The economy of Kenya has been steadily improving over the last few years and the outlook for the immediate future is promising. In 2006 the United Nations declared Kisumu the first UN Millennium City in the world, partly because a number of ambitious development strategies were in place, and also because of its considerable economic potential as well as its status as an emerging urban hub in the region. Founded as a colonial town in 1901, from which the white settlers departed long ago, it has since grown into Kenya’s third largest city. However, with 60 per cent of its population of 500,000 living in dense, crude, informal settlements and relying on the informal sector for nearly all their essential needs, it is also the third poorest and reflects the realities facing the contemporary African city. Its growing prosperity and continuing informality are obviously paradoxical phenomena, with the modernity and progress being envisaged by the government unquestionably in conflict with increasing levels of informality. Recording one of the highest urban population densities in the country, Kisumu occupies an eight by four kilometer area. In contrast to the low density sprawl characteristic of many African cities, it is relatively compact and it is, therefore, somewhat easier to analyse the spatial and socio-economic attributes of its urban complexities and to explore the tension between the quest for modernity and the apparent inevitability of informality. Copyright©2012 IAHS.
Two earthquakes with a magnitude of 7.0 occurred near Darfield on September 4, 2010 and with a magnitude of 6.3 occurred under Port Hills on February 22, 2011 in Canterbury region in the South Island of New Zealand. Although the 2010 earthquake was much stronger than the 2011 earthquake, the damage to structures by the 2011 earthquake was much heavier. Extensive ground liquefaction occurred in the city of Christchurch and Kaiapoi and heavy damage to buried lifelines and residential houses were caused. The light structures are uplifted while heavy structures sank into the ground. The earthquake caused substantial damage to historical masonry type building in the downtown of Christchurch City. In this article, the authors describe the shaking and ground failure-induced damage to buildings by the 2010 and 2011 Christchurch earthquakes and their lessons. Copyright©2012 IAHS.
Rapid urbanization to solve the housing problem is a reality in many parts of the world, in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The current severe economic crisis and the unemployment that will result will bring this issue again to the European agenda. This crisis is increasingly pointing to a subsistence economy. The single family dwelling with a piece of land for farming is becoming an option as an alternative to the tenement block. Solutions have to be easy to use and adapted to different conditions and different people. Construction processes have to be quick, simple and optimized. The solutions that have been implemented – pre-fabricated houses with small areas despite being economical and using rapid construction methods have, with few exceptions, poor architectural and urban quality. The designer’s task for these housing projects for prefabricated non-progressive houses is fairly straightforward, requiring only a degree of sensitivity in the composition of the urban agglomeration. But when it comes to progressive housing, designers face a number of problems: 1. Prospective – the evolution can be urban – this requires predicting the growth of the cluster and all its urban, architectural and technical implications; 2. Economic sustainability housing and urban settlement should support cost-effective solutions – must be adapted to the local construction market, with regard to both technologies and materials; 3. Flexibility – the solution of the evolutionary model of housing should be sufficiently flexible – so it can be adapted to different circumstances, e.g. geographical or cultural; 4. Easily manageable – the evolution of each dwelling shall be managed by its people should be sufficiently controlled so as not to detract from the set. All these constraints imply a rigorous method for their application. After the definitive module provided for all situations, it should be easily put into practice to make it viable in many situations. It needs a project that is simple and efficient to implement. This type of program, however, is a difficult challenge for architects. The project is perceived as an industrial product that can be applied anywhere, and it rules out the possibility of close control of its implementation and construction. In the case of housing, this fear of the way it evolves is even greater. The building will grow over time at the hands of the inhabitants. The progressive evolutionary housing project assumes a distinct approach to project methodology, and a greater complicity between the various design specialties is inevitable. All the fields should be complementary, to achieve an integrated answer, to optimize the implementation phase and thus simplify the construction, in any situation and any terrain. An integrated progressive project, in an inter- disciplinary approach from urban, to architectural and to construction. Copyright©2012 IAHS.
The role of the General Contractor is fundamental to obtain the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification of a sustainable green building. The single most important aspect of the construction phase of a LEED project involves preparation and strict adherence to a site-specific LEED action plan. The plan addresses the process of ensuring compliance to LEED requirements from issuance of a subcontract until occupancy of the building. The LEED rating system assigns one prerequisite and several credits to the General Contractor in some environmental categories: Sustainable Sites, Materials and Resources and Indoor Environmental Quality. In the LEED certification, the general contractor must not only use ecofriendly building materials, but he must also arrange a jobsite that minimally impacts on environmental matrices (water, air, soil and subsoil). This is possible through the development and implementation of LEED construction plans involving the • installation and continuous monitoring of specific measures and sustainable construction practices. To illustrate the contributions that a qualified General Contractor can make towards the goal of LEED certification, in this paper we introduce the successful strategies employed at two projects recently designed and constructed in Italy to achieve high ratings under LEED rating systems. The paper describes the process in the basic phases and provides specific examples of jobsite strategies that were used on two different projects and with activities targeted towards particular points on the LEED matrix. In particular the first case study is a project under the LEED New Construction v.2.2 rating system and the second is a building under the LEED for Schools. Copyright©2012 IAHS.
The March 11 th, 2011 Off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake was the fifth largest in the world since 1900, and the biggest instrumentally recorded earthquake Japan has ever been shaken by. The extent of the damage caused by the tsunami that followed the quake was more extraordinary paling the shaking damage. Looking back over the last year, not a small number of cause-and-effect links remain to be defined yet. Moreover making unfair or misleading selections from or arrangement of facts can occur all the more because the damage and losses were extensive and complicated. This summary report overviews physical aspect of the massive destruction that the earthquake and tsunami brought based upon as many original and official survey/ investigation reports as possible, and discusses the role of earthquake engineering experts. Copyright©2012 IAHS.
