A People-Centred Social Totality Approach to Low-Income Housing in the Developing World

In a significant part of the developing world, especially sub-Saharan Africa, public housing policies and implementation have depended on a top-to-bottom approach in an attempt to ensure housing supply. However, public authorities sometimes backed by international agencies preferring to operate through the housing market have failed to meet the housing need, especially for low-income people. Even when the users are involved like in the slum dwellers association, the organisation of the process is majorly controlled by the public authorities. While government and public institutions attained minimal success in housing provision for the lowest classes in the society, the people have been more successful in housing production. This chapter situates the housing problem and policy responses in the context of the developing world characterised by limited capacity to control and manage the largely more successful informal people-controlled housing production structure. A cyclic people-centred strategy framework for low-income housing is proposed based on town-gown collaboration in studying low-income people, their activated housing process and the houses produced to guide present strategies and synthesise future strategies and policy. This framework emanates from Henri Lefebvre’s social totality explanation to understand how low-income people negotiate housing from the social context

Bridging the Digital Divide in Design and Mathematics through an Immersive Maker Program for Underrepresented Students

Maker spaces engage students in learning by empowering them to explore ideas and problem-solving in a hands-on environment using digital and/or physical modalities. Design-based programs like this can increase learning by fostering student autonomy and promoting problem-solving and sensemaking. Our interdisciplinary team of researchers at this Midwest university, in conjunction with community partners, offered a program targeted at underrepresented and minority students in a school zone with an exceptionally high educational achievement gap, one of the worst in the nation. Our state ranks 48th and 50th in the high school graduation rates for African American and Hispanic students, respectively. Our work focused on design and mathematics learning and on using maker spaces to bridge the digital divide to create opportunities for underrepresented students. This chapter describes how we developed a culturally responsive pedagogy for underrepresented K-12 students to learn about design and mathematics. We share some short-term outcomes of providing equal access to immersive curricula to underrepresented students, and describe how we bridged learning losses due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

Building Community and Fostering Health and Well-Being through a Collaborative School Based Project

This article presents lessons learned from collaborative service-learning projects aimed at bridging the gap between theory and practice by providing students design experiences in authentic settings. Interior design students gained disciplinary and civic benefits while problem solving for a preK-5 elementary school calming room, dining room, and teacher sanctuary. The elementary school teachers and staff reported the redesigned calming room supported students’ emotional and self-regulation skills. Teachers and staff also reported the dining room and teacher sanctuary supported the school community well-being. The authors’ present findings and hope the article can serve as a model for educators interested in community building service-learning projects in school environments

Major prospects for exploring canine vector borne diseases and novel intervention methods using 'omic technologies

Canine vector-borne diseases (CVBDs) are of major socioeconomic importance worldwide. Although many studies have provided insights into CVBDs, there has been limited exploration of fundamental molecular aspects of most pathogens, their vectors, pathogen-host relationships and disease and drug resistance using advanced, 'omic technologies. The aim of the present article is to take a prospective view of the impact that next-generation, 'omics technologies could have, with an emphasis on describing the principles of transcriptomic/genomic sequencing as well as bioinformatic technologies and their implications in both fundamental and applied areas of CVBD research. Tackling key biological questions employing these technologies will provide a 'systems biology' context and could lead to radically new intervention and management strategies against CVBDs

The integrated Ibarapa Programme master plan as produced by the Directorate of Physical Planning following a detailed soil survey of the land and consultations with the Ibarapa community and different university departments.

<p>The integrated Ibarapa Programme master plan as produced by the Directorate of Physical Planning following a detailed soil survey of the land and consultations with the Ibarapa community and different university departments.</p