Sustainability and the Urban Planning Context: Housing Development in Algeria

This paper describes research into the development of housing in Algeria. It focuses on the history of traditional dwellings and the importance of outdoor space located inside the building: typically in the form of a courtyard. Courtyard dwellings in the city of Constantine are examined in some detail. The rapid urbanisation process taking place in Algeria in recent years together with difficulties in the planning system since colonial times has caused difficulties in responding to housing needs. The concentration of the population in smaller areas of cities has led to the need for more compact yet comfortable dwellings. The paper describes how the situation might be dealt with in the township of Jijel. A number of stakeholders are being consulted and the key results of in-depth interviews with architects are reported. The findings from the review of the existing housing areas and survey are then interpreted to make suggestions for development in the future

Inflation Dynamics in Algeria

In thispaper, we analyze Inflation Dynamics in Algeria between 2002 and 2016. We use a Vector Auto Regressive model (VAR), impulse response functions (IRF) and variance error decomposition (VDC) to uncover possible links between public spending component sand inflation. Wetest for the sources and dynamics of inflation in Algeria by focusing on public spending, since they are expected to exert a strong influence on the aggregate demand and hence inflation. According to the results we found, inflation in Algeria is persistent; shocks are lasting longer and having impact on the future inflation path. Social transfers and equipment spending are found to be the most contributing components of public spending in explaining inflation in Algeria.&nbsp

Efficient and secure digital signature algorithm (DSA)

The digital signature is used to ensure the integrity of messages as well as the authentication and non-repudiation of users. Today it has a very important role in information security. Digital signature is used in various fields such as e-commerce and e-voting, health, internet of things (IOT). Many digital signature schemes have been proposed, depending on the computational cost and security level. In this paper, we analyzed a recently proposed digital signature scheme based on the discrete logarithm problem (DLP). Our analysis shows that the scheme is not secure against the repeated random number attack to determine the secret keys of the signer. To overcome this problem, we propose a new improvement of the digital signature scheme

La problématique des ide en Algérie : paradoxes d'une économie attractive faiblement attrayante

La problématique des IDE en Algérie est toujours d’actualité. Si la baisse actuelle des prix de pétrole a redonné un nouveau souffle à cette ancienne-nouvelle problématique, les mécanismes de leur attractivité restent obsolètes. Présentés comme une source de financement non génératrice de dette et un vecteur de transfert technologique, les IDE peuvent être un moyen sûr pour promouvoir une croissance durable et inclusive. A partir de la reconstruction d’un Indice Contextualisé d’Attractivité (ICA) de la Cnuced pour un panel de 11 pays couvrant 12 variables, les résultats montrent que l'Algérie se situe, à la dernière position de ce groupe de pays en terme d'ICA et pour les montants d'IDE reçus. Le système R&D fait partie des points faibles qui ont pesé lourd dans ce classement. L’amélioration de cet aspect est plus que nécessaire. D’autant plus, que l’expérience des pays Sud - Est asiatique, qui souffrent de ce qu’on appelle « la trappe du revenu moyen », renforce nos résultats.Mots Clés: IDE, Algérie, attractivitéICA JEL CLASSIFICATION : F21, F40, O50English Title: The issue of FDI in Algeria: paradox of an attractive economy but faintly appealingEnglish AbstractThe issue of FDI in Algeria is still relevant. If the current decline in oil prices has revitalized this old-new problematic, the mechanisms of their attractiveness are outdated. Presented as a non-generating source of debt and a technology transfer vector, FDI can be a sure way to promote a sustainable and inclusive growth. Based on the reconstruction of an OECD Contextualized Attractiveness Index (CAI) for a panel of 11 countries covering 12 variables, The results has shown that Algeria is ranked in the middle of this group of countries in terms of CAI, but at the bottom of this panel regarding inflows FDI. R & D system has figured among the weaknesses that had a heavy weight in this ranking. Improving this aspect is more than necessary. Especially that the experience of south east Asian countries, suffering from what is called "the trap of the average income," strengthens our results.Keywords: FDI, Algeria, AttractivenessJEL CLASSIFICATION : F21, F40, O5

SUSTAINABLE HOUSING DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT IN RELATION TO THE CITY OF JIJEL, ALGERIA.

Sustainable architectural design is still in its early stages in many developing countries. There are many pressures that can reduce application of sustainable design; for instance over one billion people worldwide still lack adequate shelter and suffer from poverty. Algeria is an example of a country facing a pressing housing shortage which takes precedence over such features as energy efficient design. There is currently an inability of the government to effectively respond to housing needs in both qualitative and quantitative scales. The problem threatens cities with a large spread of informal settlements and slums around many Algerian cities. The main aim of this research is to investigate the Algerian housing sector and the housing policy adopted by the government, and to examine potential for future more sustainable outcomes. The problems and obstacles facing the sector are addressed with a particular focus on the city of Jijel. This research also aims to assess the professionals' awareness of the sustainability issues and investigates the aspects of traditional and contemporary architecture in Algeria which are suitable for the planning of sustainable settlements. The research methodology involved carrying out quantitative and qualitative analysis (mixed method) of the housing sector in Algeria using comparative analysis for different types of houses: collective apartments; traditional courtyard houses; and self-build houses. This involved descriptive, qualitative, and spatial analysis of case studies and the use of survey questionnaire. The survey questionnaire helped to assess the inhabitants' satisfaction with their houses and was initially used with residents of 30 collective apartments from three different estates in the city of Jijel. Later, residents of 10 selected self-build family houses were interviewed. Finally, the survey was carried out with residents of traditional courtyard houses in the city of Constantine. This study found that despite being sustainable at the time of building, traditional courtyard houses can no longer be considered as an example of sustainable housing due to the degradation of the houses caused by age and poor maintenance. In addition, overcrowding and the occupation of a number of houses by non-relatives have caused a lack of comfort and privacy. The study also found that there is a wide neglect in all types of house of climatic design principles required to help achieve thermal comfort. Occupants are more concerned for spatial comfort and believe they can deal with thermal comfort using energy consuming appliances. However, the continual increase in fossil fuel use and energy costs in Algeria could make these houses either very expensive to run or even unusable in the future. In addition, the poor quality of the exterior environment and the lack of certain necessary amenities and services needed in daily life, have affected the satisfaction of residents. Most of the interviewed residents would prefer to participate in the design of their houses; a process that would enable them to improve use of space and thermal comfort. It was concluded that many problems facing the housing sector in Algeria cannot be solved by either state-led projects or by self-build informal construction. The research highlighted that the most important issue is the serious imbalance between housing supply and demand and unless lessons from the failures of previous policies are learned and new effective measures enacted by the government, the housing policy in Algeria is likely to fail again. This would further compromise provision of adequate housing and potential for future urban sustainability. Some suggestions are made for stakeholders and planners to aid in developing strategies to create new sustainable cities that can achieve both residents' satisfaction and reduce negative impact on the environment

Les pays de l’Afrique du Nord et les IDE face à la problématique de l’attractivité

According to the latest UNCTAD report on foreign direct investment (Unctad, 2017) Global FDI flows are expected to reach nearly $1.8 trillion in 2017, then$ 1.85 trillion in 2018 - still well below the record of 2007. North Africa received $ 14.5 billion as inward FDI flows, accounting for 3.4% of global flows. This rate was 3.5% in 2014 and 5.4% in 2013. The growth despite the decline in the share growth of about 11%. This increase is mainly due to the reforms introduced to FDI regulations and new gas discoveries in Egypt. Empirical works on FDI suggest many explanatory variables of attractiveness, but ultimately, no consensus emerges1. It is about several industrial factors (transport costs, implementation costs, salary costs, technological advantages, activity agglomerations … etc.), commercial (market size, proximity to demand, barriers to trade, membership in an integration zone) than institutional (tax or commercial policy, legislative provisions on capital repatriation or capital movement, country risk, business climate) (Alaya and al, 2009). This work looks at the comparison of North African countries with other countries. Ten countries were chosen, chosen because they have common problematics, and spread throughout the world. Then, based on the work of Unctad2, an " attractiveness contextualized index" is built, simple but robust, which makes it possible to locate, for each country of the sample, the aspects on which it is strong or weak. The comparison between the countries of North Africa can lead to economic policy proposals regarding FDI. The results show that the countries of North Africa had similar results except Tunisia, which ranked sixth among the countries in the sample. The other countries, Morocco, Egypt and Algeria obtained positions 7, 8 and 10 respectively. These results confirm the results obtained in terms of FDI inward flows. The attractiveness policies already practiced have shown their limits. A renewal of these policies based on research and development could turn the tables and highlight the assets available to the countries of North Africa

Les pays de l’Afrique du Nord et les IDE face à la problématique de l’attractivité

According to the latest UNCTAD report on foreign direct investment (Unctad, 2017) Global FDI flows are expected to reach nearly $1.8 trillion in 2017, then$ 1.85 trillion in 2018 - still well below the record of 2007. North Africa received $ 14.5 billion as inward FDI flows, accounting for 3.4% of global flows. This rate was 3.5% in 2014 and 5.4% in 2013. The growth despite the decline in the share growth of about 11%. This increase is mainly due to the reforms introduced to FDI regulations and new gas discoveries in Egypt. Empirical works on FDI suggest many explanatory variables of attractiveness, but ultimately, no consensus emerges1. It is about several industrial factors (transport costs, implementation costs, salary costs, technological advantages, activity agglomerations … etc.), commercial (market size, proximity to demand, barriers to trade, membership in an integration zone) than institutional (tax or commercial policy, legislative provisions on capital repatriation or capital movement, country risk, business climate) (Alaya and al, 2009). This work looks at the comparison of North African countries with other countries. Ten countries were chosen, chosen because they have common problematics, and spread throughout the world. Then, based on the work of Unctad2, an " attractiveness contextualized index" is built, simple but robust, which makes it possible to locate, for each country of the sample, the aspects on which it is strong or weak. The comparison between the countries of North Africa can lead to economic policy proposals regarding FDI. The results show that the countries of North Africa had similar results except Tunisia, which ranked sixth among the countries in the sample. The other countries, Morocco, Egypt and Algeria obtained positions 7, 8 and 10 respectively. These results confirm the results obtained in terms of FDI inward flows. The attractiveness policies already practiced have shown their limits. A renewal of these policies based on research and development could turn the tables and highlight the assets available to the countries of North Africa