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A+BE : Architecture and the Built Environment
Journal Prestige (SJR): 0.14

Number of Followers: 30

This is an Open Access Journal

Open Access journal
ISSN (Print) 2212-3202
Published by TU Delft

[7 journals]

Menging maakt verschil
- Authors: Andreas Lodewijk Ouwehand
  Pages: 1 - 542
  Abstract: For decades, the new housing estates that were built in the Netherlands after World War II had a solid reputation as neighbourhoods of progress (Reijndorp & Van der Ven 1994). Young households were queuing up for a dwelling in these modernist urban areas, which were known for an abundance of light, air and space, though only higher-skilled and white-collar workers could afford to live there. But with growing prosperity and rising expectations for housing quality, more well-to-do households moved into new residential areas. They were replaced by low-income households who from the end of the twentieth century on were also of migrant descent. The identity and reputation of many of these early post-war areas thus changed. Often labelled problem areas, they have been characterized as concentrations of joblessness, social deprivation, ethnic minorities, conflicting lifestyles, criminality and vandalism (Klijn & Koolma 1987; Ministerie van VROM 1997; Prak & Priemus 1985). Neighbourhoods change. This is an inevitable and iterative process and it has many facets: ageing; economic, social and spatial development; and the perception of and subsequent reactions to these changes by residents as well as institutional actors like municipalities, housing associations, private landlords and other investors (Temkin & Rohe 1996). The accumulation of problems in post-war areas prompted urban renewal policies (Priemus 2004b; 2006) and intensive urban restructuring programmes throughout the Netherlands. A preliminary case study (Ouwehand & Davis 2004) revealed a positive evaluation of the interventions to improve these post-war neighbourhoods by demolition and new housing construction, often for owner-occupancy. But it also revealed a low level of neighbourhood satisfaction, which was attributed to a clash of incompatible lifestyles due to the large influx of new residents from lower-income groups, often households from one of the ethnic minority groups. According to the incumbent residents, these newcomers did not feel a personal bond with the neighbourhood and did not conform to the prevailing standards. Residents as well as other stakeholders urged further intervention. That sketch of the problem led me to formulate the following research question for this doctoral dissertation: How do residents with different ways of life perceive and assess their changed and changing neighbourhood' Three issues play a key role in this research. The first is the idea of ‘social mix’, a concept that dates back to the mid-nineteenth century (Sarkissian 1976) and has been pivotal to the debate about urban restructuring ever since Wilson published The Truly Disadvantaged (1987). It has prompted an abundance of scholarly research, though with divergent outcomes (Bond et al. 2011; Sautkina et al. 2012), and a rather polarized debate (Veldboer 2010). The second issue is that neighbourhood change occurs within the context of societal, economic and social change and is heavily influenced by urban and housing policies. Early post-war areas in the Netherlands are the product of housing policies implemented during the formation of the welfare state in the 1950s and 1960s (Van der Schaar 1987; Harloe 1995). These policies changed in the course of the following decades. Whereas the Dutch social housing system is not already residualized, sequential measures (Boelhouwer & Priemus 2014; Beuzenkamp et al. 2017) have reduced the volume of affordable social housing and increased the concentration of social housing in specific parts of the city, particularly the post-war areas (Hochstenbach & Musterd 2016; Zwiers et al. 2016). The third issue is that, since the beginning of the 1980s, neighbourhood change has been connected to the influx of new residents of migrant origin. These newcomers are often referred to as allochthones, as distinguished from autochthones, or native-Dutch residents423. In the Netherlands the debate about the integration of ethnic minorities started in the early 1990s, fuelled then by populist politicians like Fortuyn (assassinated in 2002) and nowadays by the anti-Islam politician Wilders. This debate continues to dominate the policy discourse. Discriminatory housing-allocation practices were fiercely opposed in the twentieth century. A proposal for unorthodox measures to avoid liveability problems, which were expected to arise from the predicted rapid growth in the share of allochthonous residents in parts of Rotterdam, led in 2003 to the Rotterdam Act. Under this legislation, vulnerable (a euphemism for allochthonous) newcomers could be prevented from obtaining a dwelling in specified areas of Rotterdam (Ouwehand & Doff 2013a). The main aim of the present study is to unravel the two main drivers of neighbourhood satisfaction among residents with different ways of life. The first is an autonomous process: the influx of allochthonous newcomers in the neighbourhood as a result of moving processes. The second is a policy intervention to achieve social mix by demolition and new-built housing for owner-occupancy. I have selected the district of Zuidwijk in Rotterdam, one of the cases in a preliminary study, as the location of my research. Besides all the necessary ingredients, the district also has an interesting history and was the site of previous research on neighbourhood change. Building upon that basis, in 2008 we conducted 84 interviews with 116 persons in total, spread over three neighbourhoods in the district of Zuidwijk. The first is the Velden, half of which was slated for demolition, the other half predominantly designated for the elderly and further for single-family dwellings. The second is the Kampen, featuring renovated small single-f...
  PubDate: 2018-05-28
  DOI: 10.7480/abe.2018.8
Better public housing management in Ghana
- Authors: Samson Aziabah
  Pages: 1 - 294
  Abstract: Adequate housing and shelter have been recognised by the United Nations (UN) as a human right. All signatory countries to the Universal Declaration on Human Rights are enjoined to take steps to provide decent and adequate housing to their people. To this end, the UN has led and advocated various policy initiatives aimed at addressing housing challenges globally. In the 1950s, it advocated direct housing production by member states. Since the 1970s, it has advocated the enablement approach, encouraging governments to create the enabling environment for the private sector to provide housing. Ghana’s housing policy has changed largely in line with global trends. In the 1950s, the State Housing Corporation (SHC) and the Tema Development Corporation (TDC) were established to lead governmental direct housing provision. However, in the late 1970s and 1980s, when national housing policy shifted towards the enablement approach, most (more than 90%) of public housing was sold to sitting tenants and institutions, and the TDC and SHC were reconstituted into private companies owned by the government. The remainder of the public houses were transferred to local authorities (LAs) to manage. The United Nations has emphasised not only housing production but also maintenance as a sustainable way of meeting the goal of decent and adequate housing. From this point of view, it is possible to reflect on that aspect of public housing managed by local authorities in Ghana. Several researches and commentaries about Ghana’s public housing have highlighted the poor and deteriorating quality, largely due to lack of maintenance. They make reference to leaking roofs, rotten ceilings, cracked walls, faded paint, and dysfunctional electrical and plumbing systems, among other problems in public housing. However, not much research has focused on how to address the problem of lack of maintenance. It is within this context that this PhD research has sought to extend the discussion and contribute practical steps to address the problem of lack of maintenance in public housing. Therefore, the aim of this PhD research was to propose an approach to public housing management (HM) by LAs that may bring about maintenance and lead to better housing quality in Ghana. To do that, four research questions were addressed. (1) How is housing management by LAs organised, and how have challenges therein affected the quality of public housing' (2) What factors can be distinguished to describe the organisation of and assess performance in HM' (3) What lessons can be learned from the organisation and practice of HM in other contexts' and (4) How can the lessons learned from other contexts be applied to housing by local authorities in order to bring about maintenance that may lead to improvement in public housing quality in Ghana' A pragmatic approach was adopted for this research, within which case studies, lesson drawing, and transferability strategies were applied. The methods of data collection and analyses were largely qualitative, with minimal application of quantitative techniques. The research combined the organisational elements of policy/strategy, legal framework, organisational structure, financial resources, human resources, culture, and housing quality; the categorisation of HM activities into technical, social, and financial; and external context factors, which may include regulatory and policy environment and cultural factors that affect HM, into a framework to analyse the organisation and management of housing. Also, the research found that, in general, performance in HM may be assessed by using indicators such as: quality of maintenance, responses from staff in relation to tenant services, and access to information by tenants, which measure effectiveness; cost of maintenance per dwelling and net rent as measures of efficiency and economy; application procedures, rent levels, and support for tenants as measures of equity; and the level of participation and the frequency and ease of communication with tenants as measures of legitimacy and support for HM. However, the research relied on information about effectiveness – maintenance and repairs, tenant services, and legitimacy and support – tenant participation, to comment on the performance of HM. The research first sought to understand the challenges of public HM and maintenance by local authorities. It found that, among others, public HM confronts the following key challenges: There is no clearly defined institutional structure for HM. There is no coordination of roles performed by the housing officer of the central administration of the local authority, the works department, and tenants. Also, there is no coordination between local authorities that are responsible for management and the central government agency that collects rents, the Controller and Accountant Generals Department (CAGD). Furthermore, local authorities lack funds necessary for maintenance because rents are largely collected by central government and not transferred to them. Additionally, inadequate numbers of professionals are available to manage and maintain public houses. Informed by the problems of public HM in Ghana, two models of HM were selected and studied to draw lessons for solving the problems in Ghana. The purpose of the studies was to abstract principles from the organisation and practice of HM by identifying issues that need to be addressed for effective housing management and maintenance. Housing management by housing associations (HAs) in the Netherlands and council housing management by tenant management organisations (TMOs) in England were studied. HAs are independent not-for-profit professional housing associations that provide housing mainly for low- and middle-income households in the Netherlands. Wonen Wateringen (WW) housing association was studied in this model. The main principles abstracted from this model were that regulatory and policy guidanc...
  PubDate: 2018-04-20
  DOI: 10.7480/abe.2018.7
Cities for or against citizens'
- Authors: Gabriela Perez Rendon
  Pages: 1 - 352
  Abstract: Urban renewal has evolved into an ambitious and sophisticated urban strategy, recognised as urban revitalisation in America and urban regeneration in Western Europe. This new urban strategy, which tends to be area-based and state-sponsored, claims for the most part to coordinate a wide range of resources, partners and public agencies to bring about social, economic and spatial improvements in underdeveloped and impoverished city areas while improving the livelihoods of the local residents. However, as this study asserts, the objectives behind this new urban strategy have considered, for the most part, the interests of those formulating and implementing such efforts rather than local residents and stakeholders, and produced in turn ‘attractive’ neighbourhoods increasing city revenues, boosting real estate prices, attracting new investments and alluring new residents. Most importantly, citizen participation and gentrification have been concurrently promoted in urban restructuring policy and programmes bringing about a paradox. Citizens have been devised as both subjects and objects of governance (Uitermark, 2014). Urban restructuring programmes have called for residents’ involvement in decision making frameworks while imposing urban revitalisation and regeneration approaches guiding the fate of their neighbourhoods and putting communities at risk of displacement. This study uses comparative research to investigate the way that urban renewal targeting low-income neighbourhoods has evolved into a new urban strategy involving principles and tactics ingrained in neoliberal economic principles. The study shows that this applies in cities led by market-driven development where governments facilitate more than regulate urban growth, and in cities partially exposed to market-driven development and led by interventionist governments which regulate and guide urban restructuring transformations. New York City and The Randstad Holland have been selected as study areas. Above all, the role public policy, instruments and institutional frameworks have played in facilitating citizens’ involvement in decision making in these contrasting contexts is particularly scrutinised looking at two neighbourhoods in the municipalities of Brooklyn and Rotterdam; Bushwick and Tarwewijk, respectively. The study exposes the motives, successes and drawbacks of public programmes and instruments fostering citizen participation and community-led change, in an effort to both create awareness of potential risks in the case of unsuccessful initiatives, and envision the exchange and adaptation of some of those successful schemes for the production of more equitable neighbourhoods. This thesis asks to what extent urban restructuring trends converge in the two contrasting geographical areas since both territories have been exposed to the same global agents and influences that have impacted urban restructuring policy and interventions (i.e. neoliberal economic policies, global financing, interurban competition, etc). However, it recognizes that the outcomes may manifest differently due to differences in welfare programmes, urban policy, implementation frameworks, local and global housing markets at the neighbourhood level, as well as variations in local governance structures and instruments facilitating civic participation in urban and housing restructuring programmes. Citizen participation in urban restructuring in America and Western Europe Citizen participation was widely recognised in urban and housing public programmes in America and Western Europe during the 1960s and 1970s. In a time of political and economic shifts and as a result of citizen struggles and social movements, the democratisation of decision making in planning became a political act. Feeling alienated from the urban transformations taking place in their own neighbourhoods, citizens organised and demanded to be part of the production of cities. Citizen demands were gradually adopted and institutionalised by public policies and programmes. However, such progressive approaches did not last for long. Citizen participation in urban renewal and housing programmes lost agency as liberal urban policy was gradually overthrown beginning with the recessions of the late 1970s and the conservative governments that followed in the 1980s and beyond. National states and municipalities began withdrawing from those endeavours while coordinating efforts to attract private partners and investment to pursue larger and more ambitious urban restructuring interventions in cities. Certainly, the community-driven scope of a number of public programmes shifted to a more ambitious one that sought to achieve economic growth and profitable urban development bringing about shifts in urban restructuring policy, programmes, funds and leadership over the following decades. Evidently, as neoliberal economic agendas became more and more ingrained in urban policy and programmes guiding urban restructuring, uneven development and segregation became more stark bringing new urban challenges across cities. What is interesting is that in a context of increasing decentralisation, privatisation, and deregulation of urban restructuring interventions that have impacted directly citizens and particularly low-income communities, national states began once again promoting citizen participation. As national states have increasingly devolved decision-making and resources to lower government levels, municipalities and their partners, from the private and not-profit sectors, have been more involved in making and implementing local policies and addressing citizens and community needs. However, the motive, scope, impact and outcome of current local policies and programmes fostering the involvement of low-income and minority groups in urban restructuring programmes have left many questions unresolved. A number of studies assert that the deliberate activation of specific com...
  PubDate: 2018-03-23
  DOI: 10.7480/abe.2018.6
Privatisation of the production of public space
- Authors: Els Leclerq
  Pages: 1 - 386
  Abstract: From the 1960s to the 1970s, a large number of Western inner cities went through a phase of severe deprivation due to both a relocation of manufacturing jobs that in turn led to a depopulation, a lack of investment and high unemployment and to suburbanisation made possible by the car. From the 1990’s, urban regeneration strategies were introduced to tackle this inner city deprivation. In the United Kingdom, this ‘urban renaissance’ took place within the new economic and political paradigm of neoliberalism which placed a strong emphasis on market forces as the driver of urban regeneration (see national policy document Urban Task Force 1999). The shift to this economic system led to changes in both the process of urban development and its product, the space itself. Local governments endorsed the new economic reality- which included a greater role for private and corporate actors in the development and management of cities - in order to be able to participate in the global inter-urban competition. As a result of declining public budgets and encouraged by national guidance, public authorities began to outsource tasks and responsibilities that had previously been regarded as a governmental concern to private actors and newly developed private public partnerships (urban regeneration vehicles in planning policy terminology). Public authorities themselves also adopted business-like styles of organisation in which productivity, effectivity and efficiency were regarded as the main conditions for serving the public’s financial interest, though other public values such as cultural heritage, equality and democracy were often regarded as of secondary concern. This privatisation of development in urban areas did not just affect the process but also the outcome; the appearance and use of public spaces. Within the urban renaissance agenda, a strong emphasis was put on the aesthetisation of space in order to attract the desired businesses, investors and people with a high disposable income. The objective in private management regimes appears to be on reducing risk by putting a strong focus on surveillance, safety, tidiness and the exclusion of undesirable behaviour, all of which reduces the diversity, vitality and vibrancy of spaces in order to welcome tourists and middle-class visitors, in other words consumers (Low 2006). This privatisation of public space raises valid questions with regard to the publicness of urban open space and a number of authors recognise a ‘decline’ of public space or have even declared ‘the end of public space’ as we have known it (Sorkin 1992; Mitchell 1995; Low and Smith 2006; Madanipour 2003; Iveson 2007 etc.). Other authors argue that we do not experience the death of public space but a change in its form, function and appearance that reflects contemporary economic, societal and cultural narratives (see eg Madden 2010; Carmona et al. 2008, Carmona 2015; De Magalhães and Freire Tigo 2017). To be able to incorporate these societal shifts, a revised (and wider) definition is needed to describe and analyse publicness in the production of space (Kohn 2004; De Magalhães 2010; Varna and Tiesdell 2010; Németh and Smith 2011; Langstraat and Van Melik 2013; Varna 2016). The premises for this research are based on the above discussion on the different roles that privatisation plays in the production of space, within this shift towards greater involvement of a variety of private partners in the development process and the possible decline in the degree of publicness in both process and space. The apparent need for a wider definition of public space to include current political, economic and societal changes, the relation between the public sphere and public space, the degree of publicness in both the process and space itself, the perception of the user and the role of the urban designer are hereby taken as starting points and lead to the following research question: Does privatisation lead to a decline of publicness in the production of space and space itself, and how does urban design play a role in this' Public sphere and public space – a very short overview from academic literature The public sphere is a normative established notion whose definition is susceptible to change over time depending on the economic, social and cultural context. The rules and norms regarding public behaviour in public space are under the scrutiny of public debate and depend on consensus (Habermas 1989; Boomkens 1998). The public sphere in Greek ancient times and in the Western bourgeois 18th century constituted the gathering of individuals who engaged in discussions of common matters through speech and action (Arendt 1958; Habermas 1989; Sennett 1977). Other scholars however, suggest that this is too simple a representation of complex reality; there is not one single public but a multitude of publics, often with conflicting interests (Fraser 1960; Iveson 2007; Varna and Tiesdell 2010). It is within the overlapping and exchange of multiple and simultaneous daily experiences of these publics, that the essence of publicness lies (Crawford 2008; Hajer and Reijndorp 2001). Due to these multiple publics, there will always be conflicting interests and claims over space; public space is a political, social and cultural project which is negotiated, struggled over throughout history and reproduced (Lefebvre 1991; Mitchell 1995; Langstraat and Van Melik 2013). Public space is a potential geographical setting in which a public sphere (or spheres) can materialise and therefore, has a democratic function in addition to other functions such as a social or symbolic dimension, where different groups of people can meet each other. Thus, the essence of public space lies in the exchange of cultural, social and political experiences for a variety of multiple publics. In order to be able to fulfil this role, public space must be a...
  PubDate: 2018-03-16
  DOI: 10.7480/abe.2018.5
Rhine Cities - Urban Flood Integration (UFI): German and Dutch Adaptation
and Mitigation Strategies
- Authors: Cornelia Redeker
  Pages: 1 - 396
  Abstract: While agglomerations along the Rhine are confronted with the uncertainties of an increasing flood risk due to climate change, different programs are claiming urban river front sites. Simultaneously, urban development, flood management, as well as navigation and environmental protection are negotiating the border between the river and the urban realm. This produces complex spatial constellations between the river system and the urban realm with a diverse set of interdependencies, where programs have to synergize while adapting to dynamic water levels. Based on an expanding area at risk and the reliance on flood levels to remain within an acceptable spectrum for adaptive measures to be effective, Urban Flood Integration (UFI) involves border negotiations between the river and the urban realm where adaptation and mitigation ideally synergize. Instead of a scientific approach that reduces complexity in order to reach a verifiable question, a post-normal science approach is chosen as an evaluation and working method applied within this research. The working method relies on literature studies, semi-structured interviews and empirical research through repeated site visits. The general heterogeneity of the case studies regarding their planning structure, status and time scales, data availability and the willingness by the agencies involved to provide usable information shapes the formal research structure. Part I serves as a narrative for the case study analysis and for the final conclusions and recommendations in Part II. It is made up of three chapters, where Urban Flood Integration is framed historically, theoretically and strategically within the specific geographic context of the navigable Rhine: Anthropogenic transformations of the Rhine flood plains in the 19th and 20th century have turned formerly wide, often meandering or bifurcating river beds into urbanized embankments along straight, channelled rivers. The perception of the river changed from being dynamic to being controllable. This produced the spatial backdrop for modernist and therefore sectoral developments based on a dialectical relationship between the urban realm and the (river) landscape. Yet, as conversions of former harbours are turning sites outside the flood defence into inner city living quarters, as retention polders are positioned in flood plains with enough damage potential to threaten regional economies, and flood mitigating measures are more viable/effective on site in the middle of the city than in a rural area, site specific negotiations between simultaneous programmatic claims are producing new urban typologies/ecologies that in turn demand and rely on a new methodological approach. Within this research design is considered not only a spatial, but also a strategic tool capable of not only linking different programs, but also different disciplines. Flood Risk Management along the Rhine today combines river expanding measures and adaptive strategies with the existing defensive system to cope with the risk increase as a consequence of previous interventions and developments and fluctuations in water levels due to climate change. Differences in landscapes and urgencies and differences in planning cultures between the Upper and Lower Rhine and the Delta have also led to different strategic approaches. Within this research the innovative capacity of the adaptive and anticipatory water-based approach in the Netherlands provides lessons to be learned specifically regarding spatial quality as a strategic component of water-related projects. In Part II, the investigation of two Dutch and two German urbanized water front developments along different river segments of the Rhine according to their synergetic potential, but also regarding the temporal and spatial interdependencies between the river system as a whole, the regional context as well as the actual water front as the project site, aims to examine the following questions: Between adaptive and mitigative strategies, what is the spectrum of spatial constellations between urban development and flood management within the constraints set by navigation and a (partial) restoration of the dynamic river landscape' How are temporal and spatial interdependencies shaping these projects' Relational diagrams show the reciprocations between urban development and river dynamics of each investigated case study and the respective agencies and processes involved. The case study analysis serves as a basis for recommendations for the architectural and programmatic scope of flood-resilient projects dealing with expansive flood management strategies and respectively a strategic design approach addressing multiple scales and programs. Embedded in an exemplary atlas of the respective typology along the different Rhine segments, the four case studies from south to north are:
  Karlsruhe Rappenwört, a steered retention polder along the meandering Upper Rhine
  Mainz Zollhafen, a port conversion with flood adaptive housing along the bifurcating Upper Rhine
  Nijmegen Lent, a bypass and urban extension based on a dike set back along the Waal
  Dordrecht Stadswerven, an urban development outside the dikes in the Delta In summary, differences in landscape, threat and political structures have produced different planning cultures in Germany and the Netherlands in terms of flood management. Both Dutch and German mitigation measures remain path dependent on the defensive system. Yet, whereas the Dutch approach to flood mitigation is holistic in an extended ecological sense and specifically includes spatial quality, in Germany, planning flood-related issues remains part of a sectoral approach where spatial quality is not initially included, bit remains an additional layer towards the end of the project. Confronted with a strong ecological lobby, the focus is to restore the former alluvial forest in niches. Of the six programs defined in the ICPR A...
  PubDate: 2018-02-25
  DOI: 10.7480/abe.2018.4
Diffusion and Risks of House Prices in the Netherlands
- Authors: Alfred Larm Teye
  Pages: 1 - 128
  Abstract: The rate of home-ownership has increased significantly in many countries over the past decades. One motivating factor for this increase has been the creation of wealth through the accumulation of housing equity, which also forms the basic tenet of the asset-based welfare system. In generating the home equity, house price developments play an important role. Generally, house prices show an increasing trend over long time period, however, there are short-term negative appreciations that may have inherent risks for the housing equity. Following the 2007-08 Global Financial Crisis (GFC), for example, the collapse of house prices has caused many recent home buyers to run into negative equity. Some housing researchers and experts have suggested that a better understanding of the spatial diffusion mechanisms of house prices will aid resuscitating the housing market after the GFC. Others also advocated adopting insurance schemes to protect the home equity that yields the welfare benefits. Unfortunately, however, little research insight exists on the Dutch house price diffusion process, although there are empirical results for countries such as the UK, US and China, where the contexts differ from the Netherlands. Furthermore, the current existing home-value insurance scheme in the literature is found to be less efficient and eliminates only up to 50% of the house price risks. This dissertation covers important aspects of house price diffusion and risks in the Netherlands. The aim is to better understand the diffusion mechanism and the risks of house prices, while it also contributes to the measurement of these housing risks. More specifically, there are three objectives: first, to discover the diffusion mechanism of house prices in the Netherlands and the pattern particularly from the capital Amsterdam; second, to examine the spatial distribution of the house price risk; and third, to investigate the efficiency of the index-based home-value insurance for reducing the house price risk in the Dutch context. The diffusion mechanism relates to the so-called ripple or spillover effect, for which movements of house prices in one location temporarily or permanently spread over their influence to other regions. The risks analyses capture the probability of selling the residential property below the purchase price. The index-based home-value insurance scheme is concerned with the reduction of the house price risk, while its efficiency and loss coverage are analysed. The contributions of the dissertation are specifically elaborated in five chapters. The chapters are self-contained, four of them having been published separately in international journals and the other being currently under review. Chapter 2 is a literature study that presents the general trend and an overview of the risks in home-ownership. It particularly discusses the government mortgage guarantee and tax deduction, among other factors, which contribute to home-ownership in the Netherlands. Mortgage default risk and house price risk, which are the two important risks from the perspective of the home-owners are also discussed in the context of the Dutch market. Chapter 3 investigates the house price diffusion mechanism between the twelve provinces in the Netherlands. The methodology adopts a new Bayesian graphical approach which enables a data-driven identification of the important regions where the diffusion may predominantly emerge. Using quarterly house price indexes, the findings suggest that house price diffusion exists in the Netherlands with a pattern varying over the period of time. Focusing specifically on the period prior to the 2007-2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC), the house price diffusion predominantly originated from Noord-Holland. House prices in Amsterdam – the capital and an important economic hub of the Netherlands, are more likely to diffuse to other parts of the country. Thus in Chapter 4, attention is paid to the house price diffusion pattern from the capital Amsterdam to the other Dutch regional housing markets. The Granger causality and cointegration techniques are used, while controlling for the important house price fundamentals. The results suggest a possible house price diffusion existing from Amsterdam to all regions in the Netherlands except for Zeeland. The strongest long-run impact of Amsterdam house price diffusion potentially occur in Utrecht. As one of the largest and most dynamic in the Netherlands, the Amsterdam housing market is itself an interesting case study. One part of Chapter 5, therefore, deals with the diffusion pattern by studying the spatial interrelationships between house prices in Amsterdam. The other part of the chapter studies the house price risks. Using the Granger causality test, a general causal flow of house prices is observed from the central business districts to the peripherals. Simple statistics similarly reveal that house prices grow faster and are more risky in the central business districts than those on the peripherals of the city. Chapter 6 is concerned with the efficiency and loss coverage of the index-based home-value insurance scheme. It proposes a modification of the index-based home-value insurances policy, which seeks to reduce the large idiosyncratic residual house price risks. The modification uses aggregate measures of the reference index. Using the hedonic and repeated sales indexes, the empirical analysis suggests the proposed modified scheme is highly efficient and may eliminate up to 70% of the residual risks. In general, the dissertation adopts innovative empirical methodological approach that combines standard statistical analyses and more recent and complex econometric modelling techniques in the study of the diffusion and risks of house prices in the Netherlands. The application of the graphical approach to the study of diffusions particularly in Chapter 3, is the first of its kind in the context of the housing market. Furthermore, this dissertation ...
  PubDate: 2018-02-09
  DOI: 10.7480/abe.2018.3
Form Follows Force: A theoretical framework for Structural Morphology, and
Form-Finding research on shell structures
- Authors: Qingpeng Li
  Pages: 1 - 278
  Abstract: The springing up of freeform architecture and structures introduces many challenges to structural engineers. The main challenge is to generate structural forms with high structural efficiency subject to the architectural space constraints during the conceptual structural design process. Structural Morphology is the study of the relation between form and force, which can be considered the guiding theory for this challenge. The relation between form and force is important for all types of structures during the entire structural design process. Thus, Structural Morphology has a wide range of related research subjects and multiple research approaches. Therefore, Structural Morphology has gained neither a clear definition nor a unified methodology. In the present research, a theoretical framework for Structural Morphology has been proposed, that provides an effective solution to the challenge mentioned above. To enrich the proposed framework of Structural Morphology, systematic Form-Finding research on shell structures is conducted. Shell structures, the structural efficiency of which depends strongly on their 3D shape, have particular problems regarding the relationship between form and force. To obtain a structurally efficient shell, the form should follow the flow of forces, and a process of Form-Finding can achieve this. In this thesis, Form-Finding of shells indicates a process of generating the equilibrium structural forms of hanging, tent or pneumatic physical models. In Chapters 2 and 3, a theoretical framework for Structural Morphology is established.
  Structural systems are divided into two categories based on their responses under the loads: ‘Force-Active’ and ‘Force-Passive’. A ‘Force-Active’ structural system can significantly and actively adjust its shape due to the loads, while a ‘Force-Passive’ system cannot. A generic conceptual model of the numerical analysis process of structural systems is presented, which is suitable to both categories of structural systems. This conceptual model includes three parts: (1) the initial system described by five categories of parameters: geometry, material distribution, material properties, boundary conditions and forces; (2) the setup of equations and calculation methods to handle the above parameters; and (3) the structural performance described by two categories of parameters: the structural form and its mechanical behaviour (Chapter 2).
  A conceptual model of Structural Morphology is proposed by adding further requirements of the structural form or the mechanical behaviour and an optimisation process into the above conceptual model of the numerical analysis process of structural systems. Then, a corresponding conceptual formula of Structural Morphology is concluded. Thus, a theoretical framework of Structural Morphology is established. Subsequently, its feasibility is validated by a comprehensive discussion of the two main aspects of Structural Morphology, including ‘Form-Finding’ and ‘Structural Optimisation’. In this research, Form- Finding relates to Force-Active structural systems, which means the generation of multiple equilibrium shapes subject to architectural space constraints. Structural Optimisation relates to Force-Passive structural systems, which indicates the adjustment of relevant parameters of the initial structural system with the aim of improving its mechanical behaviour. The methodology of both aspects is presented. Research achievements completed by the author’s research groups from Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) and Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) are presented to validate the feasibility. These achievements cover the research on Form-Finding of cable-nets and membrane structures, and on the Structural Optimisation of shells and gridshells (Chapter 3). In Chapters 4 to 7, the proposed theoretical framework for Structural Morphology is enriched by systemic Form-Finding research on shell structures.
  To study the form of shell structures, the curvature analysis of the surface is displayed. To study the mechanical behaviour of shell structures during the conceptual structural design process, an assessment strategy based on its linear static behaviour and buckling behaviour under two different load cases is proposed. To comprehensively study the linear static behaviour of a shell structure where bending moments may or may not be dominant in this shell, the membrane over the total stress ratios and strain-energy ratio are introduced (Chapter 4).
  The Vector Form Intrinsic Finite Element (VFIFE) method is a recently developed numerical analysis method. At the beginning of this research, few studies on the Form-Finding of shell structures using the VFIFE method were found in the literature. The VFIFE method is applied to generate equilibrium shapes of Force-Active structural systems and thus the structural geometries of shells. A MATLAB script and a plug-in in the Rhino-Grasshopper platform are developed (Chapter 5).
  Form-Control of Force-Active structural systems aims to generate form-found structural forms subject to the required architectural space constraints. Two Form-Control strategies are developed by combining two simple optimisation algorithms (the Newton-Raphson method and the inverse iteration method) with the VFIFE method. These strategies can help designers determine the structurally efficient forms more easily and more efficiently than some relatively complicated and time-consuming optimisation algorithms (Chapter 6).
  Based on the proposed theoretical framework of Structural Morphology, multiple structural forms of form-found shell structures are obtained by adjusting the five categories of parameters of the initial structural systems. This work can efficiently and effectively provide multiple structural forms with reasonable...
  PubDate: 2018-02-08
  DOI: 10.7480/abe.2018.2
HyperCell: A Bio-inspired Design Framework for Real-time Interactive
Architectures
- Authors: Jia-Rey Chang
  Pages: 1 - 252
  Abstract: This pioneering research focuses on Biomimetic Interactive Architecture using “Computation”, “Embodiment”, and “Biology” to generate an intimate embodied convergence to propose a novel rule-based design framework for creating organic architectures composed of swarm-based intelligent components. Furthermore, the research boldly claims that Interactive Architecture should emerge as the next truly Organic Architecture. As the world and society are dynamically changing, especially in this digital era, the research dares to challenge the Utilitas, Firmitas, and Venustas of the traditional architectural Weltanschauung, and rejects them by adopting the novel notion that architecture should be dynamic, fluid, and interactive. This project reflects a trajectory from the 1960’s with the advent of the avant-garde architectural design group, Archigram, and its numerous intriguing and pioneering visionary projects. Archigram’s non-standard, mobile, and interactive projects profoundly influenced a new generation of architects to explore the connection between technology and their architectural projects. This research continues this trend of exploring novel design thinking and the framework of Interactive Architecture by discovering the interrelationship amongst three major topics: “Computation”, “Embodiment”, and “Biology”. The project aims to elucidate pioneering research combining these three topics in one discourse: “Bio-inspired digital architectural design”. These three major topics will be introduced in this Summary. “Computation”, is any type of calculation that includes both arithmetical and nonarithmetical steps and follows a well-defined model understood and described as, for example, an algorithm. But, in this research, refers to the use of data storage, parametric design application, and physical computing for developing informed architectural designs. “Form” has always been the most critical focus in architectural design, and this focus has also been a major driver behind the application computational design in Architecture. Nonetheless, this research will interpret the term “Form” in architecture as a continual “information processor” rather than the result of information processing. In other words, “Form” should not be perceived only as an expressive appearance based computational outcome but rather as a real-time process of information processing, akin to organic “Formation”. Architecture embodying kinetic ability for adjusting or changing its shape with the ability to process the surroundings and feedback in accordance with its free will with an inherent interactive intelligent movement of a living body. Additionally, it is also crucial to address the question of whether computational technologies are being properly harnessed, if they are only used for form-generating purposes in architecture design, or should this be replaced with real-time information communication and control systems to produce interactive architectures, with embodied computation abilities' “Embodiment” in the context of this research is embedded in Umberto Eco’s vision on Semiotics, theories underlying media studies in Marshall McLuhan’s “Body Extension” (McLuhan, 1964), the contemporary philosophical thought of “Body Without Organs” (Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, 1983), the computational Logic of ‘Swarm Behavior’ and the philosophical notion of “Monadology” proposed by Gottfried Leibniz (Leibniz, 1714). Embodied computation and design are predominant today within the wearable computing and smart living domains, which combine Virtual and Real worlds. Technical progress and prowess in VR development also contribute to advancing 3D smart architectural design and display solutions. The proposed ‘Organic body-like architectural spaces’ emphasize upon the realization of a body-like interactive space. Developing Interactive Architecture will imply eliciting the collective intelligence prevalent in nature and the virtual world of Big Data. Interactive Architecture shall thus embody integrated Information exchange protocols and decision-making systems in order to possess organic body-like qualities. “Biology”, in this research explores biomimetic principles intended to create purposedriven kinetic and organic architecture. This involves a detailed study/critique of organic architecture, generating organic shapes, performance optimization based digital fabrication techniques and kinetic systems. A holistic bio-inspired architecture embodies multiple performance criteria akin to natural systems, which integrate structural, infrastructure performances throughout the growth of an organic body. Such a natural morphogenesis process of architectural design explores what Janine M. Benyus described as “learning the natural process”. Profoundly influenced by the processes behind morphogenesis, the research further explores Evolutionary Development Biology (Evo-Devo) explaining how embryological regulation strongly affect the resulting formations. Evo-Devo in interactive architecture implies the development of architecture based on three fundamental principles: “Simple to Complex”, “Geometric Information Distribution”, and “On/Off Switch and Trigger.” The research seeks to create a relatively intelligent architectural body, and the tactile in...
  PubDate: 2018-01-13
  DOI: 10.7480/abe.2018.1