Rural residents and choice of building earthquake-resistant house: results of a choice experiment study

Rural settlements, especially in developing countries, are disproportionally vulnerable to natural hazards due to both biophysical and social vulnerability. Building hazard-resistant houses requires a thorough understanding of hazards and institutional and financial resources. However, it is equally important for planners and policymakers to know how rural residents make the tradeoff between various housing attributes when provided with the resources such as low-interest housing construction loans. In this study, we use a choice experiment (CE) to examine rural households' preference for earthquake resistance when building houses. A total of 300 households from randomly selected villages in central districts of Guilan Province in Iran were recruited for a CE study in which they had to choose between a number of houses that differed in terms of the required construction loan, resistance to earthquakes, size, and exterior and interior designs. Our results show that the average resident preferred larger houses with better exterior and interior designs to more earthquake-resistant houses, and is willing to spend more on these attributes than earthquake safety. These results indicate that rural households are willing to receive loans to improve their houses but that this does not translate into more earthquake-resistant houses.     

Post-Sidr public housing assistance in Bangladesh: a case study

Housing is not only a structure, but also a process tied up with social, cultural, psychological and economic attributes. Following Cyclone Sidr, the Government of Bangladesh has been using ‘build back better’ as a colloquial slogan to push forward the idea of resilience in post-disaster interventions, especially with regard to rebuilding houses. This paper examines how and whether the idea is reflected through the government's post-Sidr housing project at Gabtola. It problematizes the slogan from the accounts of community participation, local practicalities, culture, weather and potential future risks. Based on eight months of ethnographic fieldwork at Gabtola, this research found that the basic attributes of the ‘build back better’ slogan are absent with regard to the housing scheme's cost efficiency, management, livelihoods, public health aspects and tolerance against a super-cyclone. These findings will provide valuable insights into the problems associated with the implementation of post-cyclone public housing programmes in Bangladesh. Such insights can assist public authorities and other relevant organizations and donor agencies in revising and improving their post-disaster housing programmes in the wake of future disasters.     

Partnerships for local sustainability and local governance in a Tasmanian settlement

This research is concerned with effects and actions at the local level, where it is argued that local governing processes are key to developing sustainable communities. The roles of the citizen and of formal government are changing such that the implementation of sustainability praxis at the local level requires that citizens and governments reconsider both the meaning and techniques of governance. Indeed, how we are governed, participate in governing processes and internalise and accept the need for change will affect how local communities make constant and lasting a dynamic praxis of sustainability. Actors in local governments and communities may be crucial in this task—especially as facilitators, enablers, leaders and partners. In this paper we focus on the Huon Valley Council and some members of one of its communities. We examine how they are experimenting with partnerships as a form of governance to unify, control, mobilise and regulate the conduct of various actors, and how such partnerships may foster sustainability praxis in the Valley's diverse communities of place and interest.     

Assessing energy use and greenhouse gas emission savings from compact housing: a small-town case study

Data from the US Department of Energy show that single-family detached homes consume about 17% more energy per year than attached homes and roughly double that of units in large multi-family structures. While greater use of these compact housing types could reduce a community's energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, most local climate action plans (CAPs) do not quantify those potential savings. This article describes how the climate action planning process in the Town of Blacksburg, Virginia has addressed residential sector GHG emissions and demonstrates a methodology applied in that community for estimating potential GHG reductions from compact housing. It finds that in an aggressive compact housing scenario GHG emissions from new housing could be decreased by as much as 36%, without factoring in additional energy conservation or efficiency measures. The article concludes with a discussion of the opportunities and challenges related to implementing compact housing in future residential development.     

基于住房价格的通勤碳排放空间分异——以济南市为例

住房价格能够影响居民的居住决策,进而影响其通勤碳排放。为研究住房价格与通勤碳排放的内在关系,构建住房价格影响个体通勤碳排放的理论模型,并利用“个体—街道”两水平线性模型,对济南市居民出行调查数据进行实证检验。研究发现：（1）通勤碳排放呈现出“中心低碳化、外围高碳化”,且外围趋于分化的空间格局。（2）住房价格通过虹吸效应影响居民的碳排放。具体表现为住房价格与碳排放负相关,外围低房价吸引居住者,而居住者的远程机动通勤导致外围高值碳排放;但住房价格的边际增碳程度随着远离市中心而先缓（距市中心 5 km）后增（距市中心5 km及以上）。（3）外围工资收入对虹吸效应起调节作用。工资水平较高的外围区域有利于实现职住平衡,抑制了虹吸效应,进而分化为碳排放的冷点区,工资水平较低的外围区域则分化为碳排放的热点区。研究认为,应通过多中心空间发展战略、提高居民的就业可达性、优化针对公租房的公共交通供给等措施,引导居民低碳通勤。     

Non-transport household energy consumption in Adelaide and Melbourne

The residential sector is the third largest sector of final energy use in Australian urban areas, accounting for about 12% of the country's total final energy consumption. What are the main determinants of energy consumption in the residential sector? This paper sheds light on this question by examining non-transport summer household energy consumption in Adelaide and Melbourne. Data were collected from a survey of 200 sample households and modelled according to a conceptual framework that not only emphasises household characteristics and housing stock characteristics but also controls the macro-environment factors. The findings reveal distinctive results in Adelaide and Melbourne. In Adelaide, household characteristics are the most important contributors in explaining non-transport household energy consumption. In Melbourne, the household characteristic as represented by income is important, but housing stock characteristics provide even more explanatory power. These findings contribute to the understanding of the factors that shape residential energy consumption and have policy implications in targeting household energy savings.     

住宅产业循环经济

论述了住宅产业发展循环经济、进行产业化的重要意义,介绍了住宅产业循环经济的发展现状和问题,并提出完善立法,推广全装修住宅、钢结构住宅;开发低成本回收技术,以及抓好示范、推广工作等实现途径和措施。     

半轴套管内腔折叠产生原因及预防措施

分析了半轴套管成形过程中出现折叠的特点和形成原因 ,并根据折叠形成原因提出了相应的预防措施 ,从而解决了生产过程中存在的质量问题。     

生活小区污水处理膜生物反应器设计

生活小区污水处理与回用技术,采用淹没式膜生物反应器为主,同时脱氮除磷的工艺。选用韩国KORED平板聚醚砜(PES)膜。介绍了该膜的性能及污染控制方法、各构筑物设计参数,并进行了投资分析。     

保障性住房租购选择研究

在当前保障性住房供给与需求矛盾不断加深的背景下,研究保障对象对保障性住房的租赁或购买的需求特征及其关键影响因素,具有较强的必要性与现实意义。本文通过问卷调查方式获取城市中心城区受保障对象的需求特征数据,从保障对象住房需求的视角,分析影响保障性住房租赁或购买选择的相关因素。文中构建了Logit模型,并检验各因素对保障性住房租购选择的影响关系及强度。结果显示:(1)住区环境、个体特征、家庭特征、住房特征等四大类因素对保障性住房租购选择产生显著的影响;(2)住区环境中,教育资源、交通配套设施等是影响保障性住房租购选择的关键指标,这些关键指标的改善,将会使保障对象更倾向于购买保障房而不是租赁;(3)个体特征中,性别与年龄对保障性住房租购选择影响最大,相比男性、年轻人,女性、年长者更倾向于购买保障性住房而不是租赁;(4)家庭特征方面,人口数量多、经济收入高等特征的家庭更愿意选择购买保障房,但家庭人口数量的影响大于家庭经济收入;(5)住房特征中,居住稳定性对保障性住房租购选择影响最大,其次是保障性住房准入政策合理性、住房面积及户型,这些因素的改善,都将提高保障对象对保障性住房做出购买的决策。因此,提供多形式、多条件的保障性住房,才能满足不同保障对象的租赁或购买的需求。设置合理的保障性住房准入条件,构建科学合理规范的保障性住房供给标准和住房保障运行机制,才能使迫切需要租购保障房的家庭从中受益。