A Place to Call Home
Spatial Inequality and Structural Violence in Britain: Policy Decisions That Kill
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Donna Carmichael
Britain is living through a "perfect storm" of unprecedented political and economic pressures which is having significant detrimental effects on many citizens, but especially on marginalized communities. Surging levels of economic inequality over the last thirty years, increasing austerity including punishing welfare reforms and an epidemic of neoliberal urban regeneration initiatives which reflect rampant and largely unchecked privatization and unbridled capital accumulation and represents nothing short of an assault on the poor and working class in Britain. Economic inequality is one of the defining issues of our times. In the UK, the wealthiest 1% own nearly 25% of all the country’s wealth, while the poorest 50% have less than 5% of the national wealth, and the numbers living in poverty in Britain are the highest levels in almost twenty years. This dramatically increasing economic divide between the richest and the poorest has been described as a "ticking time-bomb." In addition to the scourge of economic inequality, there is a growing recognition that inequality increasingly has a spatial aspect and recent studies have provided evidence that life success, quality of life and, in fact, life expectancy, are heavily influenced by your postal code. A report by the Office for National Statistics has revealed that, overall, life expectancy in Britain has fallen for the first time in over 100 years,and analysis points to austerity as the reason for this decrease, with older residents in poorer areas suffering the highest increases in premature deaths. Spatial inequality is also manifested in terms of estate housing regeneration projects, especially in high-demand urban centres such as London, where cash-strapped (and greedy, as some would say), local authorities have sold-off massive amounts of ageing and poorly-maintained social housing stock to developers for redevelopment. It is estimated that in London alone, over 170 social housing estates have been, or will be, sold to private interests for demolition and regeneration, resulting in the displacement and "social cleansing" of thousands of low-income residents (ASH, 2017). The vast majority of the new housing is priced at market rates, with a minimal proportion (if any) of the new housing available at so-called affordable rates which few former residents can afford. The horrific Grenfell Tower tragedy was the result of the use of flammable cladding, resulting in avoidable loss of life and the displacement of hundreds of residents. It could be argued that this is about more than economic and spatial inequality – that, in fact, the actions of the state in terms of austerity measures, estate regeneration, and poorly-maintained social housing constitute a form of structural violence (Galtung, 1969), wherein the policies and decisions of the state and local authorities are having a significant adverse effect on the disadvantaged in British society. This paper will discuss how the notion of structural violence can illustrate the complex, often hidden, social and political arrangements that are “embedded in the political and economic organization of our social world, and which ultimately cause harm to individuals,” especially those with lower socio-economic status in Britain.
PassivHaus: Approaching a Net-zero Energy Architecture
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Kenneth Conzelmann
Our endeavor as a scholarly team, undergraduate researcher and faculty mentor, is a furtherance of a study which began in Europe, centered in Freiburg, Germany, as part of a research grant which included on-site observations and documentation of passive design. Europe is decades ahead of us; our recommendation: let’s catch up, at least! Research involved poring over books, professional journals, newspaper articles, the internet and built prototypes. Application, a house to illustrate the differences in construction materials and techniques used in Europe vs. the US, two sites were chosen: one in upper Austria, the other in upstate New York, both having similar climatic conditions. We focused on-site orientation, protective vegetation, super insulation and healthful ventilation. Renewable energy sources such as geothermal, solar and photovoltaics, wind and bio-mass were also explored, as well as “green” and sustainability considerations of eco-friendly products. This research project has provided an opportunity for us to share what we’ve discovered: that the passive house concept not only saves home owners energy dollars, but produces a comfortable, sustainable building, one which ultimately benefits the environment at large contributing to a fresh ethical approach to living, building and sharing the planet responsibly. Our next step is to bring this effort further, to go beyond the academic realm and to make a real difference in the real built world
Energy Use Response to Residential Lifestyle of Higashida Smart Community in Kitakyushu, Japan
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Le Na Tran
This paper introduces the characteristic of Japanese residential lifestyle, meanwhile, summarizes the results from an analysis of energy use of 12 households in electric-only multi dwellings in Higashi Smart Community, Kitakyushu, Japan. Using hourly load and daily load data collected from smart meter, we find statistically variation of energy use in households according to three factors: Space (Living room, Kitchen, Bedroom, Bathroom), time (in hours) and user (Elderly, Parents, Kids). With the incentive of different levels of lifestyle, the energy use proved that the essential demand of households response to variable factors. From that exploratory analysis, we can define the role of housing equipment layout and spatial layout in residential housing design. This paper contributes to the application of Smart Home Energy Management System in architectural design in Japan and provides a good experience to other countries.
