green, community development, livable spaces, low-income, urban design
I picked this subject because I’m a strong advocate for affordable housing that is sustainable and focuses on green design in the construction of these housing developments. Just knowing that it’s possible to make sustainable affordable housing happen is astounding to me and I would like to research more about it. In this study I would like to get the residents, property managers and possibly the developers perspective of both an affordable housing project and a sustainable housing project to see whether there’s a consensus that sustainable affordable housing should be more widely adopted and if it is in fact feasible and capable of being done on a larger scale. Everyone should care about this subject because whether you are a property owner, a business man or woman or just even a resident in the area of where sustainable housing would take place, everyone’s input matters because everyone is contributing in some way whether it be financially through taxes, sharing the land surrounding the proposed area and more. The goals I hope to achieve through this research are to enhance public awareness of these progressively new design methods and to promote sustainable living to all low-income American families nationwide.
1. Bussell, Mirle Rabinowitz. “Poway, Affordable Housing and Our Way of Life”. San Diego Housing Federation (April 23, 2010): 6. http://www.housingsandiego.org/documents/2010-Bussel-PowayStudyAcademic_Summary_Final.pdf (accessed October 19, 2010).
2. California Planning Roundtable, California Department of Housing & Community Development. (2002). Myths and Facts about Affordable and High Density Housing.
3. Christensen, Kim. Garrison, Jessica. Smith, Doug. “Cities often give short shrift to affordable housing”. Los Angeles Times (October 3, 2010).
4. O’neill, Kevin. Williams, Kara J. Reznik, Vivian. “Engaging Latino Residents to Build a Healthier Community in Mid-City San Diego” American Journal of Preventive Medicine vol. 34, no. 3 (March 2008): 36-41.
5. Sussman, Edna. “Reshaping Municipal and County Laws to Foster Green Building, Energy Efficiency, and Renewable Energy”. NYU Environmental Law Journal vol. 15, no. 1 (February 2008): 15.
1. Environment Design and Construction (ED+C). “A Model Neighbor”. July 1, 2010. http://www.edcmag.com/Articles/Article_Rotation/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_10000000000000848980 (accessed December 2, 2010).
2. Sinclair, Mark. “Mainstreaming Solar PV in the USA.” Renewable Energy Focus vol. 9, no. 5 (September-October 2008): 64-66, 68-70. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/17550084 (accessed October 19, 2010).
3. Wakeland Housing & Development Corporation: Los Vecinos
http://www.wakelandhdc.com/sustainability/look-inside-sustainability (accessed October 19, 2010).
This study primarily focuses on comparing new, eco-friendly methods of urban design to current, normative designs that are used in all affordable housing by: 1) inquiring about solar, water and wind energy efforts, 2) practicing sustainable living techniques and 3) using resident feedback to see if sustainable living is unanimously desired in the city of San Diego. In order to achieve these goals, I am going to focus my research on two affordable housing developments in San Diego: one that is sustainable (Los Vecinos) and one that is not (Rancho Buena Vista) in Chula Vista. This project will encompass in-depth research in relation to surveys, interviews, case studies and current census data. The goals I hope to achieve through this research are to enhance public awareness of these progressively new design methods and to promote sustainable living to all low-income American families nationwide.
To obtain all the evidence I will need to answer my research question, I will be creating a survey that will ask residents living in both sustainable and non-sustainable affordable housing the same questions about their current living conditions and their preferences. This includes asking how satisfied they are with where they are living, what changes they would like to see made, community efforts that need to be changed or implemented, etc. I will then be distributing my survey to all four of my selected affordable housing developments through indirect methods such as dropping off my surveys at the property manager’s desk for them to be distributed to the residents and then for me to come and collect the surveys after they are completed. The journal articles, web articles and books I will be using in my literature review are mostly found on Google scholar and the UCSD library e-journal search engines that I will be working on independently on my laptop.
My alternative plan for obtaining data for my research is to survey or interview the property managers of my four select affordable housing establishments and get their views on how satisfied they are of their respective duties in terms of giving the residents what they want, changes they would like to see in the community and recommendations they might have for sustaining their respective housing development. Then I will compare what all four of them say to each other in terms of sustainable vs. non-sustainable housing, then by location (Poway vs. Chula Vista) then finally all four to the city of San Diego. With this alternative plan, I can still gain a good perspective on how successful or unsuccessful sustainable affordable housing is for its residents and whether or not it is an ideal concept for all affordable housing projects to implement. Ideally however, I would like to get the residents’ point of view since I would be getting more direct feedback compared to the property managers’ feedback on the issue.
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