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Between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the productive Pampa cattle ranch, locally known as "estancia," underwent three developmental stages in the process of territorialization within the northwestern province of Buenos Aires. Each of these stages covers various dimensions—social, economic, political, cultural, and environmental—that collectively define the estancia's role as a territorial agent. The research employs a methodology that combines qualitative approaches through documentary analysis, along with bibliographical and cartographic review, complemented by fieldwork. This work examines into the changes and transformations within the territory, as well as housing adaptations, which are manifested in the construction of dwellings and their environs. These changes occur in a context where urban culture intertwined with the rural productive scene. Furthermore, it postulates that the inter-century territorial dynamics covering the 19th and 20th centuries serve as an enduring legacy of identity for the 21st century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the increasing frequency of extreme weather events has exacerbated the severity of geological disasters. Therefore, it is important to understand the mechanisms of geological disasters under extreme rainfall conditions. From June to October 2021, Baoji City, Shanxi Province, China, experienced some extreme and continuous heavy rainfalls, which triggered more than 30 geological disasters. Those geo-disasters threatened the lives of 831 people and the safety of 195 houses. The field investigations found that most of these geological disasters were devastating collapses that occurred in the loess layer, primarily due to the cave dwelling construction. The shear strength, montmorillonite content, disintegration degree, and plasticity index of two typical loesses, namely the Sanmen Formation stiff clay and the Hipparion red clay, were analyzed, and their water sensitivities were evaluated. The failure mechanisms of the landslides, ground fissures, and collapses were analyzed and most of them were controlled by the cave dwelling construction and the strong water sensitivity of the loess. This study provides data for understanding shallow geological disasters induced by extreme rainfall in the loess area, which are more threatening than large geological disasters. We proposed an intensity–duration (I–D) rainfall threshold as I = 90 D−0.92, which relates the rainfall intensity (I) to the rainfall event duration (D). The empirical threshold provides some useful information for the early warning of collapses or landslides in similar geological settings in the loess area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Safranbolu, located in the Western Black Sea region of northern Turkey, consists of three historical settlements distinguished by monumental buildings and especially traditional houses. For this reason, the city was declared a 'World Heritage Site' by UNESCO in 1994. Traditional Safranbolu houses are examples of Turkish houses built with mixed techniques. In research on Turkish residences and traditional Safranbolu houses, the focus has been on the origin of dwelling construction culture, the spatial reading of the parts of the house, the sociocultural life of the owners, and the surveying of traditional construction techniques. In this study, the design principles affecting the spatial arrangement of Safranbolu houses were evaluated from a holistic perspective. Dwellings selected from Safranbolu sites were analyzed at the urban scale according to the environmental design data of the residential area. It can be seen that houses were designed in a certain order according to these factors. In the building scale analyses, the diversity in the domestic space configuration was surveyed by the drawings of immediate environments at the plans and sections of the houses. The study contributes by explaining the relationship between parcel characteristics and house design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objectives of the current study are to carry out soil gas radon (Rn) measurements, to evaluate the total inhalation effective dose, to determine risk levels over the lithological formations of the study area. The behavior investigation of Rn activity concentration distributions in dwellings and soils, and soil Rn mapping were also conducted. Soil gas Rn measurements were made at 102 sampling points by Markus 10 instrument. This data was combined with previously reported results from 140 indoor Rn RADTRAK dosimeters to determine the total inhalation effective dose and to conduct a statistical analysis. Overall, the Rn activity concentrations in soil and dwellings range from 4 to 66 kBq m−3 and from 15 to 140 Bq m−3, with averages of 31 ± 15 kBq m−3 and 41 ± 24 Bq m−3 respectively. The corresponding total inhalation effective dose ranges from 0.35 to 3.53 mSv y−1, with a mean value of 1.37 ± 0.58 mSv y−1. For soil gas Rn, the chlorite schist lithology showed the highest average concentration level. Which could be justified by the possible presence, within chlorite minerals, highly emitting zones of alpha particles, leading to the formation of radioactive halos. Normal and high‐risk level of Rn were found for about 82% and 11% of the total area surveyed respectively. These findings highlight the need for preventive measure against Rn exposure in homes within the investigated areas. This study contributes valuable insights into Rn distribution patterns and risk assessment, offering a basis for targeted interventions in the region. Plain Language Summary: Radon (222Rn (Rn or radon)) is the ubiquitous natural radioactive gas in the earth's crust. It is responsible for about 50% of the total dose received by the public from exposure to natural ionizing radiation. This gas have been recognized as the second leading cause of lung cancer in the world. The current work objectives are to measure the soil gas Rn activity concentrations, to assess the total inhalation dose received by the public and to determine risk levels of various lithological formations. In general, we found that the chlorite schist lithology had the highest average concentration level, due to the presence of minerals such as biotite and chlorite. Public exposure to Rn is greater indoors than outdoors with average inhalation dose relatively higher than the worldwide average. This is due to the numerous factors such as type of construction, building materials, low indoor air renewal rates, etc. The whole study area surveyed were classified as normal‐risk zones. These results reveal that preventive and protective measures against the public exposure to Rn are required from the construction of dwellings. Based on the activity concentrations distribution model and risk assessment, areas that could be targeted for potential intervention could be identified. Key Points: First in situ direct measurement of soil gas Rn activity concentration using Markus‐10 instrument in the various lithological formationsValuable insights into indoor and soil gas Rn distribution patterns and risk assessment, offering a basis for targeted interventionsProduction of a map of Rn distribution in the soil in this part of the country for the first time [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study intended to identify the perception of quality of life (QoL) among architects, how architecture can impact QoL, and which barriers architects perceive to impact QoL. Numerous studies have emphasized the significance of the built environment in determining QoL, especially in institutional buildings. However, there has been less focus on how architects perceive QoL and how the concept is applied in their planning and design for residential buildings. The contribution of this study is to provide an increasingly important awareness of how to improve the architects' considerations to build for QoL. The study is based on qualitative data from in-depth interviews with ten architects and one workshop with seven architects. The participants were selected by quota sampling and were all partners or owners of Danish architectural firms that provide housing services and are representative of the Danish architectural industry. The results reveal that the perceptions of QoL among architects are linked to three primary dimensions: health, a sense of harmony, and the experience of enchantment. The participants perceived that architectural design could impact QoL in three primary dimensions: the environment, the experience of enchantment, and health. The most frequent perceived barriers are linked to the economy and resources, building codes and regulations, and knowledge and communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large number of people in China still live in rural villages. The indoor environment of these rural dwellings directly affects the quality of life of the occupants. Nevertheless, constrained by the quality of dwelling construction, rural buildings have poorer indoor environments and, at the same time, have a higher operating energy consumption. However, inadequate attention has been given to the summer thermal environment in cold regions. This work has been carried out around the thermal environment of rural residences in cold regions during summer. Field measurements, questionnaires, and data analysis were used in this study. We recorded the indoor and outdoor thermal environment parameters on a typical summer day in the Linyi rural area. Moreover, the subjective sensations and thermal adaptive behaviors of the participants were recorded in detail with a questionnaire. Linear regression showed that the neutral temperature for residents in summer was 27.52 °C, with acceptable temperatures ranging from 25.14 °C to 29.9 °C. Age and gender differences were found to affect the occupants' sensation of thermal comfort and humidity, as well as their thermal adaptive behavior. In addition, a thermal adaptive model has been constructed in the study, which will further enrich the thermal adaptive investigation and provide a scientifically sound reference for the renovation and development of the local rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intensity with which the phenomenon of depopulation has affected rural municipalities in Spain between 1950 and 2022 has led to a loss in the intergenerational transmission of traditional knowledge, values and customs. Sociocultural loss entails associated physical risks: the abandonment, demolition, and loss of vernacular architecture. This research analyzes the evolution of this type of architecture in a period of acute depopulation and its current state of conservation. A total of 180 case studies in the region of Comunidad Valenciana are analyzed through four factors affecting the physical vulnerability of dwellings: year of construction, state of conservation, type of use, and a combination of all three. Data management software is used to combine all the information and produce the results in a tabular and graphical format, while the Geographic Information System is used to draw up risk maps showing the results. These results are then divided into analysis groups created according to the degree of depopulation observed in the years mentioned. This made it possible to identify the relationship between depopulation and the conservation of vernacular architecture, showing the risk level for each case study, and thus creating an analysis methodology applicable in other territories affected by depopulation at a national and international level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sale of dwellings in different stages of construction is, without a doubt, a current topic. A lot of investors (real estate promoters) operate on the real estate market from Romania, taking advantage, perhaps, of the existing legislative framework, which is too permissive, in our opinion, and which inevitably leads to unwanted effects both by clients and by the other participants in the instrumenting of sales documents (including sales promises), with the exception of investors, in the almost exclusive profit of whom the documents are concluded. For these reasons, through this study, we are trying to make more visible the activity of construction and of sale of dwellings not yet finished or in various stages of construction, with the hope that the legislative bodies of this country will notice the need for a special regulation in this field, as some European countries very close to Romania have already done, so that, in the end, the sale of dwellings that are in different stages of construction is recognized and regulated as such, as a distinct variety of sale, alongside the other varieties of sale currently regulated in the Civil Code through Title IX, Chapter I, Section 4, devoted to varieties of sale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Latinoamericana de Estudios Urbano Regionales is the property of Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Demographic changes have prompted the development of 'age-friendly' housing design standards in several countries, but there has been limited exploration of whether older prospective homebuyers would prefer to purchase homes with accessible and adaptable features. This exploratory study used a stated choice experiment to explore whether prospective homebuyers in England aged 50 and over would prefer homes with accessibility and adaptability attributes. Respondents were significantly more likely to select dwellings with step-free access and adaptable bathrooms than properties without these features and were willing to pay significantly more to purchase them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of standard block and modular dwelling designs in Hong Kong's public housing provision since the mid-1950s. It explores how standard types have evolved in relation to housing policies, demographic and socio-economic changes, and minimum space requirements. In contrast to other countries, Hong Kong lacks defined space or room standards. In the absence of space standards, Hong Kong relies on a living density standard. This paper studies the historical development of Hong Kong's public housing in terms of dwelling size as a measure of housing quality, questioning the effectiveness of standard block and dwelling designs as housing design controls and highlighting the contextual nature of dwelling usability and size. The analysis is based on public housing design projects, policies, and data implemented or presented by the Hong Kong government, particularly the Hong Kong Housing Authority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The context of interwar period Czechoslovakia lacks a formal on both the personality and built artefacts on the often overlooked Bratislava builder, Rudolf Frič. Small-scale architecture tends to be undervalued because of its size, utility, multiplicity, or related momentariness, and because of the automatic consideration of its banality. This paper aims to analyse their architectural qualities presented in concrete typologies and realisations. Tram shelters, gas stations, mausoleums, and small detached houses are thus researched. Their architectural values, both in construction and in form, are identified and clarified. On the other hand, it is noted that the scale and ephemerality conditioned by the utility character are the crucial reasons for their undervaluation. This is especially the case of traffic buildings, where the same dynamic that initiated their origin also resulted in their end, as they become obsolete rather soon. Some of these projects by Frič such as: Rybáček House, Polák Tram stop, the Zikmund Brothers' gas station, as well as the Frič family tomb, are confronted with other relevant realisations, prove that small-scale architectural objects and peripheral typologies have the architectural qualities for which they would deserve the public and professional interest. Moreover, these objects reflect their variety, being situated in diverse urban situations, from the architecturally and historically intact city centre, through to newly urbanised dwelling area, urban periphery up to a provincial town. Additionally, they illustrate the asymmetric position of the Slovak situation compared to the Czech one, particularly in transport architecture. The presented works characterise the style of Frič based on the high-quality craftsmanship details rather than explicit architectural forms. This transfer of new typologies and structural forms with partial urban impacts, underscores the neglected and crucial contribution to architecture by Frič. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study assessed city building conversion from the perspective of the Ijapo Residential Estate Akure, Ondo State. The objectives are to identify and examine the factors responsible for residential building conversion, assess the effect of building conversion on the existing planning scheme, and ascertain the level of building plan deviation from the original design. Design/Methodology/Approach: This article annexed primary and secondary data collection sources using Ijapo residential master plans (pre-2002, 2012, and 2022). From these, 717 residential buildings were identified using Auto-cad and SPSS. The 717 buildings were multiplied by 5hpb (household per building), which amounts to 3585 households within the study area. Ten percent of the total buildings were selected randomly for the research. Field data were analysed using descriptive methods. Findings: This is a 47.0% reduction in the identified approved land use for residential, 65.0% increase in commercial usage, a 55.0% increase in recreational use, 40.0% increase in institutional use of the building, 62.0% newly introduced mixed-use, as a result of 58.2% of the residents agreed that the reason for building conversion in Ijapo was for profit-making, while 40.0% of the respondent only adhered to the approved plan. Research Limitation/Implication: This research focused on building conversion in cities with a major concern on Ijapo Residential Estate Akure, Nigeria. Practical Implication: This paper has potential baseline implications for understanding strategic planning and urban/environmental sustainability of Planning Scheme adherence in Nigerian cities and other developing countries. Social Implications: This study will assist development policymakers, developers, and land owners in addressing the diverse effects of building conversion on present and future generations. Originality/Value: This study is based on a creative planning concept for curbing the menace of building conversion, as well as the design and implementation of a master plan by the planning authority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jorge Luis Borges confessed, on more than one occasion, that his modest blindness was not the dramatic darkness that common sense believes but rather a refuge that, in his case, was built in a slow twilight. At the end of his speech to receive the Honoris Causa degree from the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the University of Chile, the Argentine writer spoke about the gradual parting of his sight and the pleasant sensation of entering a new, richer, deeper, and more creative living space. Relying on blindness as an introspective landscape, as a habitable space where fantasy meets realism, it is in this context that the essay proposes to inhabit, with thought, a weightless and infinite domestic space. Other artists achieved it - Groussac, Monet, Homer, Joyce, Herzog, Pallasmaa, and Italo Calvino - turning this kind of induced blindness into an intimate and creative room in which to settle at the end of their lives. Professor Yeager introduces this story, making us ascend to the heavens in search of an inspiring, black, and profound space. The house dreamed by Manuel Parra and Danilo Veras leads us away from the light to discover ourselves in a unique sensory experience. From the hand of the master Lewerentz, this essay will bring together some architectural experimentations with a singular dark box, an asphalt and black environment: black box in Lund. Living in blindness suggests a revision of our perceptual field, imaginatively inhabiting these introspective places where laws seem to have disappeared. Blindness, as Borges mentioned in that speech, makes the body join the space to dream of a new, more poetic, and creative dwelling. (Figure 1). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Critical Planning is the property of Critical Planning and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study analyzes insurance claim data from an 11-county area in the Florida Panhandle following the landfall of Hurricane Michael. The data includes 1467 non-mobile home structures, with 902 (61.5%) storm-damaged structures in Bay County. The analysis focuses on Wind Mitigation form 1802. Specifically, building design variables were analyzed via linear regression as to their influence on the percent claim loss. The building design variables included total square footage, dwelling construction type, age of the building, roof type, roof cover type, roof deck attachment type, roof to wall attachment, the presence of secondary water resistance (or sealed roof deck), opening protection type, and roof shape. Results show that building design variables for insurance claims have a high predictive value relative to a Category 5 hurricane event. However, the predictive values of building design variables are also dependent on the dwelling's proximity to the coast, its location relative to the strong or weak side of the storm, the diameter of the storm, and other wind field variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

LiDAR has become fairly integrated into archaeological practice at a global scale. This has gradually evolved to include UAV LiDAR. Nevertheless, considerable biases remain, including with regard to geographical regions, chronological periods, feature types and environments. At present, few studies of coastal environments exist, despite the fact that LiDAR—and UAV LiDAR in particular—has the obvious advantages of flexibility and time efficiency in such archaeologically rich but logistically challenging environments. In this paper, we compare the results of UAV LiDAR surveys with records from previous ground surveys in two case studies from coastal environments on opposite sides of the globe. Case Study I of shell middens located within approximately 3 km2 around Cambaceres Bay involved the first collection of LiDAR data from Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Case Study II covered approximately 3 km2 of the island of Vega, Northern Norway, and is among the pioneering LiDAR studies of Mesolithic house pits. The detection success rate was fairly good for Cambaceres—69% of 1240 recorded structures were identified on LiDAR—and above expected for Vega, with 81% of 51 recorded house pits identified on LiDAR. In Cambaceres, the main challenges were dense and low vegetation and identifying small middens. Possible new identifications of archaeological features were made in both areas: subtle depressions interpreted as dwelling foundations in Cambaceres and house pits on Vega. We conclude that UAV LiDAR can contribute to coastal archaeology and that it has added values besides making new identifications, being both flexible and time efficient. An example pertains to the possible identification of a practice that has not previously been proved archaeologically in Tierra del Fuego—more thorough site preparation prior to the construction of the dwellings—which in turn raises new questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on summarizing significant decisions of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal and reports of Planning Panels Victoria, highlighting key legal and planning developments in Victoria.

The Late Preclassic (400 b.c.–a.d. 200) site of Noh K'uh in Chiapas, Mexico, is home to extended residential groups that aggregated around a small ceremonial complex at the bottom of the Mensäbäk Basin. Evidence collected from domestic contexts indicates that the Late Preclassic households of this site were organized under corporate political systems that emphasized collective identity and cosmological renewal. This article reveals how the people of Noh K'uh integrated cosmological beliefs and practices within the construction of their dwelling spaces, particularly through using cache deposits and participating in other architectural renewal ceremonies. Residents of Noh K'uh may have engaged in these practices to create "semipublic" gathering spaces for administrative and ceremonial activities at the level of the household. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Social Anthropology / Anthropologie Sociale is the property of Berghahn Books and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Informal settlement is a spatial manifestation of inequality, in that people turn to informal solutions for housing when formal ones are out of reach, usually because of financial constraints but also other factors such as social exclusion. However very little is known about the architectural and urban forms that constitute informal settlements, and thus how this inequality manifests spatially, and what specifically is inadequate in these settlements is not currently well understood. We use the framework of the United Nations Right to Adequate Housing as a benchmark to determine whether housing is contributing to inequality through one or more failures of adequacy, in which case we define these as being inequitable housing. We analyse the architecture of four cases within three informal settlements in Ahmedabad, Gujarat state, India, to examine how these urban forms both reflect and/or remedy multi-scalar urban housing inequalities. Four key physical spaces are found to be important: the dwelling's site, resident's control over dwelling design and construction, the design of the dwelling threshold, and the characteristics of shared open spaces. In the right combination, the quality of these physical spaces in informal settlements can contribute to informal settlement residents achieving housing adequacy. A better understanding of the built environment of informal settlements can enable designers and planners to harness the potential of informal settlement environments that are assets of the urban poor, create a context that stops informal settlements becoming 'slum-like' and help construct pathways towards urban equality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though elsewhere in the Western world and the gulf regions, many studies explore the effect of extreme weather conditions on the construction of houses, little is known in sub-Saharan Africa. This study therefore engages homeowners and various construction workers in a qualitative study to analyze how rainfall affects the building of houses. A total of 75 participants, comprising 20 homeowners and 55 construction workers were purposively selected to share their experiences about the impact of rainfall on the construction of houses using in-depth interviews. The narratives of the participants made several revelations to deepen knowledge on the effect of climatic conditions such as rainfall on housing construction. The study revealed that rainfall causes financial losses to homeowners and creates hazardous work environments for construction workers. Financial losses are encountered through the destruction of building materials, increases in the cost of building materials in the wet season and extra labour costs incurred in carrying out reworks. This challenge posed by extreme rainfall has implications of hindering many prospective homeowners in achieving their aspiration of becoming homeowners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though the use of uranium mill tailings as a construction material is prohibitive such prototype dwellings can be constructed for developing models for the human exposure assessment. Among the potential challenges of uranium mill tailings build-up of radon (222Rn) from the tailings pile and subsequent migration following dispersion is assumed significance due to the associated inhalation hazard of its progeny. Sources of such exposure are predominantly considered as the 226Ra (parent of 222Rn) present in the construction material and underlying geophysical characteristics. In the present investigation, a model is developed presuming the use of mill tailings as the construction material of a dwelling (prototype). The numerical model prediction for 1.14 Air Changes per Hour (ACH) reflects that the level can be approximated at 300 Bq m−3, a reference level proposed in ICRP recommendation (ICRP 2014). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Técnica Energía is the property of Centro Nacional de Control de Energia CENACE and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)