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This paper offers a comparative look at the organization of built space and storage for sedentary communities in the world's Mediterranean climatic regions and assesses the variable expressions of certain underlying features that are held in common. Our analysis focuses on two primary case studies: the occupants of the Aegean Sea region from the Neolithic to Roman periods (ca. 6800 BCE-168 CE) and the coastal Chumash of southern California during the Late Period (1300–1782 CE). We show that in both regions, households took advantage of outdoor spaces as productive activity areas during the long periods of favorable weather each year. This incorporation of exterior spaces was typically structured using clear visual cues or architecture. Additionally, surplus food was acquired by individual households and stored to mitigate the inherent risks of interannual variability in precipitation and expected annual periods of lower yield (i.e., winter). Since storage was typically organized at the household level, the domestic architecture often incorporated dedicated space or built facilities to manage this surplus. By understanding such climatic influences on the regions' architecture and storage infrastructure, the distinct cultural qualities of these expressions can be better articulated. While it is not our contention that these attributes manifested identical outward architectural and material forms or were exclusive to Mediterranean environments, we suggest that the environment was an important influence on construction and storage decisions which could be adapted according to the local histories of their respective communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the interwar years (1918-39), California's characteristic verandas, archways, and red tile roofs spread to Australia. Originally, Spanish Colonial Revival architecture was popularized in California alongside what historians have called the "Spanish fantasy past," a romanticized Spanish California that linked the state's modern rise to an Anglo-American future and fixed Mexican and Indigenous populations in a bygone era. Looking to the movement of the Spanish fantasy past from California to Australia via "Spanish Mission" style offers new insights for Chicana/o studies. The fantasy past serves as a powerfully fl exible racial script that helps make sense of race relations far beyond its point of origin and connects seemingly mundane choices about home design to ongoing processes of settler colonialism in Pacifi c communities. As an eager adopter of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture during a period when the government was actively redistributing land, Australia illustrates how the Spanish fantasy past has been translated and how Chicana/o studies frameworks informed by critical Indigenous studies can provide insights into relational forms of race making and colonialism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Problem, research strategy, and ­findings: Planning scholars and practitioners once assumed informal housing was largely absent in the developed world; today they increasingly acknowledge its role in the United States. Recent evidence suggests that informal housing, or non-permitted construction, is a significant phenomenon inside incorporated cities, despite widespread regulations and code enforcement. Informal housing is a de facto source of otherwise scarce affordable housing in many locations, but also compromises health and safety and strains municipal infrastructure and fiscal health. Planners lack a means of measuring informal construction at the scale of individual cities. We propose such a method, and apply it to incorporated cities in California. Data limitations prevent us from precisely estimating the magnitude of non-permitted construction, but our findings suggest that informal channels are an important source of housing production, especially in the places where permitted construction is constrained. Takeaway for practice: We urge planners to engage with informal housing issues, given the considerable importance of this hidden yet vital portion of the housing market as a means of providing living spaces amid tight housing market conditions. Our method for calculating the rate of informal housing addition is a useful tool for planners to gather basic facts about the informal housing market in their communities, a prerequisite for policy interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An analysis of the energy performance of the Schrage House (Soriano, 1951) focuses on the user’s role in the link between energy strategies and the effectiveness of user adaptation and control. A number of strategies were studied via energy simulation modelling based on documentary information, monitoring data and occupant interviews. The findings confirmed the importance of user awareness and active involvement in a home’s passive behaviour as a regulator of the environment around the house and in the effectiveness of the strategies adopted. The strategies included insulation, controlling natural ventilation and infiltration, harnessing solar power and shading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interior noise exposure level within the state of California for new residential dwellings is 45 dBA community noise equivalent level (CNEL). Achieving this standard can be a challenge at locations of high ambient conditions where the home would be exposed to noise from a busy freeway and an active freight and passenger railroad line. In addition, select clients or specific uses may require interior noise levels well below the state standard. The goal of this custom home design project was to exceed the state standard by as much as 10 dBA. Achieving this ambitious goal required more than the typical mitigation strategies. An exterior-to-interior noise analysis was conducted to determine the necessary architectural and acoustical requirements to achieve interior noise levels of 45 dBA, 40 dBA, and 35 dBA CNEL within five rooms of this home. In each case, sound transmission calculations were conducted that resulted in reduction ratings required by the windows, doors, roof and wall assemblies to meet the desired interior levels. Specific building elements were then developed to meet the noise ratings and ultimately the desired interior noise levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Richard Neutra, a pioneer of modern architecture, produced a famous series of house designs in California throughout the 1940s and 1950s. In this paper five of these houses are investigated to test three related facets of Neutra's design theory; the social function of the exterior and the use of long, controlled sight-lines to shape the way space is observed and comprehended. The houses are investigated using Axial Line analysis; an established method that models the way spaces are experienced and understood through movement. The method identifies--through visual analysis and the application of graph theory mathematics--several properties of each design including visual depth, permeability and intelligibility; properties which broadly correspond to the three facets of Neutra's theory. Through this compound process, the paper not only tests the application of these parts of Neutra's design theory but it also develops a new reading of the relationship between form and topology in these houses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We find that households living in California homes built in the 1960s and 1970s had high electricity consumption in 2000 relative to houses of more recent vintages because the price of electricity at the time of home construction was low. Homes built in the early 1990s had lower electricity consumption than homes of earlier vintages because the price of electricity was higher. The elasticity of the price of electricity at the time of construction was -0.22. As homes built between 1960 and 1989 become a smaller share of the housing stock, average household electricity purchases will fall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the development of residential housing in Los Angeles and elsewhere in Southern California in the latter half of the 20th century. The initial preference for single-family homes is discussed, followed by the development of various types of hybrid multifamily units, including the own-your-own apartment courts developed by Lionel V. Mayell, the garden-apartment housing cooperatives built by Ardmore Development Corporation, and the row houses erected by various other developers.

The article highlights the works of landscape engineer and architect Mark Daniels from 1920 to 1930. When Daniels designed his own home at Pebble Beach, California in 1920, the gradual transition from landscape architect to building architect had been apparent in his work. An exhibition of Daniels' landscape and architectural work during the 1930s included photographs taken by Ernest Pratt and Virogue Baker. Building and landscaping of a residence for specialty printer John Henry Nash in the Berkeley Hills is the only work he accomplished in 1931.

The article provides information concerning the migration of Chinese in Orange County, California. According to Yang Deng, the vice president of SinoCEA company, as well as the developer of Orange County China, admits that his site is quite far out. And added that this is the reason why Orange County China was created.

This study uses hedonic analysis to estimate the effects of flood hazard disclosure under the 1998 California Natural Hazard Disclosure Law (AB 1195) on property values throughout California. It finds that the average floodplain home sold for 4.2% less than a comparable non-floodplain home following AB 1195 while before that law there was no significant price differential. The introduction of interaction terms indicates that the magnitude of the price reduction due to AB 1195 varies positively with Hispanic population share. An average floodplain home in a half-Hispanic neighbourhood saw a $12 324 negative capitalization due to AB 1195, while that amount was only $2191 for a neighbourhood with 10% Hispanic residents. Results suggest that, in particular, homebuyers in Hispanic communities are better disclosed to under AB 1195 than they were under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which was the primary policy regulating flood disclosure in California prior to passage of AB 1195. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a method for estimating home values by non-parametrically incorporating the physical location of the properties. Specifically, I allow the parameters of the observed covariates to vary in space. This approach mitigates one of the biggest deficiencies inherent in hedonic pricing models--omitted variables. I demonstrate the advantages of the proposed method using real estate transaction data from Los Angeles County. The estimation finds a substantial spatial variation of the marginal values of the hedonic characteristics and provides an insight into the segmentation of the market. The proposed method is an extension of semi-parametric multi-dimensional k-nearest-neighbor smoothing. It alleviates a fundamental problem known as the curse of dimensionality by incorporating parametric components into a non-parametric estimation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents photographs of different alleys and houses in Los Angeles, California, taken in October 1976.