Journal of Architecture, Planning and Construction Management
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Book Review: Eco-city Planning - Policies, Practice and Design
Get PDFEco-city is an environmentally sustainable city in managing the limited natural resources for existing and future generations. Its primary aim is to minimize the damages to the eco-system while maximizing benefits to the human population. Some of the notable targets to achieve eco-city include: reducing pollution, limiting environmental damages, preserving open and green spaces, utilizing renewable energy, conserving energy consumption, maintaining water bodies and so on. However, it is highly challenging to attain eco-city status especially in developing economies as population and demand for infrastructure and facilities has been growing steadily in urban areas
FEASIBILITY INVESTIGATION ON IMPLEMENTATION OF HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL AXES APPROACH TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF PUBLIC SPACES: CASE STUDY OF LALEHZAR STREET TEHRAN USING SPACE SYNTAX ANALYSIS
Get PDFCultural-historical axes as public spaces can perform well in retrieving the identity of historical urban. But the problem is that in metropolitan areas today, these public spaces have become a place for driving not space for pauses. One way of identifying and reinforcing the positive aspects of historical-cultural axes is to organize and recreate them. Tehran does not have valuable buildings such as Isfahan, Shiraz, and Yazd, however, it has an identity like all other cities inthe world. One of the identity components of this metropolis is Lalehzar Street that firsts cinemas and coffee houses have been built there. Unfortunately, this axis has become a market for electrical appliances nowadays, and if this trend continues, one of the most important elements of Tehran's identity will be lost. In this research, after examining the cultural-historical pavements and exploring the functional potential of the main axis of this region, the feasibility study of Lalehzar street implementation has been investigated by using depth map software. The results of the survey show that Lalehzar Street makes it possible for pedestrians to be pedestrian because of their high interconnected value. This research was based on field observations and the use of library resources. The research method is descriptiveanalytical and Space Syntax software was used to analyse the spatial structure and internal order of an urban system
RESIDENTS’ CRIME EXPERIENCE AND SAFETY PERCEPTIONS IN GATED AND NON-GATED LOW MIDDLE INCOME COMMUNITIES IN KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA
Get PDFProperty crimes in residential areas has become a concerning issue in Malaysia. Environmental design based crime prevention theories such as Defensible Space, Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) and 2nd generation CPTED recommend to construct gates and fences as target hardening measures in the residential areas to prevent crimes. However, these concepts have generated several issues, including the safe environment they offer. Thus, this paper aims at examining the safety perception of the residents in gated and guarded vis-â-vis non-gated and guarded communities. Two low middle income housing communities – a gated and guarded community (GC) and a non-gated and guarded community (NGC) were chosen for the study. Relationship between residents’ crime experiences and perception of safety were studied in both communities and it was found that crime rates are higher in the GC than in the NGC and this indicates that GCs are not safer than NGCs. Based on the findings, the study comes up with several recommendations in order to enhance safety perceptions of low-middle income apartment communities in Kuala Lumpur
Tawhid and its Implications for Islamic Architecture
Get PDFThis paper discusses the Islamic notion of tawhid (the Oneness of Allah) and its implications for Islamic architecture. The paper is divided into two major parts. Firstly, the meaning and significance of tawhid, as a cornerstone of the Islamic belief system, is presented. Secondly, tawhid’s most important implications for perceiving, creating and using Islamic architecture are explained. The paper seeks to enhance the awareness, both of the professionals and general readership, as to the centrality of the role of the concept of tawhid in correctly conceptualizing and practicing Islamic architecture. The nature of the paper, along with its content, methodology and conclusions, is conceptual and philosophical, rather than empirical. The paper concludes that Islamic architecture is an architecture that embodies the message of Islam. It both facilitates Muslims’ realization of the Islamic purpose and its divine principles on earth, and promotes a lifestyle generated by such a philosophy and principles. The implications of tawhid for Islamic architecture are ideological, rather than technical. Such is the profundity of the influence the concept of tawhid exerts on Islamic architecture – and on Islamic culture and civilization, in general – that it gives the latter its conspicuous soul and identity. Without the effect of tawhid, no architecture deserves to be dubbed ‘Islamic’
Experiential Context of Residents With Green Infrastructure Network in Taiping
Get PDFGreen infrastructure network is a composite of various green spaces linked by streets, waterways and drainages encircling and connecting urban areas, at all spatial scales. It facilitates residents’ ability to recreate, socialise and perform other regular transactional activities. Despite such understanding, little is known about the relationships of green infrastructure network with urban residents’ experiences and well-being. This study explores residents’ experiential contacts with the properties and attributes of green infrastructure in Taiping, a town in Malaysia, and their effects to the residents’ well-being. The town’s green infrastructures consist of a town park, a large open playfield, various pocket and loose-fit spaces, neighbourhood open spaces, home gardens and green networks. Theoretical framework of this study was grounded by landscape perceptual theories which link diversity, naturalness and coherence of a green infrastructure to well-being of the residents. Data were gathered from the mixed-methods approach involving three strategies: survey questionnaire (n=335), semi-structured interview (n=33) and unobtrusive behavioural observation. Quantitative statistics and qualitative content analysis were used to analyse the data that were triangulated to examine the relationships. The findings suggest that the presence of diversity, naturalness and coherence in the green infrastructures facilitates the residents’ experiential contacts affording them physical, cognitive and social well-being. The attributes encourage frequent use, in which the green infrastructure support physical-kinetic, leisure and social activities that fulfil the residents’ nature and social interaction needs. Physically, the residents feel active, healthy and happy from engagements in the activities. The residents attain cognitive well-being through physical and visual experience with the green infrastructures which are dominated by matured greenery, plants, water and hills that relieve negative emotions affording relaxation, comfort and calmness. Socially, the green infrastructures allow more social encounters with other individuals resulting in satisfaction towards the community which induces friendliness and happiness for living in the town. Hence, the experience of the residents with the attributes suggests that different types of green infrastructure should be integrated as a network as to benefit the residents
Environment Attitude Of The People And Stakeholders Towards Urban Biodiversity In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Get PDFUrban biodiversity and wildlife management have been accepted as important ecological components of the urban environment. The world population is increasing very rapidly, overwhelming all efforts in urban wildlife protection and management. The urban population is growing at a much faster rate than the population as a whole. In 2009, there were 3.42 billion people living in towns and cities and this is predicted to increase to 6.3 billion by 2050. This poses major challenges to those responsible for the provision of green spaces and for preserving the biodiversity of urban areas. It is reasonably clear that biodiversity protection and management are deficient in almost all cities in developing countries. The deficiencies are not the same in all cities, but they generally relate to the perceptions of citizens and stakeholders.Urban green space and biodiversity are crucial in achieving sustainable cities because they involve social, economic and environmental issues and, if managed properly, result in ecological benefits for the cities’ inhabitants. However, in Malaysia, landscape and urban green space have received little attention in land use planning. In Malaysia, very limited research has been undertaken to gain an understanding of people’s preferences towards biodiversity such as wildlife. Furthermore, there is limited understanding of people’s preferences on urban biodiversity either in the single species approach or in their general preferences. Kuala Lumpur aims to promote and improve the quality of its living environment and to develop a sustainable approach for the development of urban green space. Thus, it is important to understand the attitude of people towards local urban parks and biodiversity especially wildlife and how it relates to the planning and development of green open spaces
Area Of Productivity Improvement In The Nigerian Construction Industry
No full textThis paper discusses the areas where productivity improvements are required in the Nigerian construction industry. The questionnaire used for the study was adopted from the research of Arditi and Mochtar (2000) with additional questions on the factors influencing productivity and the actions thought necessary to improve productivity in the Nigerian construction industry. A combination of judgmental and snowballing (both non probability) sampling techniques were used for the study. The reason for this is that, the combination gives a strong semblance of probability sampling technique and this advantage makes it possible to make conclusive inference based on the findings of the research. The questionnaire for the study was distributed among construction contractors and design professionals that were located within the Lagos Island axis of Lagos state. Sixty-four (64) questionnaires were retrieved out of the one hundred and eighty (180) that were distributed to the respondents and this gives a total of 35.6% retrieval. The results of the research show that productivity improvement is mostly required in the Nigerian construction industry in four categories which are communication, management, computer utilization and labour. It was also discovered that most Nigerian contractors and designers are not willing to contribute funds to support programmes aimed at improving construction productivity. However, they were willing to serve as members of groups that would identify productivity problems and attend construction productivity conferences and meetings
IMPACTS OF RESIDENTIAL ENVIRONMENTS ON HOUSING SATISFACTION IN SELECTED NEIGHBOURHOODS OF OGUN STATE, NIGERIA
Get PDFThis study identified the important aspects of living environments on housing satisfaction in the selected neighbourhoods of Ogun State, Nigeria. This research, therefore, investigated the impact of the social and physical environment on housing satisfaction. The research areas are residential areas of the selected Local Government headquarters of Ogun state, Nigeria, with 20 Local Government Areas (LGAs). A mixed research approach is adopted, and data were collected through a structured questionnaire. The analysis was done with descriptive and inferential statistical tools. The study reveals that all environmental variables used in predicting respondents housing satisfaction in the study area were significant with P≤0.05, it was revealed that the most important environmental variable explaining housing satisfaction in the study area is the perception of respondents’ about the feeling of their neighbourhood (COP) explaining 37.3% of the variance in the dependent variable. The proximity to medical services was the second important variable contributing 17.2% variation in explaining respondents’ housing satisfaction. The level of security (SEC), availability of facilities and amenities (FAC), proximity to secondary school (PSS), proximity to the workplace (PWP) and community association (CAA) contributed 8.9%, 4.3%, 3.8%, 2.6% and 1.3% of the variance, respectively, in explaining respondents housing satisfaction. The findings imply that the neighbourhood social environment and community services aspects of residential environments were positively related to housing satisfaction. The results validated the significance of community networks at the neighbourhood level. The study recommends that in housing construction and development, the social and physical environmental attributes must, therefore, be put into consideration while providing housing for the people, be it public or real estate investors
