and their tenants are major contributors. RSLs are deliverers of national policy in several areas and contribute to the attainment of governmental environmental, social and economic targets and impact upon the wider demands of housing policy, healthcare, education and law & order (DETR 1999, Cole and Shayer 1998).

Photovoltaic (PV) electricity generation could deliver “free” electricity to the low income households historically housed by RSLs. PV helps address such issues as fuel poverty and could be used as a stimulus for creating interest in areas of low demand for social housing.

RSLs provide housing solutions which cross traditional economic, social and environmental divides and this lends their modus operandi to the concept of the triple bottom line. The triple bottom line enables social and environmental aspects to be considered alongside economic considerations within decision-making frameworks (Elkington 1999, Andreason 1995).

Using a qualitative research methodology, this paper assesses current commercial viability of PV installations on RSL developments and identifies key barriers to implementation. The paper also investigates whether the application of the triple bottom line can liberate RSLs from viewing PV as a non-viable option by enabling a greater emphasis to be placed on the social & environmental aspects of PV. The paper considers whether a framework for RSLs to improve their decision-making processes by embracing social & environmental factors is feasible.

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.

Normalizar la utopía: Un proyecto de sistematización de la normativa en vivienda social = Normalizing Utopia: A Project of Systematization of Regulations on Social Housing

La presente tesis doctoral aborda el estudio del proyecto de vivienda colectiva social desde la noción de norma, entendida desde la sistematización o normalización de los instrumentos del proyecto arquitectónico de vivienda protegida. Esto es, desde una idea de tipificación taxonómica en cuanto ajuste a un conjunto de reglas comunes productoras de sistemas normativos. La hipótesis de partida se basa en la consideración de la vivienda pública como un laboratorio de estudio histórico de los ideales de confort y calidad de vida. Este campo de pruebas ha constituido una sólida base que ha servido como punto de encuentro muy particular entre proyecto y normativa desde las primeras vanguardias europeas hasta la actualidad. El principal objetivo de la investigación es la revalorización de una normativa de vivienda que ha producido ejemplos de innegable calidad en el contexto nacional e internacional, así como un intento de actualización de su codificación. La investigación se sirve de los instrumentos específicos de la disciplina arquitectónica para explicar una disociación detectada desde la segunda mitad del siglo pasado entre la utopía del proyecto social de vivienda y el pragmatismo de la norma que lo regula, más allá de los aspectos sociales y culturales asociados a las nuevas composiciones familiares, las tecnologías cambiantes, los ritos domésticos contemporáneos o el valor creciente del tiempo libre. La propuesta de una nueva terminología que aborde nuevas relaciones en el acercamiento al proyecto de vivienda desde la normativa española deriva en un conjunto de estrategias de proyecto desde las que proponer sistemas normativos. Dichas estrategias se basan principalmente en mecanismos de cualificación espacial que permitan un nuevo acercamiento entre dichas normas y las formas de habitar actuales. ABSTRACT This doctoral thesis deals with the study of the project of social collective housing from the notion of rule, understanding it from the systematization or standardization of the instruments of architectural project for social housing. Thus, it deals with an idea of taxonomic typification as an adjustment to a set of common rules which produce regulation systems. The initial hypothesis is based on the consideration of public housing as a laboratory for studying the historical ideals of comfort and quality of life. This testing ground has been a solid base that has served as a very specific meeting point between project and regulations from the first European avant‐garde to nowadays. The main objective of this research is the revaluation of housing regulations, which have produced examples of undeniable quality in the national and international stage, as well as an attempt to update their codification. The research assumes the specific tools of the discipline of architecture for explaining a dissociation detected between the utopia of the project for social housing and the pragmatism of the regulations from the second half of last century, beyond social and cultural aspects associated to the new family arrangements, the changing technologies, the contemporary domestic rituals or the rising value of leisure time. The proposal of a new terminology that tackles new relations in the approach to housing project from the Spanish legislation results in a set of strategies to propose regulation systems. Those strategies are mainly based on mechanisms for spatial qualification which allow a new approach between these rules and the current ways of living.

The relevance of harmonising the technical level of social housing with the urban level of the neighbourhood through the example of the 500 dwellings in Albacete

The Architecture and Household Trade Union built nearly 2,000 subsidized dwellings in Albacete from 1941 to 1971. It was the responsible entity from the end of the Civil War until the beginning of Democracy of the social policy programs in Spain. Later on, and together with the National Housing Institute, were responsible for the construction activity. Its limited budget, scarcity of technical and human resources and an urgent need for new housing developments, constituted the basis for producing a vast housing market of low construction qualities. However, thanks to the true architectonic expertise of some of the professionals, some of the developments were designed with a clear urban strategy and in direct relation with the city, which characterizes them to be studied and conserved. This is the case for the selected development for the analysis, the urban complex of the 500 dwellings in Albacete, the Hermanos Falcó Neighborhood. Designed and built between 1963, Alfonso Crespo and Adolfo Gil architects, and 1977 second reformed project by the architect Fernando Rodríguez. It is characterized by its layout on the territory, its controlled relation with the city and its different types of open blocks. Above all, its spatial and human scale strengths, directly related to the European post-war proposals, have to be emphasized; although its technical deficiencies affect the interior quality of the houses. This paper examines its virtues and failures and proposes, using current tools, its renovation. This proposal main aims are to extend its lifetime and develop the particular and urban sustainability levels.

Social Housing under Oligopoly

In this paper it is shown that the setting up of a social housing system may decrease the total number of houses built in the market, induce a price of non-social houses greater than the price of houses without that system and increase the profits of housing developers even in situations where they have to sell social houses at a price below production cost. The analysis considers a situation with imperfect competition in the housing market and with a social housing system where housing developers must provide some social houses when they obtain a permit to build non-social houses.

Energy retrofits in social housing. Analysis of its thermal behaviour.

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