The provision of decent, affordable and well-located housing for low-income communities has been an intractable problem, especially for developing countries. The empirical puzzle that motivated this study is that, despite the adverse macro environment in Zimbabwe, there appears to be private-sector developers who are successfully developing housing benefiting the low-income group. This is so, despite numerous studies that claim that given the magnitude of the housing challenge, a neoliberal doxa in a developing country context as a solution is a fallacy. Working on the broad premise that these developments represent a successful adaptation to the structural environment, the main question guiding the study was - what accounts for the success of market provided low-income housing developments in Zimbabwe despite the environment not being conducive for it? The two sub-questions flowing from this main question were firstly, how does the structural environment enable and/or constrain private sector low-income developments in Zimbabwe? Secondly, what strategies do developers adopt in response to the structural enablers and/or constraints to develop low-income housing in Zimbabwe? From these questions, the study has two hypotheses – the first hypothesis is that despite the adverse environment there exists in Zimbabwe structural enablers that make market solutions to the low-income housing challenge possible. The second hypothesis states that developers have specific discernible strategies that they employ in response to the adverse operating environment to reduce development costs to levels that enable them to provide low-income housing successfully. Using the Structure-Agency model, which is a theoretical framework rooted in institutional economics, a conceptual model to study the development process was developed and used to theorise the impact of structure on agency in the development process. Empirical evidence was gathered using observation, household surveys, and semi-structured interviews. This evidence was obtained from five housing schemes, the local authority, central government, financiers and the developers of the housing schemes, and then processed using NVIVO and SPSS. The study finds that most challenges faced by developers emanate from the institutional environment and access to resources. These challenges are namely central-local government dynamics fuelled by political undertones, lack of access to land suitable for the target group, a bureaucratic and stiff regulatory framework as well as a lack of market provided developer and end-user finance. Enabling factors were mainly the withdrawal of the government in the provision of housing in line with World-Bank neoliberal orthodoxy and incapacitation of the local authority, which eliminated alternative sources of housing for the low income group other than market provided housing, thus widening the market base for the developers. Strategies used by the developers include developer provided finance to the target group, preselling developments, sidestepping the local authority through buying land at the periphery of the local authority boundary, sidestepping regulatory barriers through engaging in corruption, backward integration to promote efficient resource allocation, and an innovative approach to risk management that caters for the low-income group. The study concludes that all these strategies have one overriding objective of cost containment. The findings indicate that there is potential, appetite and scope for more private-sector engagement. On this basis, it is recommended that the key to unlocking this potential lies with the state, as there are several policy implications that flow from these findings if the highlighted constraints are to be addressed. The study makes a number of key contributions to knowledge on market solutions to the low-income housing challenge in the area of theory, methodology, policy and empirical data.

Energy-economy models are important tools used by policy-makers and researchers to design effective climate policy. However, there has been limited research that compares models against consistent characteristics to understand their impacts on climate policy projections. This can make it difficult for policy-makers to identify suitable models for their specific policy questions and develop effective climate policies. A web-based survey of energy-economy model users and developers in Canada’s public, private, and non-profit sectors (n=14) was conducted to systematically compare seventeen models against a framework of seven characteristics: technology characteristics, micro-, and macro-economic characteristics, policy representations, treatment of uncertainty, high-resolution spatial and temporal representations, and data transparency. It was found that for the most part, models represent technology, micro-, and macro-economic characteristics according to the classic typology of bottom-up, top-down, and hybrid models. However, our findings show that several modelling evolutions have occurred. Some top-down models can explicitly represent technologies and some bottom-up models incorporate microeconomic characteristics. Models differ in the types of policies they can simulate, sometimes underrepresenting performance regulations, government procurement, and research and development programs. All models incorporate at least one type of uncertainty analysis, models infrequently have high-resolution spatial and/or temporal representations, and most models lack publicly accessible methodological documents. Implications for researchers and policy-makers that use energy-economy models and/or develop policies are discussed. / Graduate

The thesis concentrates on the evaluation of the factors that affect the viability of housing projects in Brno. The first part consists of an economic evaluation of a project. There are defined restrictive economic conditions of the realization. The second part is the suggestion of a process and options for securing clients’ financial funds. The last part consists of a proposal of the promotion of the project in the context of economic efficiency.

Using ethnographic research methods, I worked with the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) to conduct an exploratory study about developer perspectives on video game preservation. I conducted in-depth interviews with independent developers in the Dallas-Fort Worth region, a hub for Texas game development. These interviews explored developers' knowledge and awareness of game preservation as a topic of concern, archival culture and practices in the industry, and the IGDA's potential role in addressing issues related to preservation work. This research contributes to a growing body of literature on game preservation, urgently needed as many gaming technologies face obsolescence in the near future. I use Ellen Cushman's concept of "perseverance" to examine the difference between simply preserving video games for the future, and the perseverance of game development as a professional trade and artistic craft.

This paper investigates the relationship between business developers and start-ups in the field of sustainability. More specifically, the study analyzes how and why Swedish business developers, in terms of incubators, financiers, and advisors, implement sustainability in their cooperation with start-ups. Each year, thousands of businesses are founded which need support in various ways, it could be anything from advising to financial help. Ever since the UN launched Agenda 2030 and the Government of Sweden launched its new climate policy, it is clear that everyone needs to do something to help the world towards a better future. This study is based on qualitative interviews with six different business developers and applies the theories: stakeholder and shareholder theory, triple bottom line, creating shared value, green growth, and open innovation. The result showed that how business developers implement sustainability in their cooperation with start-ups varies, but is based on economic, social, and environmental sustainability. Some developers work more actively than others, but it is done through an exchange of knowledge between business developers and start-ups. Further, why business developers use sustainability is either as a tool to gain a competitive advantage and help start-ups grow or to increase their profits.

Construction has major environmental, social and economic impacts. Improving sustainability both during and after the construction process is widely discussed among a slew of practitioners, governments and researchers. Construction clients, such as housing developers, are considered key actors for change and innovation because of their position to set requirements when procuring construction projects. The process of developing project requirements has therefore mainly been studied during the construction clients’ procurement process. At the same time, municipalities use their position as land owners to drive sustainable development. Land allocation agreements allow municipalities to set project-specific sustainability requirements for construction projects on municipal land. The purpose of this thesis is to explore how municipal sustainability requirements affect housing developers when planning and designing their projects. The research is based on a single empirical case study of an urban development programme comprising multiple parallel and sequential housing construction projects. In this study, the municipality’s and housing developers’ perspectives are explored. The results demonstrate that the housing developers perceive several barriers to implementing municipal sustainability requirements. The three main barriers that were identified are reduced flexibility coupled with uncertainty, conflicting interests coupled with reduced autonomy and interdependencies, and a lack of trust and transparency coupled with interdependencies. The municipal sustainability requirements are initially developed by the municipality for the land allocation agreement. They are then co-developed further by the municipality and the housing developers together through negotiations before being finalised in conjunction with the developers’ procurement process. The study is focused on the period following the housing developers’ signing of land allocation agreements with the municipality and before starting their procurement process. During this period, the housing developers attempt to negotiate municipal sustainability requirements that they anticipate will increase costs, risk and uncertainty and decrease the value of their final product. Negotiations between the housing developers and the municipality can be viewed as value co-creation processes stimulated by functional conflict. These findings build on three papers that are included in the thesis. Contributions are made to literature on the role of construction clients and their perceived barriers to implementing and developing sustainable construction solutions and practices and barriers to change in general. Theoretical contributions are also made to literature on value co-creation in construction by illustrating how clients engage in the co-creation of value with municipalities and other clients. Finally, the theoretical link between value co-creation and functional conflict is studied and developed. / Byggandethar stora miljömässiga, sociala och ekonomiska effekter. Hållbar utvecklingbåde under och efter byggprocessen diskuterasblandrepresentanter förindustrin, politikeroch forskare. Byggherrar,till exempel i rollensom bostadsutvecklare, anses vara viktiga aktörer för förändring och innovation på grund av deras positionatt ställa krav vid upphandling av byggprojekt. Processen föratt utveckla projektkrav har därför huvudsakligen studerats under byggherrensupphandlingsprocess. Samtidigt använder kommunersin position som markägare för att driva hållbar utveckling genom att utmana den privata sektorn. Markanvisningargör det möjligt för kommunerna att ställa projektspecifika hållbarhetskravför byggprojekt på kommunal mark. Syftet med denna studieär att undersöka hur kommunala hållbarhetskravpåverkar bostadsutvecklare när de planerar och utformar sina projekt.Resultatenär baseradepå en empirisk fallstudie av ett stadsutvecklingsprojekt innehållandeflera parallella och sekventiella bostadsprojekt. I denna studie undersöks undersöks bådekommunens och bostadsutvecklarnas perspektiv. Resultaten visar att bostadsutvecklarnauppfattar ett antal hinder för att genomföra kommunala hållbarhetskrav. De tre största hindrensom identifierats är minskad flexibilitet i kombination med osäkerhet, intressekonflikteri kombination med minskad autonomi och beroende av andra aktöreroch brist på förtroende och öppenhet i kombination med beroende av andra aktörer. De kommunala hållbarhetskraven utvecklasinitialtav kommunen för markanvisningsavtalen. De utvecklas sedan vidare av kommunen och bostadsutvecklarna tillsammans genom förhandlingar. Slutligen konkretiseras deisamband medbostadsutvecklarnas upphandlingsprocess. Studien fokuserar på perioden frånatt bostadsutvecklarna tecknatmarkanvisningsavtal med kommunen meninnan deras upphandlingav entreprenörer påbörjats. Under denna periodförsöker bostadsutvecklarna förhandla ner de kommunala hållbarhetskrav som de förutser kommer öka deras kostnader, risk och osäkerhetsamtminska värdet på deras slutprodukt. Förhandlingarna mellan bostadsutvecklarna och kommunen kan ses som värdesamskapande processer drivna av funktionella konflikter. Dessa resultat bygger på tre artiklar som ingår i avhandlingen.Bidrag görs till litteraturen ombyggherrensroll och dessupplevda hinder för att implementera ochutveckla hållbara lösningar och praxis och hinder för förändring. Teoretiska bidrag görs också till litteraturenom värdesamskapande inom bygggenom att illustrera hur byggherrarharvärdesamskapandeprocesser tillsammansmed kommuner och andra byggherrar. Slutligen studerasoch utvecklas den teoretiska kopplingen mellan värdesamskapande och funktionell konflikt. / <p>QC 20200507</p>

Within programming there are many problems that can occur throughout a coding process.Various solutions exist to different problems and sometimes a design pattern has beenestablished for a specific problem. Design patterns are established solutions to a commonproblem developers can face while coding. To choose one of the design patterns that fits theproblem can be challenging depending on the developer.This study focused on collecting data on inexperienced developers' experience in choosing adesign pattern. This study has limited itself to four different approaches to choose a designpattern. Selected approaches are: Scan intent section, study how patterns interrelate, Examinecause of redesign and Killer”Killer examples'' for design patterns. The approaches have beenselected from other sources that have described them in detail. These chosen approaches havebeen used to test five inexperienced developers and collect data on their experience withchoosing a design pattern. The results of the chosen approaches have collected data with thehelp of a usability testing method and semi-structured interview. The data have been analyzedwith the help of a thematic analysis. The thematic analysis resulted in five themes: Info notfound, Difficulties in understanding design patterns, Uncertainties when selecting designpatterns, Effective approaches and Familiar with approaches. The Findings from these themesand their codes have revealed multiple issues when selecting a design pattern. Findings alsoestablished what participants thought were effective approaches according to their ownexperience working with these approaches.

No description available.

Test-driven development is a software development practice that prompts developers to write tests before writing source code. Studies report varied results on the effects that test-driven development has on the development process, and how this practice compares to other development practices, such as more traditional test-last development methodologies. There also seems like there has not been a discussion around the possible problems that a developer could encounter when adopting this technique, something that seems relevant to making accurate assumptions on the usability of the practice. A literature review was conducted, where the subject of test-driven development is examined with a focus on how inexperienced programmers interact with the practice and what effect it has on the product, in terms of external quality, productivity, number of test written and test coverage. The results suggest that there are no significant differences in external quality and productivity between TDD and TLD. The results also suggest that divide and conquer and refactoring are skills that ease the process of adopting the test-driven development practice.

Context: The explosive growth of renowned software ecosystems such as the cloud-based accounting platform Xero, and the communication hub Slack has largely occurred because of an app marketplace they have built. To a large extent, in-app marketplaces are becoming mandatory for SaaS companies. Looking at the 15 largest SaaS companies, all of them have an app marketplace with a median number of 347 applications integrated to the marketplace [1]. It is challenging for any organization to orchestrate a platform independently. The more other participants contribute to that platform, greater resources are applied to create richer offerings for the platform’s end-users. Looking at the initial stages of when an organization transitions from a product to platform development, there is an underlying challenge of how that organization attracts third-party developers to partner and enrich the ecosystem. Objective: This thesis aims to identify what can be used to attract third-party developers or organizations to develop and integrate onto an emerging platform or- ganization. It also examines problem areas faced by emerging software ecosystems when trying to attract third-party developers onto their platform. Method: I performed a case study to investigate the needs of third-party devel- opers looking to develop on a platform organization. I also used mixed data collection to obtain different sources of information, including internal and external interviews, virtual events, an internal developer workshop, and an investigation of competitors and other software ecosystems. Results: The thesis highlights that emerging software ecosystems often do not have the resources or capacity to build an initial robust platform experience as some of the more established software ecosystems like HubSpot and Shopify. With the lack of research completed to date on emerging software ecosystems, I was motivated to investigate the best practices that are crucial to attract third-party developers onto the platform. Conclusion: Through thematic analysis, the study revealed eight emerging con- cepts. When transitioning to a software ecosystem, organizations have struggled with six common issues. Additionally, six recommendations were gathered to help guide emerging software ecosystems towards best practices to attract third-party developers onto their platform. / Graduate