The program developed by the Empresa Municipal de la Vivienda y Suelo in Madrid is part of the transformation process experienced by the city in the last years. No less than 59.000 new dwellings will be realized by the government between 2003 and 2011, 32.500 of which are VPO (Vivienda de Protecion Official). The goal is represented by a wide program of urban regeneration supported by the government, together with a new ground policy and the sustainable requalification of the existing heritage in the consolidated urban areas through tax incentives. The first target is to assure an easier access to quality dwellings for people with low income, offering prices 30% lower than the market ones. This scheme is based on national and international competitions, and on the participation to European programs I+D+I for the definition of innovative materials and new housing typology responding to the user’s needs. As a result, Madrid gained a range of public housing for rent and sale, which not only is an example of architectural quality, but also contributes to the balance of the territory and to the growth and transformation of the urban landscape. According to the effective urban regeneration and to the importance of the contribution of social housing to the quality of life of its citizens, Madrid was chosen to participate to the Shanghai Expo 2010 ‘Better City, Better Life’. Copyright©2011 IAHS.
Social housing is an excellent system to offer an adequate housing to people with modest means. In this regard, Spain is characterized as a country with a high number of social houses in freehold terms, which contrasts with the other countries. The purpose of this document is to offer an overall view of the importance of this model of housing and of the problems and the future of social housing in Spain. Copyright © 2011 IAHS.
This paper compares the space standards for social housing in Portugal and in São Paulo, and seeks explanations for differences in the socio-economic context of both territories. The Controlled Cost Housing (CCH) in Portugal and the housing built within the program My Home My Life (MHML) in São Paulo Municipality are studied. The number and type of rooms, the internal floor area of dwellings, the size of rooms, and the list and size of furniture and equipment are compared. Three research questions are addressed: Which program has more demanding space standards? Which social-economic conditions explain the differences in space standards’? How different space standards influence the users’ satisfaction? To answer these questions, the study compares socio-economic indicators, space standards and users’ satisfaction of both territories. The study has shown that space standards set for the construction of social housing in CCH are more demanding than in MHML program. For instance, a CCH dwelling has almost two times the gross area of a MHML dwelling with the same number of rooms. The differences in space standards contribute to make the price of housing affordable to low income households in São Paulo Municipality. Although social houses are substantially smaller in São Paulo Municipality than in Portugal, the satisfaction level of dwellers with the size of dwellings is higher in São Paulo. We conclude that different political options regarding how to provide housing to low income households directly influence the space standards set for dwellings and therefore their quality. Copyright © 2011 IAHS.
The serious-most challenges of low cost housing were and still are: lowering the development cost without compromising provision standards and the quality of living in housing projects. They continue to top the list of research interests of scholars and institutions (academic and civic), both in the developed and developing countries and settings. Two general conceptions/approaches are still prominent in addressing the said challenges in low cost developments, namely: • Provision of ‘affordable’ completed low cost dwellings and settings with lower (as low as it can get) standards hence cheaper elements, components, details and finishes. • Provision of ‘incrementally’ developed housing projects, i.e. phasing the development cost over an extended period (spanning the life and operation of the dwelling), thus meeting the ‘initial’ cost limitations at the initial phase without denying the users their rights to expand and upgrade the standards of their dwellings in later phases (according to needs and affordability). The present paper critically reviews the two approaches to low cost housing, together with underlying conceptions; highlighting valid and current regional and international research contributions. A design and decision making tool/frame-work is then putforward to enable the involved actors (designers, developers and authorities included) to recognize and compare the merits and drawbacks of possible ‘scenarios’ of action, in low cost housing developments. The discourse comprises five closely related segments, in the following sequence: • On the challenge of low cost housing; an introduction. • Related thoughts, conceptions and approaches – a critical review. • A design and decision making tool in low cost housing development. • Application and evaluation of the proposed tool. In praise of incremental low cost housing development – Epilogue. Copyright © 2011 IAHS.
This paper has been developed in the framework of a larger research program, in which the University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’, the University of Fuzhou and the Academy of Science of China are jointly involved to study how to preserve historic centers. Cultural heritage is the intangible and tangible attributes of a society, including the natural heritage that are inherited from past generations, preserved in the present and granted for the next generations. Nowadays we consider the cultural heritage as a world heritage belonging to all the people of the world, irrespective on which territory they are located. This paper presents a model and a methodological approach on how to conserve cultural heritage in a sustainable way, by showing the case study of the Earth Houses (tulou) of Fujian (China), one of the most interesting type of Chinese rural dwellings, that could become an example for other cultural sites around the world, connecting the environmental and socio-economical aspect to the tourism development. Copyright © 2011 IAHS.
