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The dwelling is a central setting in people’s everyday life. People use their dwelling and residential environment for a large variety of activities and purposes. The Meaning of Activities in the Dwelling and Residential Environment systematically relates activities, settings and meanings to improve the insight into people-environment relations which is called a meaning structure approach. Over 600 people, living in either a city centre, suburban or rural type of residential environment were asked about their everyday activities and the meanings thereof. The results show that meanings are important for the way in which people use their dwelling and residential environment. The meaning structure approach allows for a high level of aggregation identifying general meanings of the dwelling, such as a place to be together with family and friends. It also allows for a low level of aggregation, for example, using internet at home has for many people become part of everyday life, providing them with easy access to a wide range of information. This illustrates the usefulness of meaning structures as a tool for investigating people-environment relations.

The dwelling is a central setting in people's everyday life. People use their dwelling and residential environment for a large variety of activities and purposes. This book relates activities, settings and meanings to improve the insight into people-environment relations which is called a meaning structure approach.

The Meaning of Dwelling Features. Conceptual and Methodological Issues relates the research areas of housing preferences and the meaning of a dwelling with each other and with aspects of the means-end approach as applied in marketing research. It results in a conceptual and methodological framework for studying the meaning of preferences for dwelling features. These features are viewed as functional for achieving the goals and values that people pursue. The meaning of dwelling features lies in these functional relationships. The model presented in this study therefore relates preferences for the features of a dwelling to the meaning they have for people. These relationships are called meaning structures. Meaning structures are measured by a semi-structured interviewing technique, which is an adapted version of the laddering technique for measuring means-end chains, and network methods are used for the representation and analysis of these meaning structures.

Residents know exactly what their neighbourhood is like. House-hunters, on the other hand, must find out for themselves about the intangible social quality of a neighbourhood. As a simple rule of thumb, neighbourhood reputation can offer them an assessment of neighbourhood quality. In this research, regression analyses are applied to test whether neighbourhood reputations are being used as a proxy measure for neighbourhood quality in residential mobility choices and establishing the price of homes. The empirical results go beyond answering this research question. What price, for instance, do residents place on liveability? Why does urban restructuring so often fail to change the social make-up of an area, despite a marked increase in owner-occupation? Why does gentrification appear to emerge spontaneously, while deliberate attempts to gentrify an area often fail? How does a neighbourhood acquire that ‘golden edge’? This book also provides the answers to the above policy-oriented questions.

Discover a practical guide to residential space planning, in this room-by-room guide with up-to-date info on accessibility, ergonomics, and building systems In the newly revised Fourth Edition of Residential Interior Design: A Guide to Planning Spaces, an accomplished team of design professionals delivers the gold standard in practical, human-centered residential interior design. Authors Maureen Mitton and Courtney Nystuen explore every critical component of interior architecture from the perspective of ergonomics and daily use. The text functions as a guide for interior design students and early-career professionals seeking a handbook for the design of livable, functional, and beautiful spaces. It includes hundreds of drawings and photographs that illustrate key concepts in interior design, as well as room-by-room coverage of applicable building codes and sustainability standards. The authors also cover all-new applications of smart building technology and updated residential building codes and accessibility standards. The book also includes: A thorough introduction to the design of interior residential spaces, including discussions of accessibility, universal design, visibility, sustainability, ergonomics, and organizational flow In-depth examinations of kitchens, bathrooms, and the fundamentals of residential building construction and structure Comprehensive explorations of entrances and circulation spaces, including foyer and entry areas, vertical movement, and electrical and mechanical considerations Practical discussions of bedrooms, leisure spaces, utility, and workspaces An overview of human behavior and culture related to housing Updates made to reflect changes in the 2021 International Residential Code (IRC) The latest edition of Residential Interior Design: A Guide to Planning Spaces is ideal for instructors and students in interior design programs that include interior design, residential design, or residential interior architecture courses. This edition provides updated content related to CIDA standards in human centered design, regulations and guidelines, global context, construction, environmental systems, and human wellbeing. It’s also an indispensable resource for anyone preparing for the NCIDQ, the interior design qualification exam.

To date, the focus in the field of sustainable building has been on new building design. However, existing residential buildings inflict great environmental burden through three causes: continuous energy consumption, regular building maintenance and replacements. This publication analyses and compares these three causes of environmental burden and shows that material resources needed for replacements generally have a limited potential to reduce environmental impact. Reducing energy consumption for climate control and electrical appliances is much more effective. According to the author, sustainable measures should be tested for shifts in the kind of environmental impact caused due to the use of alternative types of energy resources and altered material quantities. The sustainability of the electricity supply is essential to decrease the total environmental impact of the residential building stock.

This book explores the relationship between the characteristics of the welfare state and the characteristics of the housing system (housing policies, housing outcomes and housing market developments) in different European countries. It consists of a theoretical framework, six published articles and a concluding chapter. All six articles use the welfare state regime theory and typology of Esping-Andersen, the housing system typology of Kemeny or both, or at least some aspects of these, as an explanatory framework. The results of the investigations indicate that there are considerable differences between the various European housing systems. As far as this is concerned, especially the Southern European countries occupy a rather distinct position. For this reason, two articles in the study specifically focus on the Southern European housing system of Spain. The book is relevant for both academics and policy-makers interested in international housing & housing policy developments.

West European Housing Systems in a Comparative Perspective gives an overview of the results of almost 20 years of international comparative housing research, carried out by the author and his colleagues at OTB Research Institute for the Built Environment. The articles give evidence of the transition from descriptive analysis to theoretical exploration and the growing relevance of methodology during these years. The results provide deeper insight into comparative research methodologies and the viability of existing theories as a framework for analysing differences and similarities in the development of housing systems in West European countries. One of the key issues is the practicability of this framework in future policy making. Especially Kemeny’s theory on rental markets appears to offer a valuable framework to evaluate policy strategies. Therefore the book is not only relevant to academics but also to policy-makers.

Large housing estates for some people these three words symbolise all that is wrong in urban planning. Large is wrong, because many people prefer a living surrounding that reflects the human scale. Housing as a single function is wrong, because mixed areas are livelier. And estates are wrong, as these refer to top-down planned areas which the residents themselves have no say in.Although many such estates function well, others have proved to be in serious problems. . The question is how to deal with this legacy. For these estates to recover, an integrated solution is needed. Large-scale problems require large-scale

In the context of shifting regulatory approaches and changing provision structures in many Western rental housing systems, the notion of competition between social and private rental housing has received increasing attention from practitioners and academic researchers. This thesis explores and theorizes the concept of inter-tenure competition in order to advance understanding of what it means in local and national market realities, as well as in business and political practices.Results indicate that competition in mixed markets is a complex matter, much of which is explained by the distinctive properties of social and private

This study discusses ways of measuring and explaining the development of house prices. The goal of the research underpinning this dissertation was to develop a methodological framework for studying these developments. This framework relates, first, to correcting for changes in the composition of dwellings and, second, to the fundamentals of the price development. Using the weighted repeat sales method and sale price appraisal ratio (SPAR) method, house price indexes were developed for the Netherlands. Both the Dutch land registry office and Statistics Netherlands publish the SPAR based house price index monthly. To explain and predict changes in prices, a house price model is presented. As suggested in literature on western housing markets, the Dutch house price developments can be explained by demand-oriented short-run term variables and a long-run term variable.

In previous years we have seen a recognition of the significant potential that exists for reducing energy use through innovation in residential buildings. This study investigates innovation challenges and identifies opportunities that could lead to a rapid increase in the adoption of highly energy-efficient housing concepts, particularly that of the passive house. To this end, it exemplifies, interprets and develops the innovation adoption theory through an investigation of views and experiences on the supply side, the demand side and the policy side. It highlights successful innovation trajectories and barriers experienced by