DSpace Collection:http://theses.ncl.ac.uk/jspui/handle/10443/652024-02-05T03:19:01Z2024-02-05T03:19:01ZAn Investigation into the Use of Building Energy Performance Simulation Tools in the Early Stages of Building Design in the UKMahmoud, Ramy Osamahttp://theses.ncl.ac.uk/jspui/handle/10443/60362024-01-30T12:16:30Z2023-01-01T00:00:00ZTitle: An Investigation into the Use of Building Energy Performance Simulation Tools in the Early Stages of Building Design in the UK
Authors: Mahmoud, Ramy Osama
Abstract: With the urgent need to design more energy-efficient buildings, Building Energy Performance
Simulation (BEPS) tools have been rapidly evolving since the 1960s to provide reliable methods
of modelling and predicting the energy performance of buildings. Despite persistent attempts to
provide enhanced tools suitable to early design stage (EDS), there is still no clear indication of the
level of uptake or suitability of such tools. This research investigates the use of BEPS tools in the
early stages of building design in UK practice with a view to proposing ways in which they could
be better enhanced and deployed. The study tackles objectives including understanding BEPS
tools usage within the context of building design process in the UK; conducting an extensive
investigation into the available BEPS tools and trending application methods; taking both wide
and detailed snapshots of the uptake of tools. The exploratory study involvesreviewing hundreds
of publications and around 200 tools; questionnaire surveys where 217 and 201 responses were
collected from architects and practices respectively; using semi-structured interviews with nine
key practitioners covering eight low-energy building case studies. The study has shown that there
is currently a vast array of BEPS tools; 64 were categorised based on criteria such as cloud simulation and plug-in options. Also, a list was formed displaying 66 publications (between 2008
and 2019) that applied BEPS tools using novel trending methods such as Artificial Neural
Networks and Genetic Algorithms. It is concluded from the findings of the study that there is
relative increase in the uptake of BEPS tools at the EDS. However, the engagement of tools with
the EDS is rather a complicated issue influenced by multiple interrelated factors. The conclusion
suggests that the core hindrance of early uptake is the lack of development of tools in a way that
is compatible with the nature of EDS and its workflow, and that there are not yet tools developed
enough to facilitate using limited data with a simple way of input while accommodating the
complexity of projects. The available tools that are reaching towards overcoming these problems
e.g. Integrated Environmental Solutions-Virtual Environment (IES-VE), Sefaira, Passivhaus
Planning Package (PHPP) and Ladybug still have limitations due to either lack of user-friendliness,
lack of analytical capabilities, or temptation towards oversimplifying the project parameters to
fit into the tool. This is also resembled in the nature of projects in which tools are used; the nature
of EDS does not usually allow for accommodating BEPS tools except in limited occasions where
the project type or scale would allow for dilution of the obstacles. Implications of these
limitations are found to be also present in other factors related first, to the nature of the two stage building regulatory system in the UK, and second to the organisational structure of project.
Description: PhD Thesis2023-01-01T00:00:00ZHousing problems and vulnerability in Nigeria’s informal settlementsNchor, Julius Utihttp://theses.ncl.ac.uk/jspui/handle/10443/59722023-12-06T14:37:15Z2022-01-01T00:00:00ZTitle: Housing problems and vulnerability in Nigeria’s informal settlements
Authors: Nchor, Julius Uti
Abstract: This study assesses the urban housing problems and vulnerability of low-income households living in informal settlements in Nigeria, using Calabar metropolis as a case study. After reviewing theories and policies, the study then applies the concepts drawn from an international perspective to understand the context. The sustainable livelihood approach (SLA) is used to construct an analytical lens for empirical investigation. Both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods have been utilised to collect primary and secondary data. Four settlements were surveyed, and a questionnaire was developed and used to collect data from 425 households in Calabar metropolis. In-depth interviews, non-participant observation and focus groups were conducted. The quantitative data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS version 26, IBM, Armonk, NY). The qualitative data were carefully transcribed, coded and analysed using NVivo 1.2 (QRS International). Finally, a mixed-method procedure was introduced using the Department for International Development (DFID) sustainable livelihood framework (SLF) to triangulate the data and analyse the research findings.
There is a symbiotic relationship between housing and residents’ opportunities for making a livelihood in urban low-income households. Increasingly, population growth continues to put pressure on economic development, the capacity of urban infrastructure and the available housing stock. The trend is to exclude poor people from the benefits of development. These exclusionary trends include poor urban planning, excluding residents from participating in economic and decision-making processes, inequality and deprivation. Shocks such as flooding, environmental degradation, ill-health, storms, and forced evictions can directly destroy people’s assets. They face seasonal shocks in the form of fluctuations and increases in food prices, seasonality in construction and building employment, and price and production of food. The ability of households to manage their assets to take advantage of opportunities for economic activity is constrained, firstly by their levels of education and skill and household size, and secondly by economic factors (such as income levels, occupations available to them and unemployment). The comparatively low growth in their per capita income limits households’ ability to consume or invest in housing and infrastructure. As a result, they have limited access to electricity, water, sanitation, sewerage and drainage and roads.
The findings of this study show that some households make an effort to extend their living space and enhance their ownership of assets using strategies such as setting up home-based enterprises or renting out rooms. Other livelihood strategies used by households include investing in education, pawning their belongings, migrating and engaging in urban agriculture. However, some of these strategies negatively impact on these low-income residents and further increase their vulnerability. These findings further indicate how policies, institutions and processes (PIPs) mediate the access to assets of the urban poor. The study identifies institutions, regulations and security of tenure as the prevailing factors that limit their access to assets. The study has also found that existing institutions at various levels contribute to these issues, such as their lack of information about policies that are directly related to poor households’ livelihoods, their lack of financial capacity to make improvements on a large scale and permitting the supply of land outside formal regulatory frameworks.
The study concludes that housing policy needs to embrace an appropriate form of settlement intervention that is context-specific, pro-poor, broad-based and participatory and one that will respond to the reality of households’ experiences in Calabar metropolis. This builds on the enabling approach for improvement and upgrading settlements to provide adequate and affordable housing for low-income groups. It recommends policies and strategies that can significantly increase the amount of affordable housing available and provide infrastructure by mainstreaming employment generation activities by building partnerships with community organisations, together with participatory planning, responsive land policies and good urban governance.
Description: PhD Thesis2022-01-01T00:00:00ZA comparative study of assisted self-help and informal self-built housing in Angola to further a discussion about improving Government low-income housing programs.da Mata, Felix Voigthttp://theses.ncl.ac.uk/jspui/handle/10443/59172023-11-10T15:22:45Z2023-01-01T00:00:00ZTitle: A comparative study of assisted self-help and informal self-built housing in Angola to further a discussion about improving Government low-income housing programs.
Authors: da Mata, Felix Voigt
Abstract: This thesis explores the contrasts between the process, product and rationale of low-income
owner-builder housing in two different developmental settings in Angola - thriving informal
settlements and failing state-led assisted self-help programmes. It grew out of a desire to
understand why it is so hard for the State to emulate what individuals accomplish in
disenfranchised settlements - produce housing.
Owner-builders produce most new housing in rapidly urbanising developing countries
through incremental self-building initiatives. Such initiatives create and consolidate informal
settlements without planning and oversight, which can have uncertain prospects for receiving
infrastructures (be it for their paralegal status or unstructured layout). A way to avoid such
informal development is to offer an alternative, for example, assisted self-help schemes,
which proactively provide households with plots of land and a bare minimum of essential
infrastructure. The schemes are meant to be context-specific rather than a one-size-fits-all
solution, and despite being around for over fifty years, little attention has been paid to their
performance compared to the informal settlements of the context they wish to replace.
Through case studies in Luanda and Lubango, the study compared the built environment and
building process of self-built housing between formal assisted self-help programs and
informally developed settlements. Surveys carried out in four sites showed that housing and
its production are remarkably similar between the two types of settlement and that
infrastructure provision (as well as hopes for it) among owner-builders of formal sites was no
better than that in the informal setting. Along with the finding that regulations played only a
minor role in formal owner-builders construction process, the study discusses these
similarities and argues that liberalising regulatory frameworks and lowering infrastructure
standards could improve the assisted self-help programs. The study hopes to lay a foundation
for a wider discussion about improving the Angolan assisted self-help programs, by
questioning if in aiming for good and adequate services and standards within the programs
while failing to achieve either one, the Government may be preventing the programs from
simply improving on what is produced outside Government supervision – in informal
settlements.
Description: Ph. D. Thesis2023-01-01T00:00:00ZPower and discrimination in a space : the role of cultural built heritage in identity construction of Chinese IndonesiansFebruandari, Asmaranihttp://theses.ncl.ac.uk/jspui/handle/10443/58642023-10-31T11:52:06Z2023-01-01T00:00:00ZTitle: Power and discrimination in a space : the role of cultural built heritage in identity construction of Chinese Indonesians
Authors: Februandari, Asmarani
Abstract: This thesis investigates the link between cultural built heritage and identity production, represented by the case of the Chinese Indonesian community in Indonesia’s Chinatowns. As a post-diaspora, Chinese Indonesians, over the course of years have experienced discrimination conducted by mainstream society. Cultural differences and political agenda have subjected them to intense discrimination. Therefore, Chinese Indonesians have produced and reproduced their identity to be accepted as Indonesian. Drawing from this, the idea of racial passing is central to this thesis. Based on a premise from Pulido which argues that racism may be spatially expressed and a statement from Yaeger that points out that identity construction can be observed by means of cultural built heritage, this research investigates the connection between identity, racism, and space. Principally, this research explores how Chinese Indonesians utilise their cultural built heritage in terms of their domestic space and Chinatown to produce their “passable” identity in order to be accepted as Indonesian. The thesis explores the everyday life of participants and material artefacts from their homes and places in the Chinatowns of Lasem and Semarang. A variety of data collection techniques were used, such as life story interviews, physical surveys, observations, and archival document exploration during three periods of fieldwork in 2016 and 2017. This thesis ultimately provides an understanding of the significant role of cultural built heritage in the production of “passable’ identity in Chinese Indonesian communities. Cultural built heritage serves as a behavioural control mechanism to create and sustain identity.
Description: PhD Thesis2023-01-01T00:00:00Z