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Drawing on hooks' notion of 'homeplace', Ahmed's theorisation of 'strange encounter,' and Sharpe's rumination on Black being 'in the wake' or afterlife of slavery, this paper reflects on how Aidoo's The Dilemma of a Ghost can help examine the 'Year of Return' project in terms of dwelling. The paper argues that Aidoo's play proffers a pedagogy of intercultural communication and a radical deconstruction of home and kinship. By noting Aidoo's emphasis on intercultural communication, home, and dwelling, the paper demonstrates how the 'Year of Return' can be conceptually enriched and pragmatically organised in ways that seriously consider Aidoo's ethic of dwelling. The paper is, therefore, a corrective to the overemphasis in the 'Year of Return' celebrations on trade, capital, and investment. Finally, the paper sheds light on the relationship between literature and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change may lead to more frequent and severe weather events, resulting in significant financial and human health impacts. This paper develops a risk metric using building performance simulation by associating thermal and incidental risks in buildings during power outages while considering multiple cold and hot events. Conditional Value at Risk (CVaR) is calculated using variations in outage events. According to the results, employing an integrated building design and a microgrid with photovoltaic panels that can be disconnected from the grid halves vulnerability related to ice storms and completely mitigates it for historical heatwave events. The variability study has revealed that a code-minimum design has eight times the CVaR of the as-built design. This novel methodology has the potential to inform future environmental, social, and corporate governance strategies and assist infrastructure operators in managing their risk exposure to future climate change events, considering various types of risks and multiple hazards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the most significant solutions suggested for estimating energy consumption and cooling load, one can refer to enhancing energy efficiency in non-residential and residential buildings. A structure's characteristics must be considered when estimating how much heating and cooling is required. To design and develop energy-efficient buildings, it can be helpful to research the characteristics of connected structures, such as the kinds of cooling and heating systems needed to ensure sui interior air quality. As an important part of energy consumption and demand of buildings, the assessment of cooling load conditions from the envelope of large buildings has not been comprehensively understood yet. In the present paper, a new conceptual system has been developed to anticipate cooling load in the sector of residential buildings. Also, the paper briefly describes the major models of the developed system to maintain continuity and concentrate on the prediction model of the cooling load. To predict cooling load, authors have modelled two methods of artificial neural network (ANN) and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) in conjunction with teaching-learning-based optimization (TLBO). This article aims to illustrate how artificial intelligence (AI) approaches play an essential role in addressing the mentioned necessity and help estimate the optimal design parameters for various stations. The value of the multiple determination coefficient is also determined. The values of the training R² (coefficient of multiple determination) are 0.96446 and 0.97585 for TLBO-MLP and TLBO-ANFIS in the training stage and 0.95855 and 0.9721 in the testing stage, respectively, with an unknown dataset which is acceptable. The training RMSE values for TLBO-MLP and TLBO-ANFIS are 0.0685 and 0.11176 for training and 0.07074 and 0.12035 for testing, respectively, for the unknown dataset, which is acceptable. The lowest RMSE value and the higher R² value indicate the favourable accuracy of the TLBO-MLP technique. According to the high value of R² (97%) and the low value of RMSE, TLBO-MLP can predict residential buildings' cooling load. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to contribute to current discourse at the intersection of mobility and architecture studies, by examining the divide between immobility and mobility through the lens of tiny homes. While home is the archetypal image of stasis, belonging, and rootedness, recent mobility studies have considered the potential of architecture as mobilizing, rather than purely permanent, animated through mobility. Our focus on tiny homes highlights the shifting relations between 'immobility' and 'mobility' as 'homely mobility' to create a sense of homeyness and happiness. We examine this homely mobility through an analysis of the YouTube channel Living Big in Tiny Homes, which challenges static conceptions of the home and allows us to emphasize the multi-scalar and multiple forms of homely mobility, spatially and temporally, through micro and macro movements. This paper has a particular interest in how bodies-with-tiny-homes transform and are entangled in movements and flows, but also how the ideas of tiny homes, or ideals of homes generally, stay, are sticky or get stuck. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financialized student accommodation has emerged as an international asset class and is a more visible and politically contentious feature of Irish cities. In this paper, I focus on Dublin which has seen the construction of for-profit Purpose Built Student Accommodation, and rent increases, skyrocket. Contributing to, as well as advancing, debates on rental market financialization, I present changes to student housing provision tied to financialization and explore the consequences for students' right to housing. I build my argument around qualitative research undertaken between 2019-2021, namely documentary analysis, focus groups, and key informant interviews. I explore how financialization is contested through engagement with the student housing campaign 'Shanowen Shakedown'. I present the political outcomes of this campaign and demonstrate that whilst it achieved greater housing rights for students, students continue to battle the uneven geographies of financialization. The paper argues student accommodation is implicated in wider transformations of Dublin's urban housing system and the ongoing financialization of the private rental sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper's main argument is that housing financialisation can be understood as a set of intertwined digital/material processes, and that resisting housing financialisation requires activism that recognises and capitalises on this dynamic. Drawing from Desiree Fields' (2017a) work on urban struggles with financialisation, this conceptual argument is unpacked through a case study of post-crash Dublin, an urban space reshaped by housing financialisation and struggles resisting it. Housing has been a key subject of contention in post-crash Dublin and activists' digital/material struggles illustrate how digital technologies and platforms can be and are appropriated to resist housing financialisation. The paper traces the intertwining of housing financialisation, resistance, and the digital in post-crash Dublin and argues that future research on platform real estate, urbanism, and automated landlord practices must take seriously the ambivalent opportunities, agency, and counter narratives that housing activists create through their digital/material practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an emergent field of writings on financialized landlords' undertaking of apartment renovations as an investment strategy and its effect on housing inequalities. Seldom do these studies contextualize these tendencies within countries' specific housing policy traditions. Therefore, through a qualitative case study in a neighbourhood in Sweden, this paper aims to uncover how private landlords undertake renovations as an investment strategy and its effect on tenants and, in turn, on the hybrid character of a universal housing system. It finds that renovations enable landlords to extract value from the built environment while tenants experience rising rents, a lack of information, poor property maintenance, and apprehension. Hence, I argue that renovations represent an investment strategy that serves to undermine the traditional social right to housing within a universal housing policy context. The paper thus furthers knowledge on how the situatedness of financialization tendencies entails their translation through and transformation of housing systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With a view to providing general Storey Loss Functions (SLFs) for existing reinforced concrete (RC) residential buildings in Italy, this paper layouts the procedure and the development of SLFs for different residential building typologies, using post-earthquake observational damage data of the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake. To do so, the addressed building typologies and the cost ratios, with respect to the total construction cost, for structural and non-structural elements were defined according to the Italian price bulletin of building typologies, using the current average construction cost per square meter. Fragility models available in the literature, which had been specifically calibrated for structural and non-structural elements commonly found in Italian and Mediterranean RC buildings, were employed and the assumed repair costs were the ones incurred for repairing the buildings damaged during the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake. The proposed SLFs were then employed to perform loss assessment on a representative portfolio of Italian existing masonry-infilled RC residential buildings, showing the consistency of the results with respect to available research studies. The outcomes therefore denote how the proposed SLFs can be a useful tool as an alternative to the simplified conservative loss assessment guidelines currently employed in Italy, with a view to planning risk mitigation measurements both at a regional and single-building level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, scholars have taken increased interest in the existential dimensions of human im/mobility largely to trace how growing numbers of persons across the globe are pressed to navigate increasingly restrictive mobility regimes. The focus on restrictive contexts has, however, deterred researchers from considering experiences of well-being in precarious conditions. This paper shows how a place-based approach to the study of im/mobility can address this gap by directing scholarly attention to supportive places that promote the well-being of various groups facing limited social conditions. Drawing upon phenomenological healthcare studies, I theorize existential well-being as a dialectic of dwelling-mobility, and study how an increasingly visible supportive place on college campuses in California—namely, the Undocumented Student Resource Center (USRC)—impacts the existential experiences of undocumented students involved in its operations. I theorize 'place' from a sociocultural psychological perspective, viewing USRCs as dynamic, psycho-social-material realities produced by USRC staff and students involved in distinct meaning-making practices. I then discuss research conducted with an USRC in Northern California to show how its distinct socio-material design and psychosocial practices contributed to the development of existential well-being in undocumented students. I conclude that a place-based approach to the study of existential im/mobility can shed light on well-being experiences that are not dependent on the eradication of restrictive mobility regimes and (as such) can contribute to social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inspired by feminist literature on the notion of 'dwelling', this paper asks: how does the personal dimension of dwelling relate to the political discourses of housing activism. The aim of this paper is to (re-)consider the political dimensions of housing activism and research through focussing on the intimate and private experiences of 'being at home', thereby extending and pluralising housing activism as 'dwelling activism'. Methodologically, this paper 'throws together' two data sets. The first is an arts-based study on the intimate experiences of feeling at home that was conducted with 18 mental health service users in the UK. The second study interviewed 14 urban community land trust activists in England about community engagement and housing activism. A plural, disintegrative analysis offers a symbiotic reading of the close entanglement between the inward-facing personal practices of dwelling like building shelter and security, and the outward-facing more public practices of dwelling, like building relations and togetherness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Homeless' people are usually considered as citizens without property. The absence of ownership, especially in terms of housing, co-creates the very idea of homelessness in current societies. Despite this fact, 'homeless' citizens negotiate and experience their property, things, or the shelter in which they dwell. This paper sheds light on how this property is negotiated and experienced and how it influences home-making. It does so by drawing on long-term ethnographic research in the city of Pilsen, a second-order city in Czechia. Based on the intra-urban comparison of informal dwelling in two abandoned buildings – a former railway station tower and an allotment cottage – the paper conceptualize the unspotted home and argues that it arises from the assemblage of socio-materiality, meanings, and various dimensions of politics, where the politics of home-ownership has an important position. While informal ownership here is related to power asymmetry within home-making, paradoxically, it also brings about more complex informal citizenship and the potential for political action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to investigate whether existing generic fragility curves for various residential building typologies can be safely applied for the vulnerability assessment of school buildings. We select three representative typologies of actual reinforced concrete (RC) school buildings in Thessaloniki, Greece and we conduct a detailed fragility analysis combining field inspection and structural monitoring data to advanced numerical modeling. Building-specific fragility and vulnerability curves are derived for the three school buildings based on 3D incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) of the calibrated numerical models. The comparisons of the developed curves with generic ones showed their significant differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through analysis of written sources, architectural evidence, excavation reports and antiquarian records this paper argues that charnelling of human skeletal remains was more common in medieval England than has hitherto been fully recognized. It became increasingly widespread following formalization of belief in Purgatory in the late 13th century, and charnel houses can be found both at the better-documented greater churches and at parish churches, for which churchwardens' accounts are important sources. Charnel houses are mainly freestanding buildings in churchyards, or crypts within the body of the church, and both forms are often semi-subterranean, with the carefully maintained charnel visible through windows high in the charnel house walls. There was typically a chapel located above the charnel room, in which prayers for the dead were offered, similar to chantries. The paper presents the first detailed exploration of the potential liturgical contexts for charnelling. It is argued that the most likely form of rite to accompany the translation and deposition of charnel would have comprised a re-enactment of the Office of the Dead followed by an adapted version of the burial service, with possible secondary uses of the charnel house in the days leading up to Easter, the most solemn part of the Christian year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the public routines through which migrant domestic workers inhabit a global city such as Hong Kong. Using 'public outings' as a conceptual entry point to understanding migrants' mobile geographies of dwelling, it seeks to present such migrants as ordinary urban actors who inhabit, share and shape the city landscape every day just like many others. Whilst disciplined by their employers in all sorts of ways, domestic workers nonetheless use the public and quasi-public spaces within their neighbourhoods – spaces integral to their work routines – as sites for forging a precarious autonomy. Drawing on a short ethnography – using participant diaries, interviews, and participant observation – of live-in migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong, the paper describes how migrants use a range of neighbourhood spaces to create an improvised infrastructure of care that helps creates a sense of domesticity and home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do we dwell tenderly in the ruins of the modern university? This paper engages a hopeful, collaborative, and sensory methodology to imagine possibilities for research and researcher. As academic women navigating the decay of the neoliberal university amid the shadowy spectre of the 'ideal' academic, we explore our lived experiences, identities, and questions. For us, managing modernity's disorientation and dislocation means showing up differently, with new tools, new theoretical frames, and new ways of relating. From our experiential and aesthetic inquiry, tendrils of possibility for what research does, has been, is, and could be, are emerging. Our dwelling together (co-sensing in radical tenderness) helps us see beyond the thicket of institutional requirements towards a more hopeful and collective existence – for if the sense of separation instilled by modernity is a social disease, healing must be a communal endeavour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Floor planning, as one of the most important considerations in building design, often involves intensive trial-and-error processes with many constraints considered simultaneously. Artificial intelligence (AI) generative design solutions being developed are hampered by two shortcomings. Firstly, the vast topological knowledge embedded in existing floor plans has been largely unexplored and is thus wasted. Secondly, an efficient methodological instrument to learn the topological knowledge for generative design is lacking. This paper aims to develop a graph learning methodology to learn graph knowledge from floor plans and generate knowledge ready for building generative design. A discrete denoising diffusion model (D3M) that can learn topology graphs via its bi-directional structure of 'corruption and denoise' is developed and trained using more than 80,000 floor plans from a large-scale dataset. It is found that the D3M can learn the knowledge from floor plans and present it as various building floor topologies, which are evaluated in a preliminary case study as reliable and useful for generating real-life building floor plans. The research provides a design knowledge management framework that can be further implemented in academic works and design practices through some mainstreaming or commercializing efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores disabled people's experiences of 'everyday' hate within and around their home. The characteristics of the home make it a particularly interesting site of analysis, as many of the features offer protections and risks simultaneously. Moreover, the home is a particularly important space within our everyday lives, particularly for disabled people who may encounter marginalization within other social spaces. In this article, I consider how encounters within the home shape the way in which the space is made, and how disabled people are able to be within them. I explore the home as a space where persistent and repeated violence can occur, which in turn, shapes how bodies come to occupy (or not), their homes and to what meanings the home takes on. In an attempt to explore this, I offer different conceptualizations of the home as a site of refuge, control and containment, avoidance, and resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reaching sustainability targets requires a holistic understanding of the different dimensions of residential building stock development. This paper aims to provide a solid and transparent approach for modelling residential building stock development with a focus on the long-term need for repairs and renovations. The modelling approach is based on Dynamic Material Flow Analysis (MFA) and the model is constructed using comprehensive Finnish statistics. Still, it is widely applicable to different geographical locations and modifiable for various purposes. The main contributions to the previous literature are the incorporation of empirical building mortality analysis and rehabilitation degree model in the MFA modelling framework. The model is demonstrated by modelling the development of Finnish residential building stock from 2020 to 2050. The annual average need for renovation from 2020 to 2050 is 4.1 million residential square metres (1.8% percent of the entire housing stock), equalling to annual investments of some 7.8 billion euros. However, the results revealed notable geographical differences between municipality categories. The results also suggest that the proportion of renovations in the total construction market is increasing while the volume of new housing construction is decreasing. The modelled results are in line with the Finnish Long-Term Renovation Strategy 2020–2050. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Approximately 22% of the existing dwellings in the EU were built before 1946. In Wrocław, Poland ca. 21% of all dwellings in multifamily houses are protected for their heritage value. For such a significant share of the residential building stock pursuit of sustainability through amenity improvement is inevitable and will gain pace with the EU endorsed Renovation Wave. The discourse about the scope of renovations should be extended to consider an improvement of historical housing's spatial quality without compromising its heritage value. Balconies are perceived as an indispensable part of new-built apartments; however, they are scarce in tenements built at the turn of 20th century. Adding balconies as a part of retrofitting is common in Germany or Denmark, but rare in Poland. By analysing heritage preservation practices in Chemnitz, Copenhagen and Wrocław, this paper aims to understand how retention of heritage value shapes local approach to adding balconies. Semi-structured interviews (18) were conducted with heritage conservation officers and other stakeholders. The results revealed a shared recognition of balcony's role as an element contributing to heritage housing preservation through enhanced usability. Factors that impede balcony additions in historical tenements in Wrocław were identified for different tenure types, followed by recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a dataset of dwelling unit plans (n = 2283) with detailed dimensions derived from open-access plan data using machine learning, this paper analyses the size and usability of dwellings in London. Half of London's housing stock was built before the Second World War but has been extensively modified. Due to greater pressure on the housing market and problems with dwelling size, London was the first local authority in England to reintroduce space standards for all housing sectors in 2011. Providing a first comprehensive analysis of space standards and dwelling size in London at room level and across all built periods, the data shows that 61% of London homes fail the recommended minimum dwelling sizes of the London Housing Design Guide (2010), 51% a bedroom standard and 88% at least one of the dimensional requirements. The paper quantifies the extent to which homes fail both recent and historical space standards and discusses their effectiveness in relation to dwelling usability and issues of design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Hallingdal, southern Norway, a number of round dwelling structures have been documented. A contemporary parallel to these constructions is the stállo foundations in the mountains along the Norwegian-Swedish border, which are recognized as a Saami type of dwelling from the Viking Age and Early Middle Ages AD (800-1300). Based on analyses of the round structures in Hallingdal and stállo foundations further north, the paper suggests that the dwellings in Hallingdal may represent similar ethnic processes that initiated a homogenization and standardization of Saami material culture and consolidation of Saami identity all over Sápmi in the Viking Age and Early Middle Ages, and that Saami identity was manifested and materialized through practices of dwelling in the mountains of Hallingdal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper considers what housing studies can learn from Indigenous understandings of the house-as-home. Explored through Indigenous ontologies and epistemologies of the house-as-home, the objective of the paper is to offer nuanced understandings of the social and material work of the house itself in the making and unmaking of home. We draw on an Indigenous/non-Indigenous collaborative research, led by Jerrinja elders. The research design included veranda yarning sessions and Indigenous talking circles. Three dimensions emerged strongly from Jerrinja people's understandings of the making and unmaking of house-as-home: home as an objective capacity, an aesthetic sensibility, and an affective experience of Country. These dimensions are discussed through a relational framework that combines Panelli's discussion of 'Country-as-home', Prout's idea of 'kinship-as-home' and Bissell's thinking around materiality in achieving comfort. The paper concludes by reflecting on the importance of including Indigenous knowledge if housing studies as a field is to go beyond a Western cultural politics of the house-as-home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a methodology that generates and links high-resolution spatial data on households and housing units with heterogeneous characteristics (i.e., size, tenure status, occupied, and vacant) to residential buildings which in turn are linked to critical infrastructure. The methodology utilizes areal demographic data from the US Census, which are probabilistically linked to an inventory of housing units located in residential buildings. By allocating high-resolution household socio-demographic data to housing units in single and multi-family residential structures themselves linked to critical infrastructure systems, coupled engineering-social science modeling is possible. This paper presents a workflow for linking social science and engineering data to enable integrated models for community resilience. The methodology is applied to Seaside, Oregon, a coastal community with a year-round population of over 6,000 persons. The application highlights the benefits of integrating social science and engineering data. Benefits include facilitating coupled modeling, accounting for uncertainty, visualization, and spatial exploration of modeled results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among environmental controls, solar shading and ventilative cooling are widely considered as key passive strategies for limiting the overheating risks in buildings. While their application is encouraged through Energy Performance of Buildings Directive regulations, several studies have shown that summer thermal comfort in heating-dominate temperate climates still requires deeper investigation, particularly in low-energy residential buildings. Based on qualitative and quantitative data collected through surveys and monitoring in 147 highly insulated houses in Wallonia (Belgium), this paper gives an overview of the implemented passive strategies and discusses their effectiveness. Statistical tests are conducted to evaluate their impact on both perceived and measured indoor conditions. In general, the results highlight a limited impact of the implemented strategies, questioning their proper operation. Operational modes for environmental controls thus appear crucial, and should better respond to occupants' needs, preferences and control opportunities. At a more general level, the study calls for a better understanding of the barriers inhibiting successful integration and operation of environmental controls, in order to effectively reduce overheating risks in residential buildings and limit future diffusion of active cooling systems with their induced environmental impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data on the number of floors is required for several applications, for instance, energy demand estimation, population estimation, and flood response plans. Despite this, open data on the number of floors is very rare, even when a 3D city model is available. In practice, it is most often inferred with a geometric method: elevation data is used to estimate the height of a building, which is divided by an assumed storey height and rounded. However, as we demonstrate in this paper with a large dataset of residential buildings, this method is unreliable: <70% of the buildings have a correct estimate. We demonstrate that other attributes and characteristics of buildings can help us better predict the number of floors. We propose several indicators (e.g. construction year, cadastral attributes, building geometry, and neighbourhood census data), and we present a predictive model that was trained with 172,000 buildings in the Netherlands. Our model achieves an accuracy of 94.5% for residential buildings with five floors or less, which is an improvement of about 25% over the geometric approach. Above five floors, our model has only a slight improvement on the geometric approach (5%). The main culprit is the lack of training data for tall buildings, which is uncommon in the Netherlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the seismic vulnerability assessment of dwellings in the historic centre of Cusco (Peru), one of the most important UNESCO sites in the world. This activity is framed within a cooperation agreement between the University of Chieti-Pescara (Italy), the Andina University del Cusco (Peru), the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru and the Cusco Municipality (Peru) whose main focus is the seismic risk evaluation of the whole historic centre. Following a discussion on the development of the historic centre and the main construction typologies, the paper presents the main outcomes of an extensive in-situ survey for collecting structural information on the buildings. Statistics regarding the data are given and shown in a GIS environment. The collected data are then used to implement an empirical model for the seismic vulnerability assessment of a significant part of the historic centre. The model is derived using a methodology already proposed by the authors for Italian historic centres. The original model is adapted to the peculiarities of the structural typologies found in Cusco. Finally, fragility curves are derived and used in order to assess the potential seismic vulnerability reduction achieved by applying proper retrofitting interventions at the large scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper dwells on the metaphor of shadow organising for exploring what happens in the space of the 'not-yet data'. It wonders what we do to 'data' and what 'data' do to us, to our subjectivities as professionals. It deals with elusive knowledges and how professionals construct what counts as 'data' and what is discarded as 'no-data'. Taking a post-qualitative approach, the paper illustrates three instances of not-yet data. The first exemplifies a situation in which data are illegible: the researcher doesn't know how to read the situation, or the data are invisible. The second focuses on the process of actively ignoring what is known, what is not-yet manufactured as data. The third relates to the agency of the technological infrastructure in which the indeterminacy of the not-yet data is shaped by power dynamics. The aim of the paper is to invite researchers and professionals to stay with the trouble/indeterminacy of data and to 'slow down' the quick framing of 'data' and the jump to evaluation and critique. Moreover, it argues against the seduction of evidence and it is an invitation to value the idea that things may always be otherwise and that there is space for shadow learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to understand and characterize occupant behaviour from a perspective of air conditioner (AC) usage. Therefore, it analyses data collected via a questionnaire applied throughout the Brazilian territory, which resulted in 3,259 valid answers explored by non-parametric statistical methods. The main results obtained were: (i) 89% of interviewed occupants prefer naturally ventilated environments at home; (ii) their preference impacts their behaviour, as those who prefer naturally ventilated environments tend to ventilate their house instead of turning on the air conditioner; (iii) climate and family income influence the availability of appliances, i.e. 93.2% of the high-income groups have at least one AC at home in extremely hot climates; (iv) there are groups with a tendency of high AC use, especially those who use AC often, also use it for a longer period of time; and (v) there is a significant difference between the setpoint temperature used in different climates; for instance, the lowest setpoint temperature is used in the hottest climate. This paper intends to contribute to a better understanding of occupants' preferences and behavioural tendencies, especially in Brazilian residences and hot climates, while showing the influence of variables like family income and climate on such issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding housing preferences is critical for successful compact city development. However, there is limited research on understanding preference heterogeneity in dwelling type choices. Using the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey, this paper identifies the key housing and built environment characteristics associated with changes in dwelling type choice from detached houses to high-density. A latent class choice model captures the heterogeneity of dwelling type preferences within a traditionally low-density city, Brisbane, Australia. Findings reveal six household classes with distinct dwelling preferences: Class 1 (senior households without children with other family members) and Class 2 (couple families with children) in inner-city areas, Class 3 (high-income young households) and Class 4 (low-income households without children) in middle-city areas, Class 5 (low-income families with children) and Class 6 (middle-income young families without children) in outer-city areas. Residential environments with better access to educational facilities encourage Classes 3 and 6 to change to high-density living. Greater land use diversity encourages Classes 2, 3, and 6 to move towards high-density living. The findings can be used to design and improve high-density housing for targeted population groups across inner-, middle- and outer-city areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty-first-century population growth is raising the need for more land space in urban areas and this has led to the construction of high-rise buildings, reducing horizontal urban development and making construction of residential high-rise buildings (RHB) a necessity in major cities around the world. In this regard, urban density and high-rise construction are key factors when determining a city's sustainability and the liveability of urban areas. Sustainability indicators were identified in previous research and quantification has proven to be a useful tool for RHB design. This paper provides an overview of the various sustainability factors applied to RHB design. The paper also compiles information on the sustainability strategy, description of RHB issues and how this type of building can affect urban design. Some strategies may improve the natural environment such as incorporating green spaces, combining living, working and leisure activities, providing facilities for children and the elderly such as playgrounds and reasonably natural settings, ease of access to public transport, road networks and shopping facilities and so forth. The research is based on a descriptive approach and it analyses previous studies. The findings show that the environmental, economic and social aspects of sustainable development (SD) should be considered to implement sustainability in RHBs. Previous literature reviews on RHBs considered social aspects in less detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air conditioning systems are the most viable source to avoid heat waves. Unfortunately, this puts a massive burden on the total electrical load. To deal with this critical issue, the Saudi Building Code National Committee has initiated the Saudi energy conservation code (SBC-602). This paper investigated the role of SBC-602 on the reduction of energy consumption in residential buildings. Furthermore, it also proposes the most effective building element to be insulated. A case study of energy consumption was modelled using SketchUp and analysed using OpenStudio Software. Inconsequence, three scenarios of U-values as an input in this work were suggested which are; building without thermal insulation, building with thermal insulation using Saudi electricity company (SEC) requirement, and using SBC-602 requirement. The study was conducted in three different cities Riyadh, Hail, and Abha, representing three climate zones in Saudi Arabia. Design of experiment (DOE) method was utilised to analyse the significant effects of the input factors. The result indicates that the decrease of the walls U-value is the most effective way to reduce the total electrical energy consumption. Moreover, decreasing roof U-value and increasing setpoint temperature were the following effective factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy modelling for the prediction of energy use in buildings, especially under novel energy management strategies, is of great importance. In buildings there are several flexible electrical loads which can be shifted in time such as thermostatically controllable loads. The main novelty of this paper is to apply an aggregation method to effectively characterize the electrical energy demand of air-conditioning (AC) systems in residential buildings under flexible operation during demand response and demand shaping programs. The method is based on clustering techniques to aggregate a large and diverse building stock of residential buildings to a smaller, representative ensemble of buildings. The methodology is tested against a detailed simulation model of building stocks in Houston, New York and Los Angeles. Results show good agreement between the energy demand predicted by the aggregated model and by the full model during normal operation (normalized mean absolute error, NMAE, below 10%), even with a small number of clusters (sample size of 1%). During flexible operation, the NMAE rises (around 20%) and a higher number of representative buildings become necessary (sample size at least 10%). Multiple cases for the input data series were considered, namely by varying the time resolution of the input data and the type of input data. These characteristics of the input time series data are shown to play a crucial role in the aggregation performance. The aggregated model showed lower NMAE compared to the original model when clustering is based on a hybrid signal resolved at 60-minute time intervals, which is a combination of the electricity demand profile and AC modulation level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically discusses the concept of intergenerational family support in housing for young people. Recognizing increased difficulties faced by the younger generation in the housing market, this paper highlights that support from older family members is increasingly important. Nonetheless, it is critiqued that the role of the family home has been largely ignored in the current 'generation rent' discourse. By drawing on recent youth studies debates, this paper argues living in the family home could be an important form of support in housing, especially for marginalized youth. This paper presents insights from qualitative studies in Hong Kong and Scotland and analyses interview accounts of socially disengaged young people. It reflects how remaining at the family home could be interpreted as intergenerational support, and further elicits complexities in expectations, negotiations and emotions involved. This analysis offers new evidence and a more nuanced perspective of intergenerational family support in housing research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-span timber-concrete composite (TCC) floor systems have the potential to address the design challenges for conventional wooden floors in residential multi-storey timber frame buildings. The aim of this paper is to develop a design approach for long-span timber-concrete composite floor system of 6–9 m. A framework based on value-driven design approach has been developed for integration of results from graphical multi-objective optimisation, spreadsheet-based analysis, structural static and dynamic finite element analysis, and multi-criteria decision making. To verify the developed framework, a residential five-storey timber frame building as a case study has been studied. Optimal design includes optimised thickness of the concrete and optimised smeared stiffness of connectors for three different comfort classes A to C in descending order. TCC floor with span length 7.3 [m] belonging to comfort class A and TCC floor with span length 9.0 [m] belonging to comfort class C has been chosen as optimal solutions. The results indicate that proposed and innovative design approach is a promising tool for developers, architects and structural engineers when designing optimal long-span timber-concrete composite floor system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relation between mobilities and mobile work through a focus on occupational auto-mobility and habitation. Drawing on qualitative research conducted on truck drivers/driving in South-east England, it shows habitation emerges when driving stops; that it is cab-based dwelling-in-transit and nomadic dwelling rooted in and bounded by the material culture of the cab; and that it is displaced to the margins and interstices of the road and logistical network. The paper highlights the discomfort of cab-based habitation and its limits, in sanitation, and examines how recent developments at distribution centres intensify discomfort by denying cab-based habitation. These developments recast the relation of occupational auto-mobility and habitation through transient dwelling and are key to understanding the current crisis in labour supply in truck driving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the height of ‘the Troubles’ in 1976 social-housing in Belfast was in a crisis situation as communities consolidated along ethnic boundaries, often with violent consequences, with some communities becoming drastically overcrowded and others falling into abject dereliction. Using declassified government documentation this paper examines how these events legitimised an emergent confluence of housing and security policy which brought into being the security-threat-community; a socio-material construct where every person is a potential insurgent and every dwelling a potential security-threat. Crucially, the paper problematises the complex entanglement of political, military, paramilitary, economic and ideological forces which shaped its formation. The discussion traces a descent through contingent events within a widerdispositifand reveals the formation of theStanding Committee on the Security Implications of Housing, a confidential government body which assessed the viability of social-housing procurement within communities in terms of the security-threat it might present rather than the housing-need that it would address. As a complement to post-9-11 discourses concerning increasingly ‘globalised conflicts’ the security-threat-community reinforces the complexities of local discursivities. The paper makes visible the sophisticated socio-material effects of these operations and illustrates how they remain embedded within contemporary community structures. The paper concludes by reflecting on how this permits conflict-era forces to remain active, but largely unacknowledged, within the post-conflict era. Ultimately the paper argues for a ‘revaluing of the value’ of this conflict-architecture within post-conflict policy frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Drop manholes are commonly employed to reduce slopes in sewer systems. Diverse particles can enter into these systems and gather in drop manholes where they can chain and clog the outflow. As their residence time in the manhole pool increases, the outlet blockage risk rises. The jet-breaker was used for improving the performance of drop manholes under Regime R2, in which the inlet jet collides with the manhole outlet. However, its effects on residence time were unknown, and its proper dimensions, in this regard, needed to be determined. Therefore, the effects of jet-breaker dimensions and the inlet pipe filling ratio on residence time were experimentally studied in this paper. Results showed residence time significantly reduces when the jet-breaker length and width are 2 and 1.4 times the inlet pipe diameter, respectively; jet-breaker sagitta is zero, jet-breaker angle is zero degrees, and the inlet pipe filling ratio is 80%. Under this optimum condition, residence time decreased 66% in comparison with the control test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For some patients, separation and disruptions lead to states of fragmentation and their dreams do not always lend themselves to the ordinary kind of analysis. Their dreams indicate that things are falling apart. For Elizabeth, the patient discussed in this paper, her dreams were the vehicle that allowed painful and disavowed sectors of herself to take up residence in our minds, where the disavowed sectors might be joined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, seismic vulnerability studies in residential Historic Districts have increasingly resorted to simplified assessment methods, which, very often, are grounded on idealized models obtained from the analysis of the most recurring material and geometrical features in a specific area. This paper aims to discuss the procedure to get residential building models appropriate for simplified seismic vulnerability studies at Historic Downtown of Mexico City (HDMC). The models are built based on a comprehensive analysis from post-seismic reports, web-based inspections (i.e. 3D buildings in Google Earth and Street View 2017 panoramic), and existing literature in broad research domains – from history to urbanism, architecture, and conservation studies. From that analysis, it was obtained a set of building models organized into nine material classes (i.e. M1-M9), and four geometric categories (i.e. A, B, C, and D), whose matrix combination enables a final classification of 36 typologies. The neighbourhood of La Merced was selected as a pilot study area to obtain a typological matrix suitable to be applied to other areas of the HDMC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The technological advancement of human sensing systems in the past decade has provided a new mode through which human complexity in High Performance Buildings can be traced rather than emulated through occupancy schedules. The established medium of schedules can assist however in formulating a comprehensive understanding of these new emerging technologies from an energy simulation perspective. The aims of this paper are subsequently twofold: (1) investigate the evolution and current state of Building Performance Simulation's occupancy schedules and assess their shortcomings with the errors, limitations and deviations of sensing technologies, and (2) evaluate the potential wide scale use of low-cost sensing technologies in thermal (heating and cooling) energy regulation. A simulation based workflow utilized occupancy schedules to measure the impact of human false sensing for the city of Atlanta. The impact ranged between 0.51–1.49% of weekly energy use per error for scanning frequencies between 10–60 min, respectively. Assessment of the national occupancy profile and inhabitant specific parameters point to critical scanning periods being situated between 10 AM–4 PM. A maximum acceptable figure of 22 errors, given a one-hour scanning frequency, was established using a 30% additional energy use benchmark which support sensing technology integration. Sensing system configurations were subsequently proposed to restrict false positive impacts. These form the basis for evaluating the feasibility of deploying such sensing systems across United States residential buildings in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research is focused on tulou, collective dwellings of Fujian (China), built with rammed earth and wood. Except for the evident variation in size and in shape between different tulou, all of them apparently share a similar design and layout features and also the scientific literature on this topic does not highlight substantial differences among them. Despite the generic uniformity, it is however possible to clearly distinguish two groups of tulou, built by different populations and reflecting different life styles and dwelling ideas: the Minnan and Hakka tulou. Starting from this new assumption and through a systematic analysis of eight significant case studies, in this paper it is proved for the first time that the functional differences, already partly recognized by previous studies, can be clearly linked to the typological and construction ones as well as. Thanks to this new methodological approach, in the future it will be possible to set up the analysis of this vast heritage in a more orderly manner, allow a greater integration of various disciplinary research and plan a "Manual on tulou restoration", intended as a guide for restoration and dissemination of the knowledge regarding the original materials and techniques of tulou. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the potential of model-based control is recognized, the development of reasonably accurate models for control applications remains a challenging, cumbersome and time-consuming task. This paper proposes a systematic and generalizable approach – based on low-order control-oriented thermal network (RC) archetypes – for the development, testing and implementation of readily scalable control solutions for buildings. These archetypes, focusing specifically on control applications, can significantly facilitate assessing the effect of control strategies on energy efficiency and load management. Furthermore, this approach can also be used for characterization, design and testing of simple retrofit strategies. The utilization of RC-based archetypes for common types of zones (such as those heated/cooled with forced-air or radiant systems) is proposed. These simple models (often 1st to 4th order models suffice), can also be used for the control of residential buildings. For larger buildings, zonal models can be combined to form whole building models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More than 3400 residential apartment buildings around Australia have flammable cladding. The costs to rectify this defect fall onto homeowners. However, there is limited information about what the costs and implications are for homeowners. This paper identifies through interviews of 16 affected homeowners from Australia the different financial costs involved in rectifying flammable cladding. A range of financial implications were revealed including: increasing levies, body corporation fees, insurance rates, council rates, legal fees, material testing, inspections, other fire strategy defects and extra fire engines responding to alarms. Future costs included fines for non-compliance, loss of property value and the rectification work. The quoted costs of rectification work ranged from A$30,000 to A$12,000,000, depending on the scope of works required but this does not factor in those broader costs identified. The costs associated with cladding rectification have created significant financial burdens for households and influenced life decisions related to finances. The identification of the different types of costs could be used as a framework to quantify the costs to homeowners in further research. This would measure the costs as cladding rectification works are undertaken, in order to provide improved support to these households, not only in Australia but other impacted locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) simulations are crucial in balancing a reduced space heat demand and reduced overheating in Passivhaus dwellings. This paper identifies the PHPP simulated overheating frequency (OF) for a dwelling in Douglas, Cork, Ireland, constructed in 2015. The measured indoor temperature is also recorded over a 12-month period. A comparative analysis of measured and simulated overheating is carried out, with two overheating thresholds of 25°C and 24°C. The simulation estimates an OF of 0.00%, for a typical year (at 25°C). The simulation relies on a dwelling average temperature, where the equivalent measured OF for the test year is 2.64%, derived from a volume-weighted mean indoor temperature (Tvm). At a reduced threshold of 24°C, the measured OF is 4.67%. Measurements within 6 independent zones identify 52.61% of readings above 25°C are eliminated by using Tvm. The representation of overheating as a percentage of the year is shown to distort the effect of overheating, while the Tvm value overlooks variations in zonal temperature. This paper recommends that a more robust assessment tool is developed within PHPP, to predict OF for passive house dwellings, while adopting this methodology for dwellings of Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (nZEB) standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While scholars have long established that city dwellers choose with whom to develop relationships on the basis of social proximity, spatial proximity remains the basis for neighbour relations involving greetings, social conversation, and the exchange of services. Few studies have systematically compared the respective roles of spatial and social proximity in neighbour relations. In this paper, we investigate these two factors through statistical analysis of four social network datasets representing relationships within four rented apartment buildings in Geneva, Switzerland. Using a measure of distance that takes into account how the layout and materiality of buildings shape relationships through accessibility, visibility and audibility, we compare the effects of spatial proximity with the effects of individual determinants and similarity. Our study also breaks new ground by comparing weak ties – between people who interact regularly – and "invisible ties", or ties to familiar strangers. Our study confirms that spatial proximity increases the likelihood of weak ties and questions the underlying mechanisms. It also shows that in addition to sociability, familiarity and anonymity are constitutive dimensions of neighbouring, even at the scale of buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the case of a migrant-owned apartment in Japan that has been rented to migrants for over a decade. The apartment, located in the "house with the red roof," and people's relations that develop within and around it are approached through the anthropological concept of "societies with houses." The apartment is regarded not only as a dwelling but as an institution that governs relations in a loosely tied migrant society with houses. The study contributes both to migrant housing studies, offering an experimental perspective that goes beyond inquiries into migrant spatial distributions and notions of home, and to the "societies with houses" concept through expanding its toolkit and application. The apartment in question not only provides a place to live for migrants but also enacts the functions of protection, capital accumulation, social memory reproduction, disguise and exposure, and metaphorical kinning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In housing research, owning, as compared to renting, is generally depicted as more desirable and associated with better outcomes. This paper explores differences in outcomes between owners and renters in 25 European countries and whether these differences are systematically smaller in countries in which owners and renters have more similar levels of residential stability (smaller tenure length gap). The results indicate that the direction of the relationship between tenure type and the selected outcomes is largely similar across countries. Owners generally exhibit more desirable outcomes (including life satisfaction, civic participation, educational outcomes for children, and physical and mental health). However, when looking at the relationship between outcomes and country level differences in tenure length gap, findings suggest that renters have outcomes that are more similar to owners in countries in which tenure length gaps are smaller. These results point to the potential benefits of policies that would increase residential stability, particularly for renters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]