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EHNR - Workshop Social innovation & participation
Chair: Kristel Aalbers
PARTICIPATION IN COLLECTIVELY SOLD PRIVATE RENOVATIONS
Sake Zijlstra, Giselle Stowijk
Abstract: Several pilot projects have spawned an increasing number of schemes involving individuals in renovation. A well known and awarded (World Habitat Awards 2008) project is the “Wallisblok” a.k.a. “Dichterlijke Vrijheid”. This project involved the sale (for a symbolic amount) of a run down building block to a collective of future homeowners. The building block was in poor technical conditions and the collective owners had to (re)design and renovate the building block according to requirements set by the municipality. These requirements included both the quality of the renovation as well as the minimal investment. This scheme has been exported, copied and repeated due to its success. However, the schemes are different in several aspects, for example the price has never been as low as it was in the first project.
In the evaluations that have been written on the projects and especially on the Wallisblok, several gains are mentioned. Amongst others, neighbourhood improvement, home and street quality improvement, personal control over housing quality, participation amongst owners, strengthening of neighbourhood bonds and collective (neighbourhood) maintenance are mentioned (Sour 2009). Moreover effects that touch on demographic characteristics of the neighbourhood (attracting high income new residents, Van Der Laan 2009), on reaching environmental goals (climate change, Van Hal 2009) and contribute to solve general socio-economic problems in the neighbourhood.
In this paper an overview of the stated effects and experiences is given and these are compared with the envisioned effects at the initiation of the project. The paper draws upon other (Dutch) evaluations and on literature that addresses similar effects. Based on explorative interviews some improvements for the schemes are addressed. Based on similar projects and international experiences some adjustments in the schemes will be suggested to make future projects even more successful. For the final conclusion effects are put in perspective of scale and competences of the collective that are necessary to create a successful project. We try to translate lessons and experiences to a more international implementation of the scheme for use in more generalized housing and regeneration situations.
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SUSTAINABLE RENOVATION OF THE LARGE-SCALE HOUSING ESTATES, BUILT IN FRANCE OF THE 1950s AND 1973s
Amar Bensalma
Abstract: Built massively in France between 1953 and 1973, large-scale housing named “grands ensembles”1 was considered at its construction as the future of modern housing. It was one of the solutions to the France housing crisis raised after the Second World War. The first inhabitants of these districts were very happy to live in these spacious, airy and sunny apartments surrounded by green spaces. But over time, the life quality in this social housing has suffered degradations (social, urban and architectural). Now, these large-scale housing estates are associated with segregation, nuisances and danger zones. We can find the same problems in other large-scale housings around the world (Helleman G, 2004). Consequently, the improvement of the living conditions in this urban housing, through sustainable renovation, is now a priority for urban policy. The main challenge is to ensure a global improvement at different levels: socio-economic, architectural and environmental. Unlike the first renovations (started in 1980), considered as “standard operations” (replacing windows, renovating of building front…).
This communication introduces the results of three case-studies of large-scale housing estates situated in Nantes (France): Dervallières (1952/1965), Breil Malville (1955/1967) and Malakoff (1967/1971). The first aim of this work is to produce the knowledge of architectural and urban quality in this kind of housing like: sunshine quality, wind speed, sound atmosphere, landscape, etc. The second aim is to propose design and decision help tools dedicated to renovation projects. This research is based on the confrontation of results obtained by multidisciplinary approaches. We carried out a sensitive approach through surveys (questionnaires, interviews), where inhabitants expressed their perceptions of their areas life. Then, a physical approach using simulation tools allowed us to explain micro-climatic phenomena (sun, wind, humidity, air and temperature). The last approach named “expert”, consists in exploring and analysing the architectural aspects of three-districts.
Finally, this work allowed us to identify the atmosphere2 typology, which characterizes the studied large-scale housing, taking into account the renewal operations and the atmosphere provided by architect-designer. We also propose evaluation grid with user criteria for evaluating the architectural and urban atmosphere in this large-scale housing, and for environmental diagnostics before a renewal operation.
References:
HELLEMAN Gerben., 2004, "The renewal of what was tomorrow’s idealistic city" Amsterdam’s Biijlmermeer high-rise, Great Britain, Elsevier Ltd, p. 3-17
1* The French name
2* Atmosphere can be defined as the interaction between physical phenomenal and spatial environment perceived by the occupant for this space (Augoyard J-F, 1999, the atmosphere: fundamental concepts and interdisciplinary problems, "Atmosphere" courses). Overall, the atmosphere is the perception which we have of our multi-sensory environment: sound, microclimate, visual, olfactory…
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INNOVATION IN THE CONTEXT OF A DEVELOPING COUNTRY: A CASE OF GROUP HOUSING PROJECT
Arun Bajracharya
Abstract: This paper presents a case of group housing project that was new of its kind implemented in the underdeveloped economy of Nepal. The project has been taken as a contextual innovation because of its newness and uniqueness in the context of the country at the time of implementation. This study presents a detail account of the project implementation emphasizing the challenges faced by the involved key parties. It provides important insight into the project which eventually proved to be a significant and successful initiating push in triggering a promising new real estate sector in the national economy. Qualitative approach was used for the research in which the main instrument for collecting primary data was face-to-face semi-structured interviews with the key people involved in the project. The findings have been presented in terms of the categories of challenges as the initial perceived constraints, management level challenges, and project level challenges.
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EXPLORING DIFFERENT COMMUNITY ATTITUTES TO SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGIES
Beck Collins, David Boyd
Abstract: Different communities have different attitudes to sustainable technologies, and this paper will explore those differences, and how they affect the adoption of sustainable technologies.
A number of reports published in recent years (IPCC 2007, Stern 2006) have highlighted concerns of climate change as a result of human activity, and the importance of acting to mitigate those changes. As a result, the Climate Change Act (2008) sets a legally binding target to cut carbon emissions by at least 80% by 2050. This legislation has led to large numbers of initiatives to use sustainable technologies. Some of these initiatives are in the form of top down interventions, imposed by local authorities or other bodies, while others have been community-led, or bottom up.
Communities have different socio-economic backgrounds. Their choices are constrained by the physical, social, cultural and institutional context in which they find themselves (Owens 2008) and this affects their attitudes to sustainable technologies, and the ways in which they might go about adopting them.
For this pilot paper, two socio-economically different communities were looked at – Northfield and Moseley, both in Birmingham. These communities underwent the adoption of sustainable technologies via different governance or community arrangements and interventions. Northfield is an economically challenged community that has seen some houses benefit from ‘Birmingham Energy Savers’, a Birmingham City Council led project that has retrofitted houses to provide them with PV. Moseley is a more affluent community which has received funding from British Gas as part of their Green Street competition to help cut carbon emissions, a project led by the community group Sustainable Moseley (SusMo).
Comparison showed that community governance arrangements or interventions need to relate to the context of the community in question. Northfield, being a more challenged community with financial concerns and less of a community identity, was able to benefit from a top down intervention from a trusted body - Birmingham City Council – who was itself only able to offer this programme to disadvantaged community members living in its own housing stock. Moseley, being an affluent community, is unable to benefit from Birmingham City Council’s project, but is able to self organise. It is however, experiencing difficulties meeting its objectives due to the amount of time volunteers are required to contribute to the project. Just as there are many communities, there are many attitudes to sustainable technologies, therefore many methods of intervention, governance and action will be possible. It is vital that these relate to the context in which they will be applied.
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