An introductory review to the Special Issue: Attractive Places to Live

Presently, almost 75% of Europeans live in cities and urban areas, and this figure is expected to rise an additional 5% by 2020 (European Commission, 2010). Therefore, it is not surprising that national governments across Europe are committed to making their cities more attractive and sustainable in order to increase citizens’ quality of life, now and in the future (DETR, 2000; European Commission, 2010; ODPM, 2005; Urban Task Force, 1999). But what makes an attractive urban living environment? Attraction is a subjective preference and people of different ages, cultures and gender, for example, may have diverse views on what is attractive. Accordingly, the elements that contribute to making places attractive to live in are wide ranging and may be different for each person. Nevertheless, it has been suggested that the attractiveness of an urban area appears to centre on the quality of life of its users (Van den Berg et al., 1999). In order to increase quality of life, principles of good urban design, planning, regeneration and sustainable communities are widely promoted (DETR and CABE, 2000; DTLR and CABE, 2001; ODPM, 2003a, 2005; Urban Task Force, 1999). Good urban design is central to creating high-quality and attractive places to live (DETR and CABE, 2000; DTLR and CABE, 2001). Well-planned, well-designed and well-managed living environments are likely to create a far superior quality of life than for those who live elsewhere (DTLR and CABE, 2001)

Sustainable development and climate change induced obsolescence in the built environment

Climate change impacts, which are increasingly threatening to sustainability, are expected to be growingly experienced to various degrees around the globe in a number of ways such as global warming, more floods, stronger storms. Conversely, what is being built now shall predominantly be around as a substantial part of our built environment for decades to come, which due to aforesaid climate change factors are bound to suffer various degrees of obsolescence in different ways. Before climate change induced obsolescence accelerates and it is too late, actions need to be taken now to design and develop measures to tackle this problem. Failure to act now will mean that the costs of tackling climate change related obsolescence in future will be much higher. In view of these concerns, this paper present a conceptual model of how obsolescence can potentially occur to various degrees over time in built environment in relation to factors such as climate change. With examples this article relates climate associated obsolescence with the performance of buildings and infrastructures. The article also distinguishes between internal and external obsolescences, and shows that climate change impact on the built environment is preliminarily external. This paper also briefly discusses linkage between obsolescences and the role of maintenance and refurbishment. The paper reports on the peripherals of the short-term research underway at the University and future research potentials

Fostering sustainability in infrastructure development schemes

In recent years much emphasis has been placed upon meeting the environmental and socioeconomic aims of sustainable development. This is being driven by government policy and industry initiatives, with the main emphasis placed on the building sector, where it is perceived that most benefits can be gained. Although financial incentives and drivers are perhaps more readily quantifiable in this market, the potential to mitigate the negative environmental and socioeconomic impacts associated with the development of infrastructure such as roads, drainage and utilities at a neighbourhood scale may be no less significant, if more difficult to measure. Despite this, relatively little attention has been paid to the sustainable design of infrastructure. In addition, change to the UK planning system has been identified as a key mechanism to deliver sustainability policy, but there appears to be a poor connection between planning policy and infrastructure implementation practices. Sustainable construction, planning policy and the notion of the engineer's role in sustainable infrastructure are explored in this paper, which concludes by presenting four areas where improved dialogue between stakeholders and enhancement of the engineer's role at an early stage could improve sustainability in infrastructure development projects

CRITERIA FOR SUSTAINABLE HOUSING AFFORDABILITY

The affordability of housing is a pressing problem that not only affects individual households but also has implications for the wider economy and environment, e.g. employment, health and sustainability. Thus it is evident that providing affordable housing is not simply about cheap and decent homes, it entails having regard for a broad range of factors. Housing affordability is traditionally defined and assessed in terms of economic criteria; namely housing costs in relation to incomes. Areas are therefore often regarded as affordable simply because they are low cost. However this indicates nothing about the quality of the housing or the environment in which the housing is situated. An integral part of the research is the theory that affordability is not only affected by housing costs and incomes, but by a wider range of criteria that also influence a household’s quality of life. It is the view of the authors that housing affordability must be evaluated in a wider context if more sustainable outcomes are to be derived from housing policy. In a bid to create more successful communities for the future the paper seeks draw closer links between affordability and sustainability issues, rather than viewing affordability as a purely monetary concern. The research aims to develop a criteria system that represents sustainable housing affordability. The paper presents findings from questionnaire surveys, distributed to housing and planning professionals, which sought to verify and prioritise the criteria that are important to sustainable housing affordability. Keywords: affordable housing, housing affordability, sustainable communities, sustainable housing, sustainable living environment

The relationship between independence, inclusion and well-being: the perspective of older citizens living in Coventry, U.K.

Independence, inclusion and wellbeing are commonly seen in a complementary relationship in policy and research literature. This paper examines the meaning of these terms for older citizens living in Coventry and the implications for policy implementation. The data presented, obtained from a large community survey of citizens of 55 years and over living in Coventry, found that although most survey participants were able to function independently, participate in ordinary community life and enjoyed reasonable physical and mental health, many others experienced a series of significant barriers to inclusion and wellbeing. The paper concludes that there is no automatic convergence between independence, inclusion and wellbeing at the level of the individual citizen and that to address this issue, more socially inclusive rather than individualistic forms of independence may be more appropriate goals for local public agencie

What Attributes Determine Housing Affordability?

The concept of housing affordability is a contested issue, but a pressing and widespread problem for many countries. Simple ratio measures based on housing expenditure and income are habitually used to defined and assess housing affordability. However, conceptualising and measuring affordability in this manner focuses only on financial attributes and fails to deal with wider issues such as housing quality, location and access to services and facilities. The research is based on the notion that the housing affordability problem encompasses more than the financial costs of housing and a households ability to meet such costs and must address larger issues such as social and environmental sustainability and the welfare of households. Therefore, the need arises for a broad and more encompassing set of attributes by which housing affordability can be assessed. This paper presents a system of criteria by which the affordability of different housing locations could be assessed in a comprehensive and sustainable manner. Moreover, the paper explores the way in which such criteria could be measured

Business Improvement Districts in England and the (private?) governance of urban spaces

Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) were introduced in England just over ten years ago, and their adoption in over 180 locations all over the country owes a great deal to their potential ability to raise private funds to invest in the development of business areas. However, much of the academic literature on BIDs has been critical of what it sees as an expansion of corporate control of urban spaces and the weakening of elected local government, often on the evidence of a long-running North American debate. On the basis of ten case studies of English BIDs, in this paper I address the evolution of those organisations as private stakeholder-led instruments for the governance and management of business areas in England. I discuss whether and to what extent English BIDs constitute private government of urban areas, and the attendant issues of accountability and spatial inequalities in the distribution of public services and investment. I conclude by examining the implications of its findings for the future of urban governance