published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

published_or_final_version / abstract / Architecture / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This study analyzes the determinants of housing environmental preference by consumers in Guangzhou, China. Preferences of different housing environments have been well researched by scholars in architecture, urban planning, and urban environmental science. However, few studies shed light on housing environment by measuring physical/tangible and social/intangible attributes with hierarchy models. Based on the literatures on housing environment, preference, satisfaction and housing quality, this thesis explores the housing environment preference by identifying the environmental attributes which are grouped into three categories: mobility, community facility, and community social capital. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is employed to estimate the relative importance of those environmental attributes, which are further organized into a hierarchical structure. Housing consumers and property experts in Guangzhou participate in the survey and they represent a wide spectrum of environmental performance demands as well as socio-environmental backgrounds in the sample. Statistical weights of the factors based on their judgments are then generated. It is found that mobility factors, including public traffic network, proximity to workplace, have dominant importance in the housing environment. Social capital factors and facility factors, including sense of safety, medical and health facility, and education facility are also regarded important. Property experts and consumers have diverse perspectives on the demand of end users as they represent different interest groups. Furthermore, different age groups of housing consumers attach different relative importance to the factors studied. This study develops a method to assess the relative importance of the environment factors in housing preferences, and provides a useful tool in the field of environmental assessment. Instead of measuring the monetary value of different attributes in the market, the findings of this thesis help to understand the general demand pattern and preferences of consumers in the housing market based on multidimensional values and benefits. It is hoped that the findings will offer more information for urban planners and housing developers from a social and cultural perspective. / published_or_final_version / Real Estate and Construction / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

Exposure to air pollution is a leading cause of premature death worldwide. An increasing part of air pollution results from industrial activity and the production of energy. When unregulated, emissions of air pollutants constitute a market failure as polluters do not bear the costs imposed on society at large. My dissertation develops empirical methods to test the effectiveness and distributional effects of environmental policies designed to address this externality. To do so, I apply econometrics and data science techniques on large datasets from cutting-edge research in environmental science and engineering that I match with microeconomic data. The dissertation makes use of new datasets on air pollution derived from satellite imagery, as well as micro-level data on power plant operations and housing transactions across the United States. Chapter 1 assembles unit-level data to disentangle the factors that led US power plants to achieve the unprecedented reductions in emissions of the past fifteen years. I calculate the costs incurred by the electricity generation sector and compare these costs to the correspond- ing health benefits. In hedonic regressions, I use these shocks to emissions to estimate the demand for clean air with micro-level data on housing transactions. Chapter 2 studies the causal impacts and evaluates the distributional effects of stringent emissions markets that were put in place to target power plants emissions of air pollutants in the Eastern US. Chapter 3 uses new satellite imagery to document the inequalities in the exposure to air pollution in American cities and their recent evolutions.

It has been widely recognized that there is urgent need to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emission for mitigation of climate change. The mitigation strategies are highly associated with planning and design that assist to tackle CO2 emissions embodied in housing development. This research conducts evaluation of planning and design of public housing in Hong Kong as it affects the production of CO2 has shown a quite unique situation in comparison with other cities because of a combination of various aspects. Firstly, the reduction in energy consumption of transportation by lower transportation demand that directly cutbacks the fossil fuel consumption as well as reduces the emission of CO2. Dramatic change of location-based mobility patterns due to the failure of selfcontained new town development that highly impacts the daily trip of low-income people, who live in public housing that locate distant from the urban area and even the railway station. Cross-district to work or conduct their activities by multiple trips generate more CO2 emission. Secondly, the reduction of carbon dioxide increases the importance of carbon absorption by greening and CO2 diminution by recycling. As Hong Kong is a compact city, planning and design of housing face to the challenges of conserve lands for greenery and reserve space for recycling facilities in estate. Thirdly, enhancing low-carbon living through the reduction of electricity consumption. High-rise and high-density housing development is unique in Hong Kong, which has no doubt amplified the electricity consumption. While residents’ behavioral study shows that convenient, privacy, and practicability are the driven consideration factors. This study reveals the practicing planning and design of public housing in Hong Kong positively contribute to reduce CO2 emission; while less attention has been paid to the jobs-housing balance and non-motorized transportation developments. This study fills a gap of variations between theoretical and practical differences context by suggesting integrate residents’ perspectives and administrative approach in fostering low-carbon development in compact urban context. / published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Design / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

Many development agencies active in South Africa including the Built Environment Support Group (BESG) and Hifab International Ab have voiced concern about the sustainability of common housing production practices for low income housing developments. Since early 1999 when the country reached the one million mark of housing subsidies granted by government from 1994, the drive for numbers was gradually replaced by a dawning concern for the likely impacts on health and the environment of the kinds of settlements being produced. The purpose of this dissertation is to use a case study approach to review and assess the changing policies, roles and perceptions of key stakeholders of the sustainability of government supplied low cost housing. The review and assessment is against the legislative framework of the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA), the environmental requirements within the Department of Housing (DOH) policy and principles of sustainability that need to apply in Msunduzi Municipality. In so doing, the intention is to create an integrated picture that covers a socio-economic profile of the inhabitants of the project area, the quality of housing and the environmental conditions prevailing. This aim of the dissertation was achieved by (i) identifying the trends in the roles played in the sustainability of the low cost housing settlements by authorities, house occupants, developers, NGOs and CBOs (ii) identifying the perceptions of the sustainability of the low cost housing projects by the above mentioned stakeholders (iii) understanding the perceptions of communities on the use of the open spaces around their homes and in their communities and (iv) creating an integrated picture of trends in roles and perceptions in the form of a systems diagram. On the basis of the household survey and key informant interviews carried out during the study, the key findings are the following: (1) There is poverty, low levels of formal education and a lack of social cohesion, making it difficult for the home owners to play a positive role in sustaining their settlement. There is need to organize and educate the residents on housing and environmental maintenance issues. This can be done by creating Community Based Organisations (CBOs) in the form of Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) in which both the municipality and Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) can participate. The SMMEs are already being planned for by the Msunduzi Municipality. (2) The municipality lacks capacity to fully initiate projects as well as to interpret and implement Environmental Management Plans (EMPs). There is, therefore, a need to train and recruit staff with these skills or engage NGOs with that capacity. On the other hand the indigent policy introduced by the municipality to subsidize basic services will, if well administered, help maintain minimum health standards in the settlement. (3) The septic tank toilet type in the study area is not compatible with the community needs and geotechnically cannot function properly. This causes a lot of dissatisfaction among the residents and is a health hazard. The toilet problem is a priority issue which needs to be addressed. (4) There is a break in the chain of communicating between the community and municipality on housing and environmental issues, due mainly to a lack of implementation of the ward committees and a tenuous relationship between the Department of Housing and the municipality. The ward committees should be set up and a positive mutually beneficial relationship between DOH and the municipality should be developed. (5) The community view about the use of their open spaces is that they should be used for agriculture and business including shops. There is therefore a need to provide agricultural extension services and promote small businesses within the community in order to enhance food security and create employment. (6) The community lacks a clinic, a police station and shops. These services are critical for the smooth functioning of the settlement. The question of how such services are delivered remains a challenge as financial resources remain scarce. Finally, environment, participation, futurity and equity being the four principles which make housing policy and practice sustainable will only be integrated into low cost housing settlements if: (i) the EMP is developed and implemented with involvement of the community (environment and participation principles); (ii) in order to make the houses durable, the norms and standards based on the National Building Regulations and Building Standard Act must be followed (futurity principle); and (iii) skills development, education and creation of jobs will enable residents of the low income settlements to have a share of the national wealth (equity and participation principles). / Thesis (M.Env.Dev.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2007.

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Design / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Urban Design / Master / Master of Urban Design