Housing can be used to satisfy man's needs on all five levels as identified by Maslow, although in the context of Tshwane, South Africa, housing decisions are especially guided by a great need for safety as well as status. Townhouse living offers a secure living environment for residents, while simultaneously providing an adequate status living option that is generally accepted by the public. Along with several advantages townhouse living provides, there are also significant negative aspects. The main consideration for this study is the fact that all of the units in a given complex look either the same or very similar, leaving no room for differentiation amongst the units. This can become problematic, since theory suggest that all people have a need to be unique, and when placed in a situation where they are perceived as being highly similar to others, as in a townhouse complex, people will tend to act in a counter-conforming manner. The only viable option available to the residents lies in the interior of their homes. Much has been published to date concerning the need to be unique and the expression thereof within the clothing environment, but only limited research has been done to explore townhouse residents‟ need to express their extended selves in the interior of their homes. The study involved 182 respondents of both genders, who lived in townhouse complexes in Tshwane. They completed a structured questionnaire, which investigated who was responsible for decisions regarding the interior design and décor of their homes, identified their most valued objects, as well as the reason why it is regarded as such, whether or not they restricted guests to their social zones of their homes, as well as whether they portrayed their social selves to onlookers, their level of need for uniqueness, their buyer behaviour, the source of interior inspirations and lastly, a section on the overall satisfaction they might have with residing within a townhouse complex. One qualitative section, the identification and motivation on their valued objects, was included to gain insight into what type of objects are regarded as valuable, supported by motivations on why it is regarded as valuable. Data collection was especially time consuming, since it was difficult to gain access to townhouse complexes. Convenient snowball sampling proved to be the only option viable to collect the data. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics as well as factor analysis. Respondents indicated that interior professionals were seldom, if ever, asked to assist with the design and décor of their homes and that furniture was their most valued interior objects for social, rather than private reasons. Respondents furthermore indicated that they wished to restrict guests to the social zones of their homes as far as possible and that those respondents who resided in their homes for less than five years preferred their social selves to be displayed, while respondents who resided in their homes for more than five years chose to display a limited version of their personal selves as well. Respondents showed an average inkling to express their extended selves in a counter conforming manner, with the creative choice counter conforming motivation being the most popular option. Their buyer behaviour supported their need for uniqueness, in that the objects purchased for the interior of their homes had to be aesthetic and original. The most prominent source of interior inspiration originated from interior shows and thereafter the respondent's family. The majority of interior shows guide and encourage the viewer to attempt the design and décor of their homes themselves, which may serve as an indication on why so few respondents made use of services provided by designers and decorators. The respondents agreed that, due to the fact that the exteriors appear the same or similar, greater attention is given to the interior of their homes, and that more unique products are sought to compensate for the lack of uniqueness in the complex. About half of the respondents did state, however, that presented with the option again, they would still choose to reside in a townhouse complex. Findings of this study will contribute to existing literature and will be useful to property developers, retail industry, interior designers and decorators in terms of marketing opportunities for their products, be it mass customization (property developers and retailers) or individual customization (interior designers and decorators) to tailor a product that will provide the illusion of uniqueness to potential consumers. Copyright / Dissertation (MConsumer Science)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Consumer Science / unrestricted

A better understanding of people’s attitudes to housing is fundamental to attracting new residents and retaining those who already live in or close to the central city. As such, this study operating in a Canadian context adopts Hägerstrand’s model for the process of innovation diffusion. The study draws on the findings of an online survey and interviews with city planners in both Edmonton and Winnipeg to explore the demand and supply dimensions of city-center living and attitudes towards different types of housing and neighbourhood design. The study shows that the central area in Winnipeg and Edmonton are at different stages regarding housing. Prospective home owners who are interested in housing in the central area share a number of environmental attitudes. These attitudes were related to the care for recycling, the importance for eating organic food, the use of public transportation, volunteering in non-profit organization to help the community and the interest in attending cultural activities. Based on the results of the study, it can be expected that housing types such as apartments, townhouses and even loft housing can be more common in the future and especially in Winnipeg since apartments and townhouses are already common in Edmonton.

A better understanding of people’s attitudes to housing is fundamental to attracting new residents and retaining those who already live in or close to the central city. As such, this study operating in a Canadian context adopts Hägerstrand’s model for the process of innovation diffusion. The study draws on the findings of an online survey and interviews with city planners in both Edmonton and Winnipeg to explore the demand and supply dimensions of city-center living and attitudes towards different types of housing and neighbourhood design. The study shows that the central area in Winnipeg and Edmonton are at different stages regarding housing. Prospective home owners who are interested in housing in the central area share a number of environmental attitudes. These attitudes were related to the care for recycling, the importance for eating organic food, the use of public transportation, volunteering in non-profit organization to help the community and the interest in attending cultural activities. Based on the results of the study, it can be expected that housing types such as apartments, townhouses and even loft housing can be more common in the future and especially in Winnipeg since apartments and townhouses are already common in Edmonton.

Sweden is a popular holiday destination for people from all over Europe. Its beautiful nature, the possibility of various outdoor-activities and the quintessential Swedish traditions and life-style attract tourists and potential holiday-home-owners alike. Citizens especially from countries such as Denmark, Norway and Germany are buying houses mainly in the southern and western parts of Sweden, searching for a better, easier and more relaxed life in the Swedish countryside. In my study I chose "Högsby kommun", a small municipality situated in the county of Kalmar in Småland as an exemplary case-study to show how Swedish communities deal with the steady decline of inhabitants. The aim of the study is to examine how arguments are used to convince immigrants in moving to Högsby kommun and how they relate to motives of foreign second home owners. Which arguments are used in promoting the place and what kinds of motives have foreign buyers of second homes to choose Högsby kommun as a place to stay? It is a qualitative case study, information is collected through interviews with employee of Högsby kommun and real estate agents, a content analysis of brochures and e-mail questionnaire with second home owners from Germany. The theoretical approaches are counterurbanisation in relation to lifestyle, theory of place identity and promotion of places and research of the motives in buying a second home. The results of the study show that arguments and motives building on each other. The arguments are promoting mainly a beautiful nature, quietness, a relaxed lifestyle and inexpensive housing - all of this are even motives for  foreign second home buyers moving to Högsby kommun.

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

In my Thesis I focus on problems about international guidelines in Byt a servis, družstvo Olomouc. In first part I deal with bacis concepts like international guidelines and their partition, characteristic home owners association and cooperative. In second part I will do basic analysis about company and current status of international guidelines, which has company processed and about their quality. In conclusion of my thesis I suggest treatment of lacks and design a missing international guidelines.

In urban development literature, the historical role of disinvestment through redlining and reinvestment through renewal during the period of expanded federal-level involvement is presumed and widely studied. However, there remains relatively little literature systematically examining the impacts of these interventions nationally. In this research, I examine how ideological prejudices are obdurate and path dependent when they become embedded in the built environment through legislation or federal institutions and these can influence neighborhood outcomes over time. In particular, I study federal redlining and urban renewal related interventions between 1940 and 1970/1980 – as proxied by redlining maps from the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), as well as urban renewal areas through digitized Urban Renewal Project characteristics maps and predicted through a machine learning process – to examine how these subsequently shaped socioeconomic, demographic, and homeownership and home value in this period, with reverberations in a more contemporary period between 1970/1980 - 2010. The main gaps in the knowledge relate to the additional impact the FHA had on neighborhood decline and racial segregation beyond existing trajectories and practices by lenders and private real estate stakeholders. Moreover, were these patterns uniform across the country or did they vary regionally based on the differences in the racial composition and economic development across the country? Lastly, no redlining research considers the possibility that urban renewal involved related interventions such as the demolition and new construction that presents a non-random complication to the estimation of redlining’s effects, as these interventions likely took place in the same areas that were redlined. I find that, using a more representative version of redlining maps in Chicago, the results suggest a negative impact on home values and homeownership rates and weakly decreased segregation for neighborhoods excluded from mortgage guarantees between 1940 and 1980. Moreover, I find that peripheral urban neighborhoods in Sunbelt cities experienced more consistent housing advantages from redlining. And in aggregate, despite disproportionate displacement of Black residents, urban renewal ultimately had a positive impact on economic indicators; however, when stratifying these results by redlining grades, these relationships do not hold true for better graded neighborhoods. In other words, the benefits from renewal are contingent on previous disinvestment.

Skilled and educated workers are somewhat of a rarity for many rural and peripheral communities. The global migration trend where younger residents of these communities tend to leave for more populated areas leaves the communities with an older population that struggles to find new employees to replace those who retire. However, this does not mean that rural and peripheral communities are unattractive areas. Second-home owners verifies how these areas are attractive for certain individuals for various periods. More importantly, previous research show how second-home owners are often highly educated within their fields, they invest time in their host community, and they can potentially become permanent members of the society. Thus, this study aims to explore second-home owners potential of acting as a recruitment resource for the local labour market of the host community. This is done by using Vilhelmina municipality in Västerbotten county, Sweden, as an example. By using quantitative methods, the findings of this study suggest that the occupational background of second-home owners causes them to be a potential recruitment resource for the local labour market. However, the findings for the study suggest that the willingness to contribute to the local labour market is a mixed bag. Nevertheless, this study contributes to the current understandings of labour recruitment in rural and peripheral areas by confirming the possibility for extension of second-home owners as a resource. / Part of a research project at the Department of Geography at Umeå University called: Is the temporary population a resource?

This paper explores Gotland’s sustainable tourism mobility from a qualitative perspective in order to better understand how tourists choose their mode of transport in a sustainable way. Tourism transport accounts for the majority of tourism-related CO2 emissions compared to other tourism-related activities. There three types of tourists, real tourist, second-home owner, and residents of Gotland s are chosen to be the target groups investigated in this paper. Both private and public transport were included in order to get a more holistic view within sustainable tourism mobility in Gotland. Sustainable private transport mainly refers to driving in an electric vehicle (EV) or a biogas vehicle (BGV). Public transport refers to bus transport in Gotland. Behavioral change and effective policies are the two possible ways to make positive contribution to reduce those emissions. However, both positive and negative signs have shown that instigating behavioral change and formulating an effective policy within tourism industry can be taken longer time than expected to achieve the goal made by the municipality of Gotland, known as Region Gotland. For this paper, 4 interviews were conducted by interviewing 5 local experts all of whom are working in the field of sustainable tourism mobility. Their insightful thoughts could make this study more reliable and discerning. When it comes to process of data collection and data analysis, data were coded and analyzed using thematic approach. The study result reveals the need of forming the personal identity of tourist leaning toward sustainability and that identity plays a crucial role in travel planning and tourist-government communication. Therefore, the suggestions are made based on tourist behaviors and communications between various stakeholders. The result shows three most-likely happened events which are social campaigns, resource allocation with the support of tourism industry, and smart public charging networks planning