Write up about the Conference
The European Network for Housing Research (ENHR) was established in 1988 to provide an organizational platform for institutions and individuals in (and outside) Europe, who are actively engaged in housing research. It now has about 1000 individual and nearly 100 institutional members representing almost every country in Europe. Although ENHR is a European network, researchers from outside Europe are also very welcome to join.( http://www.enhr2014.com/organisation/enhr/)
The European Network Housing Research (ENHR) is an annual conference which is usually held in different parts of Europe but is attended by participants worldwide. The 26th ENHR conference, which I have attended was held in Edinburgh Scotland last July 1 to July 6, 2014. The theme of the conference was “Beyond Globalization: remaking housing policy in a complex world.” The discussion during the conference generally moves around how housing systems can be shaped. As mentioned by the chair – in Europe it is widely assumed that the era of large subsidized building programs is over even though they are vastly richer but still the need for affordable housing is still apparent and growing. In Asia and Latin America public housing programmes are seen as being essential part of economic development. In Europe there is a big debate on housing rights. The focus of the conference as stated in the plenary and opening of the program is confronting globalization.
The conference were attended by more than 500 delegates coming from Europe, Asia and America. It was organized with four sub themes namely: people; money place and home. The plenary were divided into 24 workshop sessions and I was assigned in workshop 8 with topic on Housing in Developing Countries. The workshop coordinators for that workshop session were Claudio Acioly Jr, Gulden Erkut, Chris Watson and Yurdanur Dugleroglu. The topics discussed were ranging from governance and management, policies, housing quality and public housing schemes.
The conference culminated on the last day synthesizing all the workshop issues with the aim of improving it in the upcoming 2015 ENHR conference at Lisbon Portugal. The meeting with varied people and the dynamics of different culture was truly a worthy endeavour to be a part of.
Feedback on paper presented
The paper which was presented by Jean Marie Villamor Juanga on the Exploring the Determinants of Housing Quality of Urban Housing Development in Davao City Philippines highlighted on the current issues of what is and what should quality housing be?
Among the critical inquiry was that from Gulden Ekrut, Istanbul Univ head, asking about the context of the research. It was explicitly explained that housing quality should be understood at the end of the consumer. It is apparent and common in the buying and selling of housing that consumer mostly do not know what are the checklist of a good quality house is? It is ironic to note that despite the high cost of capital that consumers pay for housing compared to their typical grocery and food expenses, still consumers do not bother to know their money’s worth when it comes to buying houses. Household consumers are knowledgeable on food quality, they exactly know what goodies are fresh and of good quality however the knowledge of a good quality house is far-fetched known by the consumers. It is highlighted at this point that among the realization and context of this research is the idea of coming up with a checklist on good quality house.
Vulnerability risk assessments on housing quality in the Philippines were also queried by Chris Watson due to the recent issue of typhoon Yolanda in Leyte. However these issues were not already covered in the proposed research. More over the role of government policies in housing were also discussed with the concern of most third world countries, particularly in Asia which have very poor housing quality ironically even those that housing that built by the national government. It is surprising to know coming from the end of the first world particularly European countries that housing policies and building codes were not being followed even in government housing projects.
There were also presenters from Oxford University who were interested in the management of residential housing subdivisions in the Philippines specifically after it has been turned over to the tenants. The question was raised in relation to her research study in Bogota, Colombia and Quito, Ecuador, which dealt with governance and management of condominiums. Although residential subdivisions here in the Philippines have housing associations, which address the residents concern, however, subdivision housing compared to condominiums doesn’t encounter great concerns in their shared spaces specifically on hallways and parking. Few questions regarding the methodology and tools were discussed except on the housing quality index measurement tool which were already widely used in UK. Generally all questions and clarifications were addressed sufficiently and explained generously. The participants and the panel were greatly interested with the topic and curious about the housing conditions and systems of countries in southeast-asia in general.
Future directions of research presented
After attending the European Network for Housing Research (ENHR) conference, I received an email from Andrei Gisca, Acquisition Editor of LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing (OmniScriptum GmbH & Co. KG at Heinrich-Böcking-Str. 6-8,66121) at Saarbrücken, Germany, offering to publish the paper presented entitled “Exploring the Determinants of Housing Quality of Urban Housing Development in Davao City Philippines. Currently I am already revising the manuscript in conformity to the format and requirements the publishing company requires.
Attached herewith is the email of Mr. Gisca for your reference.
Moreover, I have also made collaborative research and continuous contact with Prof. Melissa Fernandez who presented a paper on housing development and resettlements and Prof Gulcin Pulat Gokmen whose research leaning is on housing environment and housing policy. This conference is also a good avenue to network with possible paper reviewers or referees should the Department of Architecture decide to conduct an International Conference on Housing.
Potential foreign collaborators
- Guden Ekrut – Istanbul Technical University – [email protected]
- Jos e Vallejo – Cambridge University – [email protected]
- Rosa E. Donoso OTB TUDelft – [email protected]
- Gulcin Pulat Gokmen of Istanbul Technical University – [email protected]
- Cecilie Oyen – SINTEF Building and Infrastructure – [email protected]
Other important contacts and insights
- Mark Stephens of Heriot-Watt University, SCOTLAND – .ac.ukm.stephens@hw
- Viggo Nordvik of Norwegian Social Research, NORWAY – [email protected]
- Cecilia Enstrom Ost – Institute for Housing and Urban Research – [email protected]
- Christopher Watson – University of Birmingham, UK – [email protected]
This conference is also a good avenue to network with possible paper reviewers or referees should the Department of Architecture decide to conduct an International Conference on Housing.
Short write-up of one’s participation (to be used to feature/publicize the grantee’s participation in the conference)
UP Min joins the European Network on Housing Research. The European Network on Housing Research (ENHR) has been running its conference for more than two decades and very few Asian countries takes part in this prestigious gathering of housing research enthusiasts. However this 2014, UP Mindanao Professor and Architect Jean Marie Villamor-Juanga was among the applicants whose paper was accepted for presentation in the conference. Prof. Juanga submitted her paper last March, 2014 entitled “Exploring the Determinants of Housing Quality of Urban Housing Development in Davao City Philippines”, which dealt on the issues of housing quality and explored its possible factors in order to provide a basis for policy development, compliance monitoring and research regarding the quality of housing supply.
The Research conference was held last July 1-6, 2014 at Edinburgh, Scotland with the theme “Beyond Globalization: remaking housing policy in a complex world.”. There were more than 500 delegates who attended the conference coming from Europe, Asia and America. Among the countries from Asia who joined were Hongkong, Vietnam and the Philippines. During the culmination of the event (conference) it was announced that the 2015 ENHR will be held at Lisbon, Portugal.
