This bulletin is based on research conducted by Dr Gethin Davison, Mr Ryan van den Nouwelant, A/Prof Simon Pinnegar and Prof Bill Randolph at the AHURI Research Centre—the University of New South Wales, Prof Nicole Gurran at the AHURI Research Centre— the University of Sydney, and Prof Glen Bramley at Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh. The research examined how planning practices in urban renewa...

Although it has been suggested that structural adjustment policies have slowed Third World urban growth and have stimulated a spatial deconcentration of economic activity, this paper argues that African cities continue to grow and mainly through peri-urban development. This investment comes mainly from domestic sources and migrants’ remittances, and tends to be in consumption rather than produc...

Traditional houses (Figure 1) in Southeast Asia are typically constructed using prefabricated of ready-made housing components. This construction technique is feasible due mainly to the geography and climate of the region, namely proximity to the sea and high annual rainfall, and has been passed down through generations by the local people. However, a shift of socio-economic pattern from tradit...

Any opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not constitute policy of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. 1. Introduction The Department of Housing and Urban Development is responsible for assessing the physical condition of the public and assisted housing portfolios. This includes: • Approximately 14,000 properties owned by public housing authorities (public...

It is expected that the final Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act rule will encourage shopping, increase efficiency, lower housing costs, and promote the purchase of loans that are more suited to a household’s needs. The transfer of markups from firms charging excessive fees to consumers has been estimated to be approximately $670 per loan (a total of $8.35 billion) but could be as high as $1...

Anlr. Lat'Hon is a researcher at the National Swedish Institute for Building Research In Lund, Sweden. She was trained as an architect/ town planner and has a Ph.D. in Architecture. After working"for about fifteen yeatS as a town planner for Swedish municipalities as well as for the government ofBotswana, she started her research on housing in Botswana, with a focus on the transition from tradi...

Slums provide shelter for nearly one third of the world’s urban population, most of them in the developing world. Slumulation represents an agent-based model which explores questions such as i) how slums come into existence, expand or disappear ii) where and when they emerge in a city and iii) which processes may improve housing conditions for urban poor. The model has three types of agents tha...

Economic and population growth, higher life quality standards, and lower interest rates have led to an increase in the demand for housing. However, in many urban areas, land for housing is becoming scarce, and environmental and construction requirements more stringent. Therefore, the need arises for an adequate methodology to evaluate the urban built space under different perspectives (consumer...

12 During the early 1990s, Section 8 vouchers were touted by the US Department of 13 Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as the way to provide greater housing 14 choice for the poor while also deconcentrating them. Toward the end of the 1990s, 15 however, evidence mounted that the voucher system was not deconcentrating the 16 poor. In response, HUD developed a set of five major demonstration pr...