Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh has a recorded history of over 400 years, dating back to the Mughal and pre-Mughal era. A large part of the city's rich cultural heritage; both tangible and intangible, lie in the historic core known as Old Dhaka. There are several traditional neighborhoods with...

This paper presents concepts important for understanding urban poor housing in Vietnam, with a focus on key environmental, socio-economic, and cultural dimensions that bear on the housing sector. The paper draws on extensive field studies and presents a diagnosis of the context of and prospects...

This paper presents concepts important for understanding the potential of sustainable low-income housing in Vietnam, with a focus on key environmental, socio-economic, and cultural dimensions that bear on its housing sector. It examines challenges for sustainable urban development in Hanoi and...

Affordability and lifestyle choices in housing are critical to meet basic human needs for shelter, security and wellbeing. The meaning of a house for a particular group of people and what is ‘affordable’ for a particular community is the critical issue. Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, has...

Post-Disaster Housing Reconstruction to Enable Resilient Communities. A house is often the most valuable economic and social asset in most communities and its primary function is to provide a safe and secure habitat for its inhabitants. In many disasters, not only rapid onset events such as...

This paper draws on research conducted after the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami in Aceh, Indonesia, where more than 100,000 houses were built by various agencies following the massive disaster. The research reveals that the residents in Aceh rarely see their reconstruction houses as...

After the catastrophic 2009 bushfires in the state of Victoria, Australia, the State Government provided information and advice, short-term and temporary accommodation as well as financial assistance to bushfire-affected communities. A tension developed between quickly rebuilding housing and...

Purpose Fresh out of the two-century-old British legacy, Bangladesh, formerly known as East Pakistan from 1947 to 1971, was searching for a post-colonial architectural style. Colonial architecture in the region in general often imposed imported European elements, ignoring the preceding legacies...