Institutional conformity, entrepreneurial governance and local contingency: Problematizing central-local dynamics in localizing China's low-income housing policy

Central-local dynamics are crucial to understand the implementation of China's reform policies and regional economic development. Until recently, the research has focused on either end of the political spectrum, celebrating the top-down channeling of neoliberal-like reforms led by the central government or detailing the bottom-up process of policy innovation and entrepreneurism centred on local states. Knowledge is not substantial about how the central state interacts with local authorities in the localization of central public policies and, to a lesser extent, why some policies are properly implemented at the local level but others not. Through investigating the implementation of major national low-income housing policies in Chengdu and Shanghai, we interrogate three proposed theoretical constructs: political conformity, entrepreneurial governance and local contingency. Results show that institutional conformity manifests in cross-scale consistency in policy goals, political obligation of local states to conform to the central authority, and balance between local incentives and central state sanctions. In the process of balancing local and central interests, the local development priorities are framed along the line of local state entrepreneurism favoring fiscal responsibility, economic efficiency, and economic growth. Finally, locally contingent factors often interact with and mediate external forces and have a significant impact on localizing public policies in China.

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CRITICAL SUCCESS CRITERIA ON SUSTAINABLE HOUSING; A CASE OF - LOW INCOME HOUSING, SRI LANKA

Sustainable housing is a popular topic with regard to the SDG, sustainable communities and Sustainable cities. Although different researches have come up with regard to different CSC of specific contexts there are very limited studies on CSC on Sustainable low-income housing. This research aims to compare the CSC on Sustainable low-income Housing in designing stage in Sri Lankan Context. 18 CSC were derived from comprehensive literature review and re-examined through the 27 professionals and ranked from community on three locations. Relative Importance Index- RII, Min Max Normalization and Gap analyses were employed in the ranking process of Critical Success Criteria. The highest importance has been ranked with Efficiency use of water and energy, Users Satisfaction and Quality of Housing while least importance is ranked with Maintainability, Public Consultation and community participation and cater for Disables and by Literature, Experts and Community respectively. Anyway, Public Consultation and Community Participation, newly derived CSC which is highly ranked among community is to be concentrated among the professionals for the attention and applications in practices. The findings of the research would support to the designers, architectures, planners specialized in this field to ensure the successful delivery of sustainable housing.

Factors influencing the quality of low-income housing in Polokwane Municipality South Africa

Recent South African and international evidence highlights the broad and lasting impacts of households, particularly those on low income, when unable to afford higher income counterparts to live in apartments, maintained public housing, and other high-quality houses. A broad range of low-income houses recently built in South African local municipalities are reportedly defective, due to poor building and construction quality. This study aims to assess and determine the factors influencing high-quality housing positively impacting on the lives of a significant proportion of low-income housing projects. Reasons for and obstacles to quality design, construction quality and the development of low-income housing projects were identified. To assess the research questions, a quantitative survey (n=103) was carried out, simple random and purposive sampling techniques were used to select contractors who were active in low-income housing projects within the Polokwane Municipality. The quantitative data gathered were analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) to determine a combination of descriptive and non-parametric statistics of the data computing the frequencies, mean scores and standard deviations. Selected results show that poor-quality and low-income housing projects are perceived to be related to the contractors, builders and construction practitioners not complying with the standards, variously because of insufficient training or accountability to public authorities and end users of low-income houses, i.e., the beneficiaries. The respondents were of the view that house builders and local government authorities could use five factors, namely quality standards, management, involvement of people, process design and process, planning and scheduling to assess non-conformance to quality requirements in low-income housing projects in South Africa. The finding of this study provides a platform for improving the quality of housing design, construction projects, sustainability and an opportunity for local and international design and construction professionals to rethink design in the context of low-income housing projects.

Influences on the policy process in local government in Vietnam: The case of low-income housing policy in Da Nang City from 2005-2013

<p>There is a growing literature on the policy process at the central level in Vietnam but less attention is paid to exactly how policy gets shaped and implemented at the local level in the specific culture and context of Vietnam and the evolving role of the one-party state. Accordingly, this thesis examines the development of low-income housing policy in Da Nang City from 2005 to 2013 in order to understand the critical influences on the policy process at a local government. It employs qualitative techniques to analyse data collected from interviews and conversations with the participants in the policy process and a collection of published and unpublished documents relating to the process. The findings show that it is possible to apply Hofferbert’s (1974) funnel of causality model with some adjustments, based on insights from other theoretical approaches, to understand influences on the policy process. The significant influences include socio-economic conditions (particularly rapid urban population growth and the impact of urban renewal), which are shaped by some key historical and geographical features, institutional arrangements (especially the relationship between central and local government), and a network of policy actors centred on policy elites. This study contributes to the literature in three ways. Firstly, although space for policy innovation was constrained by the authority of central government, the city government in fact enjoyed significant autonomy in policy implementation and the central–local relationship had room for policy experimentation and learning, which was still an effective way to change policy at both central and local levels. Secondly, local leaders in Vietnam could have a critical role in re-developing and implementing policies. This finding differs from the conventional wisdom that policymaking in Vietnam is collective and consensus-based. In this case, a strong policy leader could impose his will on the whole local state apparatus. Thirdly, the study also shed light on the opportunities for policy learning in the developing relationship between the state and private sectors in Vietnam. Faced with profit-driven private developers, the local government had to experiment with various incentives to ensure their participation in developing low-cost housing. Comparing the policy outcome before and after the private sector’s participation suggests that low-income housing can be developed in partnership with the private sector, given appropriate government policies. The findings of this study offer some implications for people in and outside Vietnam’s party and government systems, who want to influence public policy in Vietnam.</p>

Influences on the policy process in local government in Vietnam: The case of low-income housing policy in Da Nang City from 2005-2013

<p>There is a growing literature on the policy process at the central level in Vietnam but less attention is paid to exactly how policy gets shaped and implemented at the local level in the specific culture and context of Vietnam and the evolving role of the one-party state. Accordingly, this thesis examines the development of low-income housing policy in Da Nang City from 2005 to 2013 in order to understand the critical influences on the policy process at a local government. It employs qualitative techniques to analyse data collected from interviews and conversations with the participants in the policy process and a collection of published and unpublished documents relating to the process. The findings show that it is possible to apply Hofferbert’s (1974) funnel of causality model with some adjustments, based on insights from other theoretical approaches, to understand influences on the policy process. The significant influences include socio-economic conditions (particularly rapid urban population growth and the impact of urban renewal), which are shaped by some key historical and geographical features, institutional arrangements (especially the relationship between central and local government), and a network of policy actors centred on policy elites. This study contributes to the literature in three ways. Firstly, although space for policy innovation was constrained by the authority of central government, the city government in fact enjoyed significant autonomy in policy implementation and the central–local relationship had room for policy experimentation and learning, which was still an effective way to change policy at both central and local levels. Secondly, local leaders in Vietnam could have a critical role in re-developing and implementing policies. This finding differs from the conventional wisdom that policymaking in Vietnam is collective and consensus-based. In this case, a strong policy leader could impose his will on the whole local state apparatus. Thirdly, the study also shed light on the opportunities for policy learning in the developing relationship between the state and private sectors in Vietnam. Faced with profit-driven private developers, the local government had to experiment with various incentives to ensure their participation in developing low-cost housing. Comparing the policy outcome before and after the private sector’s participation suggests that low-income housing can be developed in partnership with the private sector, given appropriate government policies. The findings of this study offer some implications for people in and outside Vietnam’s party and government systems, who want to influence public policy in Vietnam.</p>

Process + Product: The condition of low-cost housing in Bangkok, Thailand

<p>The low-income housing situation in Bangkok, Thailand, is similar to that faced in many developing cities throughout the world. The housing opportunities afforded to residents classed as low-income dwellers, are minimal, unsuitable and inconsiderate of their complex social, cultural and spiritual requirements, often leading to the formation of slums, and squatter settlements. The close proximity of living experienced in informal settlements results in a community-focused style of living, where neighbours rely on each other to survive. This is translated not only into the social fabric of the informal settlement, but also into the architectural style of these vernacular communities. The process of helping construct your neighbour's home, builds social and cultural ties; these traits are often lost when outside parties attempt to ‘improve’ the low-income living situation. The idea of housing design as a process not just a product, also referred to as ‘cooked’ architecture, is widely promoted through the writings, research and design methodologies focused towards low-income housing endeavors (Rapoport, 1988; Sinha, 2012; Yap, 1990). Despite this, effective involvement of residents in developing and building their own homes is something rarely practiced or achieved within architecture, yet the benefits of including residents, who are the focus of a complex social and architectural situation, in the design process seems clear. There is little question that communities that work through this process become stronger, both socially and economically, however, the quality of housing and architectural output is still at a very low level, despite obvious improvements from the previous low-cost conditions. To address this, an architectural outcome has been developed utilizing a critical design approach. The implementation of ethnographic and participatory design research, as well as multiple design iterations, based on current and traditional modes, has resulted in an architecture that is culturally responsive, impacts the existing context lightly, and primarily provides a positive social scenario to encourage community betterment through collective construction and living.</p>

Process + Product: The condition of low-cost housing in Bangkok, Thailand

<p>The low-income housing situation in Bangkok, Thailand, is similar to that faced in many developing cities throughout the world. The housing opportunities afforded to residents classed as low-income dwellers, are minimal, unsuitable and inconsiderate of their complex social, cultural and spiritual requirements, often leading to the formation of slums, and squatter settlements. The close proximity of living experienced in informal settlements results in a community-focused style of living, where neighbours rely on each other to survive. This is translated not only into the social fabric of the informal settlement, but also into the architectural style of these vernacular communities. The process of helping construct your neighbour's home, builds social and cultural ties; these traits are often lost when outside parties attempt to ‘improve’ the low-income living situation. The idea of housing design as a process not just a product, also referred to as ‘cooked’ architecture, is widely promoted through the writings, research and design methodologies focused towards low-income housing endeavors (Rapoport, 1988; Sinha, 2012; Yap, 1990). Despite this, effective involvement of residents in developing and building their own homes is something rarely practiced or achieved within architecture, yet the benefits of including residents, who are the focus of a complex social and architectural situation, in the design process seems clear. There is little question that communities that work through this process become stronger, both socially and economically, however, the quality of housing and architectural output is still at a very low level, despite obvious improvements from the previous low-cost conditions. To address this, an architectural outcome has been developed utilizing a critical design approach. The implementation of ethnographic and participatory design research, as well as multiple design iterations, based on current and traditional modes, has resulted in an architecture that is culturally responsive, impacts the existing context lightly, and primarily provides a positive social scenario to encourage community betterment through collective construction and living.</p>