Rooted in Place : Designing a flexible masterplan for resilient Grangetown

Page 1

Tianhao Bai

|

Xuqing Cai

|

Yilin Gan

|

Yihao Guo

|

Yawen Huang

|

Yuhang Li

Shreya Mahajan

|

Thomas Treacher

|

Rebecca Treharne

|

Yunqi Yang

|

Yuan Yuan

|

Zhaofan Zhou


CONTENT Introduction It has been over 50 years since Ruth Glass, British Sociologist, first coined the term ‘gentrification’ (1964). The term, used originally to define displacement spurred on by the incoming ‘gentry’ has evolved over the years to encompass an array of attributes, which make its present day definition rather elusive. However, its presence is far from elusive. In the modern city, gentrification is rife and is causing widespread gentrification all over. In addition, its complicated nature makes it impossible to pin point a singular cause or remedy. Even so, many ‘anti-gentrification’ measures have been designed to mitigate or even combat these effects, with the hopes of ensuring residents can remain without fear of being displaced. One major ‘anti-gentrification’ measure is to increase the amount of affordable housing for the population. By doing so, we can ensure that even when gentrification hits, housing will remain affordable and people can remain in place. Other measures exist to tackle gentrification, which is what will be discussed in this report. We take a look at gentrification from various angles, within the Grangetown context, and using our analysis we propose an array of ‘anti-gentrification’ measures to promote longitudinal affordability for the area. We do this through the lens of various topics, in order to be able to paint an all round picture for an anti-gentrification strategy. These topics include: Group 1 1. Public Policies and Regulations 2. Patterns of land Ownership and Uses Group 2 3. Housing finance 4. Designing Structures, Spaces and Places Group 3 5. Community Demographics and Mobilization 6. Processes of Property Development For the record, we dislike the term ‘anti-gentrification’ and so created the more optimistic term of ‘Rooted in PLACE’. So all our strategies will be formed around how we can root Grangetown in place. INTRODUCTION

|

1


DEFINITION OF GENTRIFICATION Analysis

Within this report, we will be basing the term ‘gentrification’ on Davidson and Lees (2005) definition, which encompasses four core elements. We found this to be the most accurate definition, because it takes into consideration that gentrification isn’t caused by just one stand-alone element. Instead, a circumstance requires the presence of four core elements to be deemed gentrification. Their definition involves; 1. 2. 3. 4.

reinvestment of capital social upgrading of local by incoming high income groups landscape change direct or indirect displacement of low income groups

Context in Cardiff To ground our discussion about gentrification we have chosen to analyse one of Cardiff’s largest suburbs, Grangetown. Originally farmland, Grangetown has come a long way in the past 100 years, demographically and physically. With Irish immigrants settling there for the easy access to the local industry in the late 1800’s; to other working class taking up residence in the early 1900’s; to the middle-class seeing it as a quieter suburb to settle in the late 1900’s; to today, the 21st century, where a large portion of residents are from ethnic backgrounds. Grangetown has seen a lot of physical transformation over the years too. Its local retail has seen a decline and a recession towards the main corridors within the Victorian core, its bay area has become a destination for luxury apartment developers, a yacht club and the Olympic park facilities and the various road improvements have connected it more directly to both the Bay and Cardiff city centre.

Key questions: we would like to answer through this research project are; 1. How can we create more affordable housing within Grangetown that doesn’t displace the current residents, and is affordable in the long run and not just in the short? 2. How can we impact policies and other regulations to support the provision of affordable neighbourhoods that are built up by the community, and not down into the community by developers? 3. How can we activate the community to engage with projects and policies and other strategies that we propose within Grangetown? 4. Can we root Grangetown in place using a combined effort of all the above topics in a way that leaves it as the successful flagship that other cities will want to strive for in the future?

What is happening in Grangetown? As a group, we have identified three types of incipient gentrification within Grangetown: New-build, retail and environmental. We deem them incipient gentrification because there is not enough evidence to define them as examples of full-blown gentrification, but they are characteristic of the way that gentrification shows itself in an area. And there is no specified timescale before the full force of gentrification hits, so it is important to identify these now in order to plan for the future.

However, while we have identified these incipient gentrification types, there is a more important question, that of ‘why’ they have been allowed to happen. Addressing this ‘why’ is actually more important in design terms, because if you can find the source, you’re more likely to solve the problem.

However, it is the recent changes that have caught our attention. 2

|

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

|

3


Addressing the ‘why?’ To address the ‘why’ we took a step back to consider what came before these physical occurrences. The table below shoes our basic thought process in tracing back the steps to what could have prompted the start of gentrification in the area. Overall, it seemed to be a lack of policies that protect local residents and businesses from the harmful effects of gentrification. In addition, with its location so close to Cardiff centre, Grangetown must have a respectable, and increasing, land value. This is very attractive to developers and their visions of speculative demand for high-rise luxury properties. With no policies to channel this type of development, in addition to the lucrative benefits the landowner (in this case local government) can gain from selling or leasing land, there is more incentive to allow this development than leave the land empty.

Proposal overview

One of the main things we have learned in studying gentrification is that no one strategy will be able to solve it. And in fact we may never be able to solve it, but we can try to mitigate and channel it into something positive. While policies can certainly assist with this, no one or group of policies will be able to do the job by itself. Our overall proposal then, based on our research, is to create a series of corridors throughout Grangetown. On the map below these are highlighted as the lines in the shades of orange. These corridors attempt to link all parts of Grangetown together, from East to West and North to South. The idea of the corridor is based around the need to physically ground, in a strategic way, all the strategies that we will propose later in this report. Instead of offering the strategies individually across Grangetown, the corridor allows us to strategically place each strategy so that it has the most benefit to the most people. This also gives our strategies an added depth. We have realised that to create a resilient Grangetown it is paramount to strengthen it from various angles. Building resiliency is not just about building more affordable homes right now, but it is about how we can create affordable neighbourhoods for now and for future generations. Working together and embedding all our topics into these corridors has allowed us, we believe, to create a whole greater than the sum of its individual parts. However, we do recognise that this is still a working process and elements will need to be adapted as we proceed, some things might not work at all and others may exceed our expectations. Either way, the strength in our corridor proposals comes from all our topic layers combined together into one.

We appreciate, however, that our addressing of the ‘why?’ only touches the surface of what could be revealed. But we feel it is a good start to the conversation and we hope our work provides value in sparking interest in delving deeper into the ‘why?’ 4

|

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

|

5


To space out the delivery of these corridors, we split them into three phases. Phase 1 was designed to target the areas most at need right now. Our research concluded that this area was not only the lowest earning area, but was also most in need for affordable housing units. Therefore, our proposals will begin there and permeate outwards towards the other two phases in time. Corridor phase 2 also needs a lot of help but in a different way. This area is dominated by industry and is physically separated from the residential parts of Grangetown. This stage is scheduled to start 10 years after phase 1 begins and will build on learning outcomes from phase 1. Phase 3 poses an altogether different situation again as it is a mixture of current affordable homes, retail and commercial and high-end residential all spread over a much larger surface area. We expect to see many changes in this area over the next 10-20 years so our plans will likely become redundant if designed now. Therefore, the main plan for this will likely be designed as we progress through stage 1 and 2. 6

|

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

|

7


PUBLIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS To add the first layer to our corridor we began by trying to root Grangetown in place with policy. We did this by looking at how to mitigate the types of incipient gentrification we talked about earlier. To do this, we conducted analysis into each type, and proposed a revised policy that could help with the situation. These policies include: - - - - -

Developer competitions An empty homes policy A small business policy A special employment subsidy and; The Earned Income Tax Credit

PUBLIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS |

9


DEVELOPER COMPETITIONS

BUILD GENRTIFICATION New build gentrification tends to come in the form of new, expensive properties that alter the dynamics of a place and don’t quite fit in with the vernacular and character of the area. They appeal to a certain user group and often bring along with them facilities to appeal to these new groups. Within new build gentrification, displacement can happen either directly or indirectly. However, we can never really measure its effects thoroughly because displacement could happen at any point for any reason. But ultimately, new build gentrification tends to bring with it a different taste that can mess with NEW-BUILD GENTRIFICATION the established ways of a place. Direct displacement

Renovating &Restoring

+ Rising house prices

Middle class

Historic individual housing units

Decorated house

Displacement (lower income)

Source: by Zhaofan Zhou from "New-build `gentrification' and London's riverside renaissance"

Indirect displacement Purchase take control of community Build

Brown field

Second order effects

Middle-class neighbourhoods

Rising house prices

Displacement

Cannot afford

Demolish

Lower income Low-income neighbourhoods

socio-cultural displacement

Middle class

Improving Attraction

|

Having research into many of the recent developments in Grangetown, we can almost see a pattern forming. Developers are coming in, building expensive high-rise luxury apartments, Olympic sports complexes and, apparently, affordable housing units. However, behind each of these lurk three development drivers, that as urban designers trying to root Grangetown in place, we have a serious problem with. These include: • Seeing land as a commodity • Profit as a value driver HOUSING TYPE ANALYSE • Speculative demand CURRENT HOUSING TYPE AND PRICE (ON SALE)

Purchase

10

Analysis

New-build middle-class neighbourhoods

PUBLIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS

Displacement

Source: by Zhaofan Zhou from "New-build `gentrification' and London's riverside renaissance" and "New-Build Gentrifi cation: ItsSource: Histories,Trajectories, and Critical Geographies" by Zhaofan Zhou from "New-build `gentrification' and London's riverside renaissance" and "New-Build Gentrifi cation: Its Histories,Trajectories, and Critical Geographies"

This diagram depicts the range and types of a handful of properties currently for sale and rent in Grangetown. As you can see, prices within the bay exceed those, quite dramatically, elsewhere in Grangetown. Where the Victorian core boasts an array of terraced houses, mostly built in the 1900’s, the bay area has exploded with luxury apartment complex after the next. From this, we see visual evidence of the commodification of land, where its value rises as it becomes ‘more appealing’. According to our research, the government actually owns, or did, the majority of this land, so what reasons, other than land commodification, would they have allowed developers to claim and build on this site? Especially when there is a desperate need in this area for affordable homes? Therefore, within the proposal we wish to remove, or at least mitigate land commodification.

£499,950 £459,950 £359,950

£289,950 £210,000

£279,950 £180,000

£160,000 £115,000

£129,000 £135,000

£299,995

£310,000

£300,000

£235,000 £165,000

£137,500 £89,950

£99,950 £64,950

Detached Semi-detached Terraced Flat

The map shows the price of different housing types in different areas from south to north.We can see that the number of flats is the largest, and the price of flat is the lowest in any regions, followed by terraced. Besides, from south to north, the price shows an downtrend. Therefore, we can regard flats as the main type of affordable housing, and mainly develop affordable housing in the central or northern part of grangetown.

Source: By Zhaofan Zhou from Rightmove

Source: By Zhaofan Zhou from Rightmove PUBLIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS |

11


We can also use this image to showcase profit as a value driver. Developers will likely be making a lot of money off of these developments, even, actually, if they are not in use. While they may have invested a lot of money into these apartments, the exchange value of the land is likely increasing regularly, especially with Cardiff’s population rising rapidly. While it might be that not all these apartments get filled up, the value of the land underneath certainly will. In addition, when we consider what the needs of the local people are, which we will identify later on, we see that what has been provided in the bay definitely does not meet those.

DEVELOPER COMPETITIONS Proposal

Finally, when we look at the number of houses within the bay that are either for sale or for rent, we could assume that many of the properties built here were in anticipation of potential buyers, not because there was an immediate need. Therefore, we question why there always seems to be a speculative demand for expensive residences but never for affordable housing?

Source: Zhaofan Zhou

Within this, the developer will work with our proposed Community land Trust (CLT- discussed later) and the local residents to devise an affordable housing plan that meets their needs. Ultimately, the development will not be able to meet every need, but like every development not everyone will be satisfied. However, the idea of putting the community first should certainly alter community mindsets about how developers work.

12

|

PUBLIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS

Our strategy, therefore, will be used to challenge the developers to alter their current view on property delivery and demand more of them in terms of putting community needs first. To do this, we take inspiration from the Vienna programme for housing development, Bauträgerwettbewerbe. In Vienna, these competitions are paramount to cost effectively developing high quality, densely compact housing that people enjoy living in. Each team who competes will receive a subsidy for their individual projects. A panel of judges will determine the winner based on factors such as the projects’ economics, architecture, social mix and ecology. This has basically allowed Vienna to push the cost of construction down by leveraging its purse. We respect that this has probably taken many years to deliver successfully in Vienna. And it is now at a point where it is seen as prestigious to take part in these competitions. Developers engage with the project to the point where profit comes second nature to community needs. To promote this, we have devised the following structure: PUBLIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS |

13


EMPTY HOMES

Considering why there were so many, we research into possibilities. The following came up via various failed policies and from other similar cases across the UK. • “Buy to leave” – where developers will buy properties and do nothing with them. The likely reason for this is due to the exchange value being higher than its use value. Therefore, there is less financial incentive for these developers to actually put the house into use, when they can do nothing and make more money with less hassle. • The cost of letting is too high – obviously letting through an agency comes with its costs, and for some people this may be too much to consider pursuing. Therefore, properties are left empty as in the above case. • Maintenance costs are too high – similar to the above case the costs associated with maintaining a certain level of quality for a building can be too much of a financial burden for some landowners. Therefore, homes are left empty again. • Neighbourhood decline – in some areas of Grangetown there are cases of neighbourhood decline where the incentives to move there are not very high. A landowner therefore sees no reason to upgrade their stock if they don’t foresee anyone moving in.

Analysis

What policies already exist to combat this?

Through our analysis, we came across the fact that there are a lot of empty houses in Grangetown. The picture to the right puts this in context of the rest of Cardiff and shows that Grangetown actually has one of the highest rates of empty homes in the city. In addition, when we mapped these empty homes (image below), we found the majority to be located within the Victorian Core. However, there were also a fair few located in the bay too 14

|

PUBLIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS

PUBLIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS |

15


However, while there are policies that do exist, we would question how effective each of them are. The Houses into homes scheme, for example, was quite effective when it was in use. According to the Final Evaluation Report for Cardiff in 2015, £2.2 million was allocated in order to bring back 96 flats, 11 houses and 4 HMOs. Of these, 8 properties were put up for sale and 103 to let. But, due potentially to funding issues, this policy is no longer active in Cardiff. The first-time buyer schemes are very specific and actually too specific to solve the problem of empty homes as they’re targeting a particular group of people. The Empty Properties & VAT scheme has better intentions, but this could end up putting the landowner in more serious debt, especially if they can’t actually afford to do anything with the house right now. What if the property had been passed down to them, but they had no money and/ or lack of knowledge to know what was best to do with it? Source: Houses into Homes Final Evaluation Report, Welsh Government

In any of these cases, when we look at how many empty homes there still are in Cardiff, especially in Grangetown, we can conclude that none of these policies is working particularly well. In any of these cases, when we look at how many empty homes there still are in Cardiff, especially in Grangetown, we can conclude that none of these policies is working particularly well.

And as a last resort the government could use the Empty Dwelling Management order. This allows them to forcibly take ownership of a property, which is a good way of transferring ownership, however it doesn’t create a good relationship between the government and landowner. Therefore, our proposal aims to foster a healthy relationship with land owner, purchaser and so that the property can go back into use to support the community instead of take away from it. 16

|

PUBLIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS

EMPTY HOMES Proposal

Our proposal works as follows. The Community Land Trust, in cooperation with the landowner, will purchase the land. The CLT will then work with its partners and the community to bring the home back into use, in a way that benefits the community. As Grangetown is in need of more affordable housing, that would be the initial option to choose. However, as we will discuss later on, there are an array of other uses that the house could be put to, all of which help to root Grangetown in place for now and in the future. The benefits of this arrangement are that it supports the landowner, especially if they are in desperate need of help in terms of knowing what to do with their property. It also maintains a positive relationship with them, so they would be more likely to support the process instead of speaking badly about it. Secondly, the design aspect brings the community into the picture, so instead of speculative building, we will be building to meet the needs of the community. And thirdly, we hope that this could initiate the conversations with other landowners in similar situations who would like their house brought back into use. The disadvantages include the fact that landowners may want to make a profit off selling their property, which would make it more difficult for the CLT, a non-profit organisation, to engage with. And secondly, obviously not every decision is going to meet the needs of everyone in the community, but we appreciate that and will need to plan accordingly. PUBLIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS |

17


INCREASING DENSITY OF EXISTING STOCK Analysis

This proposal can be linked with the empty homes strategy, but requires its own analysis too, as it is also a project in itself. In Grangetown, there is currently a very long waitlist for affordable housing. Between 2016 and 2021 Cardiff put together a Housing Strategy that was supposed to deliver high quality affordable homes. They developed a whole system approach, as seen to the right, that aimed at not only creating additional affordable homes, but set out to improve the quality of existing ones. In this report, they also discuss empty homes, adapted homes amongst other topics. In 2016, the Housing report stated that there are almost 24,000 social housing units across Cardiff. Cardiff Council and the 7 Housing Associations it partners with own and look after this stock, with Cardiff Council looking after the bulk (as seen in this pie diagram). However, even with these in use, there is still a huge need for affordable housing. So much so that the waiting list is increasing.

Source: Housing

Ultimately, to meet its demand for affordable housing, Cardiff would need to build just over 2,000 properties a year over the next 5 years. And considering nothing to the scale has been built since then (6072 units would be the amount expected by now, 3 years later) we can conclude that while this report set put to deliver something, they are only words. Until action is taken to meet this demand, words will only remain so. In their report, Cardiff states that they are seeking creative approaches to facilitate delivery of these affordable housing units. Their Affordable Housing 5 year Development Plan set outs what approaches they seek to take, but we challenge how creative they really are, and how they will work in practice.

Cardiff

Strategy

2016-2021. P 9

18

|

PUBLIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS

Source: Cardiff Housing Strategy 2016-2021. P 6

While we have found evidence of a number of affordable units being delivered across Cardiff, there has not been anything to this scale. With that in mind, we would like to highlight our next proposal. PUBLIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS |

19


INCREASING DENSITY OF EXISTING STOCK

Proposal

Therefore, when we consider that flats are the most available property in Grangetown, they are the cheapest to rent and they have a lot of potential for adaptations, we propose to increase their stock to meet this demand. Our proposal is to increase the density of existing housing stock. The floor plan below shows how we have converted a typical terraced house on Penarth road into two one-bedroom flats on the ground floor, the same on the first floor, a two-bedroom flat on the second floor and the same on the third floor. Below that is an example of how we can integrate commercial space into these premises and also accommodate for the larger families in Grangetown who often have to wait a minimum of 5 years for a space big enough for them. With only a handful of larger properties in Grangetown, creating these 5 bedroom duplexes will help to meet that demand too.

When we consider the Grangetown housing waitlist, we can identify a few key points that stand out. Highlighted in the red box below are general needs for 1 and two bedroom properties and the availability of them. From this you should be able to note that there is a significant deficiency in the availability of these types. 20

|

PUBLIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS

PUBLIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS |

21


The external parts of these buildings will be modified too, to increase the amount of parking at the back of the property and to improve walking and cycling infrastructure to the front. The reason behind this is to make it easier to move around the corridors, therefore increasing the range of affordable destinations. Without such infrastructure, those without cars would find it very difficult to get around. Some of the ideas we put together of making walking and cycling infrastructure more friendly are laid out below. This might look like gentrification, but the protection of the Community Land Trust will mitigate, if not remove, any hint of gentrification impacts here.

22

|

PUBLIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS

Obviously in such a densely compact building, we want to also ensure that people, especially those with young children, have access to outside space. Therefore, we propose rooftop gardens for those above the first floor. While in many places this may be considered an act of gentrification, with our proposals that follow this, we hope to mitigate and even remove that negative impact. The rooftop gardens will be informal green space for all building tenants to use. It can be designed with the tenants in mind so that it meets their individual needs. Obviously Grangetown has an array of larger parks, so for activities that require more space, residents will need to use those. But with better connections and infrastructure to get them around Grangetown, there should be more of an incentive to make the effort.

PUBLIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS |

23


RETAIL GENTRIFICATION Introduction

With regards to retail gentrification, we first noticed potential signs of this while researching the history of the Victorian core. We noticed that from the 1900’s the retail options had been receding until they only focussed around the main junction of Penarth and Corporation road. In addition, where many local companies once existed within the industrial quarter, now very few remain. In their place, a multitude of large national and international companies now stand, offering the same service at a reduced cost.

2018 - A new-thru of Starbucks

2017 - GrangeVape opened

However, we’d like to showcase an example of where a local company has succeeded over a global company. Bruton’s Bakery was established in Grangetown right at its beginning. It has lasted through the years, to today where it occupies a dominant space within the main Penarth/ Corporation road junction. Within the last 10 years, Greggs moved into the area with the aim of competing with Bruton’s. Local residents took action against this and chose not to purchase from Greggs and instead supported their local company. This eventually resulted in Greggs being forced out, leaving a new premises for Bruton’s to move into. While we appreciate this doesn’t always happen, we wanted to highlight the power than communities can have over changes they do not wish to see or support in their community.

Having looked into the why behind retail gentrification, we found that there were limited policies to protect and support local businesses. Obviously, having seen the visual evidence of their recession, we wanted ot better understand why this might have happened. Currently, within Grangetown,

We then proceeded to look at the more recent types of incipient retail gentrification, of which there were quite a few obvious examples. Through observations of the area, in addition to secondary research we found the following business had found their way in:

2016 - Big box in Cardiff Bay (planned)

24

|

PUBLIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS

2015 - Tramshed opened

PUBLIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS |

25


PRIORITISING LOCAL BUSINESSES

Proposal

Another aspect to this is the idea of supporting pop-up businesses. Pop-ups are small independents that can have a shorter lifespan than rooted businesses because their nature is trial and error. Basically, they set up and sell for between 6 and 12 months and if they wish to stay longer they could try and find a more permanent location, or they could close up shop and be done. It’s a flexible way of being able to start up a business with minimal costs and no long-term contract. For Grangetown, there are an array of potential services that could be delivered through pop up businesses. They provide opportunities for all sorts of people, especially young minds who don’t have the financial backing to start up on a larger scale. Opportunities for starting a pop up within Grangetown are only available to those who are a Community Land Trust tenant. Doing this ensures that they are protected from market changes and cannot be financially burdened by larger competition.

To respond to this, we propose to develop a policy that puts local businesses first, and also supports them from a variety of angles. In addition, later policies will also tie into this and, hopefully, strengthen this from both the business, their employees and the local community. This can also link into the policy around empty homes where they can be transformed into small businesses for those who cannot afford large premises or for small start-ups.

The ideas we thought about for Grangetown are highlighted to the right.

In addition to using empty housing to house the pop up businesses, we could also use tuktuk’s, and containers.

Our policy to prioritize local businesses involves two core elements, as depicted below. T h e p o l i c y, w h i c h w i l l b e i m p l e m e n t e d a c r o s s Grangetown, will identify a number of locations for small businesses, which it will do so by looking at existing commercial space and long term vacant housing. It will then determine a rent cap or tax abatement for certain businesses.

Source;Yuan Yuan 26

|

PUBLIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS

PUBLIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS |

27


PRIORITISING LOCAL BUSINESSES

Case studies

To generate ideas, we looked into two case studies about pop-up businesses: A. The Second Street District, Austin, Texas • The city worked with development partners to set a goal of having at least 30 percent of the project’s retail space lease to locally owned businesses. B.The King Street Station, Seattle • The city’s seeking local businesses for the spaces and is reviewing how to structure its leases to give them favorable terms, for instance, with flexible lengths, options to extend, assistance with space improvements or build-outs, and gradual rent increases. • “Because we control the space, we’re able to set the price in a way that’s going to be affordable for local businesses,” says Ken Takahashi in the city’s Office of Economic Development. The advantages of this policy include: • The fact that it can prompt an immediate reaction • That it provides and creates more opportunities for locals to have small businesses and; • It guarantees space for small local business to develop. The limits include: • The residents will not necessarily own their own business and at some point may needs to consider it. However, we want to ensure there is support there for them at this time. • A certain portion of premises may be difficult to guarantee

28

|

PUBLIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS

SMALL BUSINESS OFFICE Analysis & Proposal

In order to protect and support the new and current businesses within Grangetown, we wanted to ensure there was a system in place to do so. The CLT would likely have funds to support this, but we would also like to engage with Cardiff Council, in the hopes that their funding can help sustain an office like this. The way it would work is as follows; Ultimately, the office should support and assist local-owned businesses through training programs (improving facades, financial training), providing technical assistance and providing loans. To look into how this could be done, we research a case study about a Small Business navigator in Montgomery County Maryland. This case study showed that a Small Business Navigator is great for four main reasons: A. It is a direct method to assist small business owners to run their businesses. B. It is better to teach a man to fish than to give a man a fish. So, it could be an efficient way in a long run. C. Small business loans/funding might solve the most basic problem. D. It is a good way to protect/sustain the existing small businesses. PUBLIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS |

29


SPECIAL EMPLOYMENT SUBSIDY

Analysis & Proposal

Linked to the above is the Special Employment Subsidy that we wish to propose. The unemployment claimant rate in Grangetown is not particularly high when compared to the rest of Cardiff (see diagram below), but considering that the bay data probably skews this, we have taken it into consideration. In addition, while employment rate might not be alarmingly low, the following section highlights data showing that a vast amount of Grangetown residents are living below the poverty line, which is unacceptable. The special employment subsidy programme could be a Cardiff Council project that Grangetown could trial out. The idea is that local businesses (here is where it links into the above scheme) would hire people from within this programme; whose wages will be subsidised 100% by the Council (or other funding source). The aim is to both encourage local businesses to hire local people and to encourage local people to take up local jobs. The target audience for these subsidies is the younger population of Grangetown, but if an applicant shows serious need for the schemes help then they will be considered. The program, therefore, benefits both employers and employees. More than half of the selected employers could be small local business. 30

|

PUBLIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS

PUBLIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS |

31


EARNED INCOME TAX CREDIT

Graphically, we can see the correlation mush more clearly:

Analysis

When we look at the below tables we can see that levels of household income have a strong correlation with income poverty levels. There are way too many households that are living under the poverty line in Grangetown.

% of households below 60% of GB median income

Median Household Income

£45,000 +

£37,500 to £44,999 £30,000 to £37,499

Source: Cardiff Research Centre

32

|

PUBLIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS

£22,500 to £29,999

50.0+

37.5 to 49.9 25.0 to 37.4 12.5 to 24.9

Source: Cardiff Research Centre

PUBLIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS |

33


when we link this to census data such as local qualifications, employment and dependents, economic activity and lone parents we start to get a better picture of what might help to support the local residents more from an income angle. While we appreciate that providing affordable homes is a key aspect to rooting Grangetown in place, we also recognise that we would do much better to challenge it from various angles. Providing opportunities for local people to strengthen their knowledge, increase their monthly income and do so even without needing to do anything more than what they’re doing now, makes logical and ethical sense.

EARNED INCOME TAX CREDIT Proposal

So what is the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and what does it involve? An EITC is a tax offset placed on income tax, in order to reduce a household’s outflow of capital. Instead this money can be used for other, more important things. The idea was formed in the United States, but various versions of it exist across the world today. The amount of tax credit depends on three things: 1. A person’s income 2. A person’s marital status 3. The number of children in a family

Ultimately then, not only does the EITC help to support people, even on a small scale, out of financial difficulties, but it also incentivises them to strive for a better paid job in order to earn additional tax credit. With the number of families in Grangetown, the EITC is ideal – especially if there is currently only one earner in the household. From the data above we can see that there will definitely be a need for this. We aim to link to the CLT for financial backing on this project, and will look into other partners too.

34

|

PUBLIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS

But why is a project like this needed? In addition to some of the answers alluded to above, we have identified five main reasons: • To complement the Special Employment Subsidy • To help residents reduce their outgoing expenses initially • To assist those in particular who have children • Incentivises people to get off welfare support • Incentivises people to engage more with the Special Employment Subsidy programme to earn more money PUBLIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS |

35


PATTERNS OF LAND OWNERSHIP AND USES

Analysis

Through our primary and secondary research we were able to identify the following characteristics of land ownership and uses within Grangetown. Firstly, privately owned premises dominate the land ownership. As we can see from the diagrams below, total owned exceeds both privately and socially rented properties. This tells us that there are few social properties in the area, and the private market is dominating the area.

However, when we look at the number of properties for sale and for rent in the area, in addition to those empty properties we spoke about earlier, it makes us question how many of them are actually regularly occupied‌

Properties for sale

36

|

PATTERNS OF LAND OWNERSHIP AND USES

Properties for rent

PATTERNS OF LAND OWNERSHIP AND USES

|

37


We have identified that land use is split between residential and commercial & retail with the latter urban grain dominating (see image to the right). However, within this we found very few affordable housing sites (see picture below), which, considering how large the area is, including all the information previously discussed about empty and vacant properties, it doesn’t make sense that there are so few affordable houses, especially when the local need is so great.

In addition, the industrial area is dominated by large multinational businesses. Local businesses, we found, were either managing to survive, had receded into small pockets of Grangetown or had disappeared completely, Furthermore, there is a huge physical disconnect between the residential area and that occupied by the commercial/ retail, which is highlighted by this map to the right. Also, we found that local government own, or did own a large proportion of land across Grangetown, especially within the bay. Now, when we consider what is currently being constructed in the bay, we would challenge if they had all that land, and knew there was a need, just speculative, but a need for affordable housing, why would they give up this land for it? This goes back to our points at the very beginning of this paper about speculative demand, land commodification and profit as a value driver.

And finally, there are a handful of planned development sites that aim to construct a combined 372 affordable homes across Grangetown- but what is there to support them?

Source: By Zhaofan Zhou from Google map 38

|

PATTERNS OF LAND OWNERSHIP AND USES

Source: MAUD Group A 2017/18

Source: MAUD Group D 2017/18

PATTERNS OF LAND OWNERSHIP AND USES

|

39


PATTERNS OF LAND OWNERSHIP AND USES Proposal

So what does this all tell us? Well, housing stock is potentially not being optimised, there is a big disconnect across Grangetown, local retail is often having to compete with companies much larger than them, and land commodification is a risk.

40

|

PATTERNS OF LAND OWNERSHIP AND USES

In order to begin to embed a resiliency in Grangetown, we propose to set up a Community Land Trust (which has been eluded to throughout the paper). A CLT is a non-profit organisation that, once they have purchased a parcel of land, can ensure its longitudinal affordability. The affordability comes from the fact that tenant rent is determine by their income, which will alter according to earnings. Within a CLT, tenants can usually own or rent, but within ours we have decided to keep to renting only. If tenants could own a property then selling would be restricted so that no profits, or very little, profits could be made. This is to ensure it is affordable for both now and future generations. To set up a CLT the following steps must be followed: a community creates a steering group, identifies an area of land or properties, they make a plan based on the needs of the tenants, they build- either through developers or self-build and then they live in the properties. While this is a very simplistic version, you can see the below tables for a more thorough process. The funding options you can see below, and there is a huge range of them. More detail about when they can be applied for is in the blue tables.

PATTERNS OF LAND OWNERSHIP AND USES

|

41


42

|

PATTERNS OF LAND OWNERSHIP AND USES

PATTERNS OF LAND OWNERSHIP AND USES

|

43


44

|

PATTERNS OF LAND OWNERSHIP AND USES

PUBLIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS |

45


But we have adapted out CLT to incorporate aspects we think will be of benefit to the Grangetown area. These include: A.

We will shape it around Vienna housing policies

Vienna spends 570 euros annually on affordable housing, and they can do this because they have a higher income tax, which gets fed back into housing. Over 80% of their population rent, and they do this because the properties are of such good quality and value, there is no need to buy. And when you consider that a Vienna resident will only spend 18% of their monthly wage on rent, compared to the 50% in the UK and 70% in London alone, they must be doing something right by their population. So, for Grangetown, where Vienna collects additional income tax, the CLT will just use portions of tenant rent to produce similar results. Obviously this will be at a much smaller scale to Vienna, but the main principles remain the same. Not only does this allow the CLT to collect more money to support the delivery of new affordable housing, but it can also keep the existing stock up to a good quality. B.

It encompasses all corridors

Secondly, our CLT will encompass all three corridors, though it will naturally begin within phase 1 and gradually build over time. The idea is to embed it at the very beginning so that by the time phase 3 comes around, it has gone from strength to strength and has gained a real community interest and respect for it. The idea of embedding the CLT within each corridor is primarily to ensure longitudinal affordability no matter what gets developed within it. As rent is determined by tenant income, no amount of development will be able to raise the costs that people need to pay for housing. In addition, land commodification is subsequently removed. Furthermore, linking in with the previous developer competitions, by ensuring that housing within the Trust is delivered with community needs in mind, the area will likely adapt as the community does, not as and when external developers think it needs to. 46

|

PATTERNS OF LAND OWNERSHIP AND USES

C.

It is physically grounded within Grangetown

As the CLT, as a physical organisation, will be working so hard within Grangetown to ensure this plan is delivered, it will need a physical presence. Therefore, we propose to have a type of office within the community so that local residents can engage with us regularly. More information on this will come in the next section. D.

We will partner with Taff Housing Association and the Salvation Army

We recognise that the CLT will not have all the resources it needs to be able to achieve what it wants. Therefore, we propose to call upon the help of already established local authorities, associations and groups. Taff Housing Association was an obvious choice because of all their current work within Grangetown. We think the CLT could work well with them, and even strengthen their position within the area. We can link in with not only their housing stock, but their contacts with local government, their community engagement activities and so much more. Local government are also a key partner to have on board, considering they hold the financial backing for many projects within the area already, and they also have control over the targets set out in their 2016-2021 housing strategy. A number of points on it allude to the need to come up with more creative ways of offering affordable housing, and we think the CLT could be one of those. The Salvation Army are another obvious choice due to the reasons stated in point F. E.

It includes both residential and commercial

This has not been done successfully before, based on the research we conducted. However, we value the fact that affordable homes are good but without an affordable neighbourhood to support them they may be isolated still. Supporting and protecting local businesses too is, we hope, a good way of allowing the area to thrive. The small businesses office that we talked about earlier will be part of this. F.

We will support the eradication of homelessness in Cardiff

Housing First is set to support homelessness in Cardiff with funding of ÂŁ548,000. The money will go towards a collaboration between The Salvation Army and Cardiff Council, where they will work towards reducing and eventually ending homelessness in the city. The CLT can link in with this by offering up affordable properties to house people and to offer up spaces for them to receive the care and training they need to leave this life behind. PATTERNS OF LAND OWNERSHIP AND USES | 47


G.

There will be a self-build aspect

In the UK, only around 10% of new homes are self-built which might be much lower than many other countries. It just cost 70-75% of its final value. So, how does this work? Firstly, people have to apply for a self-build within Community Land Trust. And then they will be divided into groups by different buildings and floors. Within groups, they must have some degree of understanding what they are doing and will be encouraged to attend training to ensure this. They are not going to own those houses; it is still owned by CLT. However, the rent will be reduced since self-build. What’s more, we found that Wales government is going to provide 210m pounds for selfbuilders and the scheme will launch in late spring this year.

H.

It will be flexible and adaptable: it’s a trial!

It is worth mentioning here that our CLT is only in trial stage. We have tried to be ambitious in the design of it to ensure we can root Grangetown in place from a number of angles; however, we appreciate that not all of these aspects will go to plan. Some might not even work at all, and others may exceed our expectations. In addition, nothing to the scale of our three corridors has been done before, but we wanted to ensure that our benefits weren’t just felt in pockets, but were felt in continuous corridors through Grangetown, that could help the benefits permeate into wider areas. Ultimately, it would be amazing to have all of Grangetown as part of the Trust; a little isolated island in Cardiff that is built and influenced from within, with very little influence from the outside- only when it is requested. The final point about our Trust is inspired by Vienna, again, but is driven by the fact that it might require more than what the financial capabilities of its funding sources can offer. What we mean is that we have placed a huge amount of work on the CLT to deliver and support many projects both financially and intellectually within Grangetown, and we felt it needed an additional source of funding; one that it had more control over and more immediate access to. Therefore, we have proposed a commercial element, which works as such:

Within the renovation of affordable homes, some of the top floors will be built and offered at market rate prices. This is for two reasons: one is to increase the capital inflow for the CLT to ensure it ahs enough liquidity to support all the projects we have mentioned and those yet to come. In addition, it could come in handy also when considering that some ground floors will be let out to pop up businesses, who may not have the funds to support their rent payments. The market rate income from the top floor could be used to offset the rent for the ground floor, effectively giving them a space to run a business from for free. Secondly, though our CLT will offer a mix of affordable units, we envision there still being the want and need for market rate properties- especially as Grangetown is so close to Cardiff city centre. And the best thing is, because of the rent security provided by the CLT, the market rate properties will have no impact on rent for the neighbouring affordable units.

48

|

PATTERNS OF LAND OWNERSHIP AND USES

PATTERNS OF LAND OWNERSHIP AND USES

|

49


CONCLUSION Corridor & CLT Overall then, what we have provided here towards the corridor plan is the base levels. The policies act as the non-physical supports that are embedded in every corner of the corridor, and the CLT acts as the bridge between the non-physical and the physical, which is yet to come. So far, our corridor looks like the below diagram, and will be built upon and strengthened in the sections to come.

Source: Zhaofan Zhou Source; Yuan Yuan 50

|

PATTERNS OF LAND OWNERSHIP AND USES

PATTERNS OF LAND OWNERSHIP AND USES

|

51


Source : Shreya Mahajan

The 2 topics we are studying are Housing Finance and Designing Structures, Spaces and Places. One deals with finance and other the form. We develop a relation betwwen both the factors that is form and the finance. Form and finance are inter-related to each other. According to our analysis, the contemporary belief that form follows finance is very true because initially we need finance to set up our physical as well as non-physical strategies. Later, with our strategies for antigentrification we aim finance to follow the form ; where form means the system of working and management of our strategies. 53


To study the finance and designing structures in Grangetown area, we are considering different scales from to understand the issues in detail. The strategies at different scales are as below :

Designing FLEXIBLE TRANSPORTATION for Grangetown Regional / City Scale

REGIONAL/ CITY SCALE Designing FLEXIBLE Transportation for Grangetown

GRANGETOWN SCALE SELF REFURBISHMENT

STREET SCALE DIY FOLLIES : Pavilions for the people by the people

SITE SPECIFIC SCALE DIY HOUSING : Cabinets of Curiosity

Source : Shreya Mahajan

DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES |

55


There are 3 train stations in sothern part of Grangetown . Bus connectivity is quite good as compared to the people who use bus transport. We see many buses running down empty because it takes more time to travel by buses due to narrow roads in Grangetown. Our aim is to provide flexible affordable transportation

in

Grangetown

which

connects to the city and other regions. The aim is to improve cycling networks and

provide

infrastructure

like

cycling

stands at every bus stop and train station. This will provide options to the residents travelling to different parts of the city. Figure : Existing cycling and walking infrastructure Source : Yuhang Li

Grangetown

has

good

facilities

The figure shows frequency of bus transport

of

in different parts of Grangetown from

walking infrastructure whereas very poor

high (dark) to low (light). It also indicates

connectivity for cycling. Council has further plans for improving the cycling network Figure : Walking and Cycling netowrk in Grangetown Source : MAUD Autumn Studio Group F Report 2017-18

56

|

DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES

but none of which has yet come on site,

that Figure : Current bus and train network in Grangetown Source : MAUD Autumn Studio Group F Report 2017-18

southern part of Grangetown has

very good bus frequency as compared to the northern part of Cardiff Bay area.

DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES |

57


ACTIVE TRAVEL ACT

STRATEGY Banning Car Park on Road

►►Active travel means walking or cycling as a means of transport in order to get to a particular

For developing the transportation network by improving cycling infrastructure, we aim to ban the car park on roads. In current

destination.

situation, residents have their car parked on roads which causes delay in public transportation as the roads are too narrow.

►►It does not cover walking and cycling done

Banning car park will cause inconvinience to the residents of Grangetown so the plan is to develop it in different phases. We

purely for pleasure, for health reasons, or simply

consider different widhts of roads for this case and divide it in 3 categories.

walking the dog. ►► Active travel can be for complete journeys or parts of a journey. ►►Walking should be promoted for shorter trips. The impact of policies and development on pedestrians should be considered. Planning authorities should, taking into account the requirements of the Active Travel (Wales) Act 2013, promote specific measures to assist

Main road

pedestrians including the provision of safe,

58

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?

and as a substitute for shorter car journeys or,

►►improve health

as part of a longer journey when combined with

►►save money

public transport.

►►reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality

|

DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES

Tertiary road

Source : Google Earth

convenient and well-signed routes. ►►Cycling should also be encouraged for short trips

Secondary road

Above pictures shows that currently there is car parking on roads in every situation, there are no cycling lanes so even if you take a cycle it is very difficult for one to cross the roads due to lack of infrastructure. The parking makes the narrow road more narrower and slows down the speed of other vehicles. This may be the reason why residents do not use public transport and drive car to work. DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES |

59


The map shows 3 different phases of

development

of

affordable

transportation networks. Main Roads : These are the wider roads in Grangetown. There are footpaths for pedestrians, car park on both the sides and vehicles move within the remaining space. Secondary Roads : These roads are narroow as compared to main roads, they have footpaths for pedestrians, car park on both sides and vehicles move within it.

Figure : Current situation (Phase 1)

Figure : Design Proposal (Phase 1)

Source : Yuhang Li

Tertiary Roads : These are much

In Phase 1, we consider

narrow roads of Grangetown, still they

the main road in Grangetown i.e. the wider roads. Figure on the left shows the current

situation of main roads whereas figure on the right hand side shows the design proposal. Banning car park on

have car park on both sides of the

main road will allow addition of cycling lanes and plantation of trees

road. They also have footpaths for

as there are very few trees in Grangetown.

pedestrians. Figure : Map showing different phases of roads

60

|

Source : Yuhang Li |

61


Figure : Current situation (Phase 2)

Figure : Design Proposal (Phase 2)

Source : Yuhang Li

In Phase 2, we consider secondary roads in Grangetown i.e. roads narrower than the main roads. Figure on the left shows the current situation of secondary roads whereas figure on the right hand side shows the design proposal. Banning car park on secondary road will allow addition of cycling lane. Car park will still be allowed but only on one side of the road.

Figure : Current situation (Phase 3)

Figure : Design Proposal (Phase 3)

Source : Yuhang Li

In Phase 3, we consider tertiary roads i.e. very narrow roads of Grangetown. Figure on the left shows the current situation of tertiary roads whereas figure on the right hand side shows the design proposal. Banning car park on secondary road will allow faster movement of vehicles. In current situation, due to car park on roads, public transport and cars both move very slowly through these roads. Banning car park will solve this problem and residents will start preferring public transportation.

62

|

DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES

DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES |

63


Self REFURBISHMENT

How does the strategy help in making the transportation network affordable and flexible to Grangetown residents?

Grangetown Scale

►►Banning Car park plans to make walking and cycling its dominant mode of transport. Within the next two decades, Grangetown will reduce the number of cars by only allowing pedestrians and bikers to enter certain areas. ►►The only cars that will be allowed downtown will be

those

that

belong

to

locals,

zero-emissions

delivery vehicles, taxis, and public transit like buses. ►►The strategy aims at investing in public transportation and replace miles of roads dominated by cars with cycle lanes. ►►Banning car park is not a new and has been applied in city centres of many cities, we apply the same in Grangetown area of Cardiff city to propose flexible affordable network. ►►Making the transportation flexible and affordable, people would like to live in Grangetown and avoid Gentrification. 64

|

DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES

Article stating that the Car Ban Strategy is already applied in city centres of many cities. Source : https://www.businessinsider.com/cities-going-car-freeban-2017-8?r=US&IR=T DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES |

65


Empty Management Dwelling Order If residential premises had been left empty for at least six months and were not likely to be occupied in the near future, then an EDMO could be sought by the local )authority. (Housing Act 2004

66

|

DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES

Cardiff government own 48 empty houses in Grangetown now. Majority of them are located in Upper Grangetown. These empty houses has poor maintainance and bad condition inside. Such as, built simple shelter as car garage, mottled wall and broken interior structure. It cost a huge amount for house owner to repair it. And no tenant would like to live in a house with such bad situation.

From Chart 1, it has been found that North and central Grangetown have more deprived area, and most deprived area is in GRA04. Although, Upper Grangetown has more empty houses, local residents still not afford to buy those broken houses. According to Cardiff average house prices, the cheapest house tyepe is 142,888 pound, which still a lot of money for vulneable group to consider. Most of them has to rely on bank mortgage to buy a poor houses and pay a lot of money for renovation as well. Also, numbers of young people moved in Grangrtown age between 20 to 34 year old. Thus, those young people who live in Grangetown cannot afford to buy their own property. We suggest self-refurbishment is a good chance to involve them in.

DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES |

67


Location: 301 Kepplestraat, Netherlands Type: 3 small units for single or couple couple of mid-sized units 7 larger homes Size: 76 sq m to 174 sq m

This is an old school has been used for more than 100 years. However, after the school moved in other place, this school facing the risk of demolish and transfer to new building. Thus, the government designed a ‘self-refurb’ project in order to recycle this building group. This self-refurb project has successfully delivered very low-cost homes for local people. They separated the school in different units, small units for single or couple, mid-sized for couples, and large units for big family. The market price for each family is only around 10,000 euro which is much less than a new house. For people who still need loans, government introduce signposted buyers to four mortgage companies.

68

|

DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES

The main reasons to convert the old building into residential is because the land value Will be largely increased. After the project completed, the original land value of 600 per square meter grown three times than before. And this is a good chance for young couples to have their own high value assets with less money. Meanwhile, selected buyer is an important element to encourage permanent living. Government attracts moderate income groups and families, and at least one of them need to have working experience in housing industrial. At the same time, the council working team was made up by interior design professionals and council member to help with renovation. The buyers cannot change the outer look of the buildings, but the council will add balconies for each unit. The next regulation to support the living system in this project is buyers must occupy their houses for more than 3 years and they cannot sell or rent to other people with in 3 years. DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES |

69


Selected Factory Location : 214A Penarth Road, Cardiff, CF11 8NN )Total area circa 4,221 sqft (392.15 sqm We selected a factory which located in central Grangetown. It can easy link to M4 road and other places. Government will sponsor to rent this factory. We aim to provide a processing space for DIY housing buyers and self-refurbish .to make material they need for house construction

70

|

DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES

1 Pound selling scheme Government owned Grangetown empty houses with very poor condition and need urgent maintenance will be sold for 1 pound. This offer will primarily give to young people who have work experience of design or who can committee to refurbish the old house to a livable standard. At the same time, selected buyers must rent or living Grangetown more than 5 years without their own property. This offer also only give to first home buyers, this will be a perfect starting point for them to have their own houses. However, to refurbish the non-occupied house may need spend a lot of money. Therefore, the co-cooperative bank we proposed will help will small business loan with very low interest. For Refurbishment project buyers, the highest benefit gap they can get will be no more than 60,000 pound. The amount of mortgage they can receive will decide by the market evaluation system to decide how much money can cover their all renovation spend.

Design workshop All the buyers must transfer the houses to a livable condition, if the houses not meet the live condition. Their houses will be take back by government and they will not got compensation. Thus, Grange Pavilion will provide space for them to work with design experts. Most of them will be students from Cardiff university and volunteered designers and engineers. Also, experts will work with them in our ‘’ selected factory’’ to manufacture industrial materials they need, such as, timber, aluminum, even furniture can be built in our factories. Best design competition After all the self-refurbish project completed, owners will be automatically involved in ‘’Best design competition’’, and the winner will be awarded 1,000 pounds. This competition sponsored by industrial partner companies. All Grangetown residents have vote right, and other people from outer Grangetown can vote from Grange Pavilion Facebook. How it can anti-gentrification? The self-refurbishment project can prevent gentrification rather than rrefurbishment companies. Affordable housing price means 80% of market price, when the house refurbished, Upper Grangetown residents are still not afford to buy. Thus, the developer will renew the house market, not the houses. The decent and beautifully designed house by themselves can prevent gentrification caused by rich people. DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES |

71


DIY FOLLIS : Pavilions for the people by the people Street Scale

The strategy at Grangetown scale is DIY Follies. These are small pavilions for the peopel and by the people of Gramgetown. The follies are physical elements for all the non-physical strategies of finance, policies and community mobilization. Potential sites we found for these follies are the open spaces of Grangetown. The aim is to create Source : Shreya Mahajan

72

|

DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES

Source : Shreya Mahajan

a conection through these several open spaces of Grangetown. DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES |

73


Examples of Folli Structures

Similar elements are used in the roof of the structure. It represents

These are 3 different examples of folli design. The structure of the

the visual link in Grangetown.

follies can vary depending on the activities and frequency of its use.

All follies have similar roof as an idenity. Follies are important ascpect to all the strategies of the study as they will be managed by Grangetown residents . This will also avoid indirect gentrification.

Model 1

CONCEPT SKETCH

Model 2 Figure : Map showing Follies in open spaces

Source : Yilin Gan

We started the design with 2 most important characteristics of Cardiff : 1. Sea waves (as Cardiff is near to Sea) 74

|

DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES

2. Seagull

The follies are meant to be DIY i.e Grangetown residents will attend the workshops and skill sessios to learn the construction and will contribute in erecting these structures. These workshops will be held in the abundant industries of Grangetown. This will bring the industries

Model 3

to use and also create job opportunities for Grangetown residents. DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES |

75


MATERIALS USED FOR CONSTRUCTION OF FOLLIES

ACTIVITIES AT DIFFERENT PLACES IN DIFFERENT FOLLIES

Timber is used for construction of follies because of ease of construction techniques. Also, we do not see any timber structure in Grangetown, hence using timber as a construction material for the follies will create an identity to the structures and make them unique for the place.

►►The follies being DIY are made of timber. ►►Wood working workshops will be held initially for the residents of Grangetown so that they contribute in the construction of these structures. ►►Designs could be flexible depending on the needs of community. ►►Material describes the identity of the area and ease of construction for common man. ►►Residents get an opportunity to work with the design team for designing these structures. 76

|

DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES

Figure : Choosen sites for the Follies.

Source : Shreya Mahajan

DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES |

77


SETTING UP THE FOLLIES MANAGEMENT

Cardiff City Stadium

Tramshed

►►We aim to use the Cardiff City Stadium and Tramshed to start up with the Follis management. ►►These 2 places would be used as a office initially and later could be used for exhibitions and programs. ►►An important factor we choose these places for starting up the follies network is the USAGE RATE of these 2 places. ►►Larger in area with high maintenance cost, these places are not being used all around the year. ►►Using such places for the residents of that area would also contribute in maintenance of the place and such vast pieces of unused land could be made active. 78

|

DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES

Source : Shreya Mahajan

Atthe SevenoaksPark,wehave HousingexhibhitionandmemoryexhibhitionsasmentionedinGroup3'sstrategies.AofficeforCommunity Land Trust (Group 1 Strategy), some skill training workshops and daily servics which boost the local business with cafes and shops. DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES |

79


Source : Shreya Mahajan

At the Taff river embankment, we have weekly Grange experience markets. This will be the site for Co-operative Bank which is the strategy for Housing Finance. As group 1 talks about improving educational level, we have language and education help cenre at this follie. Also, the plan is to develop a open theatre at this place where we project on the walls of follies. 80

|

DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES

Source : Shreya Mahajan

Grange gardens becomes the centre for Grange Pavilion. It will also have Housing Association office for DIY Follies strategy. It will also have special department for the homeless. DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES |

81


Source : Shreya Mahajan

Source : Shreya Mahajan

At the Marl, we have memory and housing exhibhitions, local business and designing and refurbishment workshops. According

At the Grangemoor park, we have local business opportunities, skill session workshops and memory exhibition.

to our strategy for refurbishment, we have a designing team at this folli which will help the residents for refurbishment as well

The aim of using parks as the sites for these follies is to make people move around Grangetown as we see now

as designing their own DIY house. We also aim to have some workshops here along with compititions for the same.

Grangetown is still divided in different areas. Different functions all over Grangetown will bring the residents together.

82

|

DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES

DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES |

83


FOLLIES ROOTING GRANGETOWN IN PLACE Follies create visual links though same material and similar construction style. They also create job opportunities for residents of Grangetown as it aims at bringing the unused industrial area into use again. Currently, there is a lack of communication between the community and employment opportunities.

Source : Shreya Mahajan

►►Follies act a physical element to all the non-physical strategies of policies, finance and community mobilization. Figure :View of the Folli

Source : Shreya Mahajan, Tianhao Bai

Above picture shows the view of Folli. These Follies will create an identity to Grangetown. They become the most important factor; apart from its physical structure, they institute all facilities that help to avoid gentrification. 84

|

DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES

►►Follies create a visual link in the area and act as a landmark of Grangetown. ►►Involvement of the community by providing them with employment opportunities and leisure activities create a healthy and lively atmosphere and make people live in the area. DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES |

85


DIY HOUSING : Cabinets of Curiosity Site Specific Scale There are four sites have been chosen for DIY Modular Housing (MPH). The reason why we choose these areas is beacause most of the times, they in not-used or inactive conditions. our goal is to make full use of these inactive spaces 1. Car park of Cardiff Bus Cooperation Zip code: CF11 8TB

2. Ikea Zip code: CF11 0XR

3. Cardiff Bay Retail Market Zip code: CF11 0JR

4. Plot near Cardiff Bay Zip code: CF11 0JS Source : Shreya Mahajan

86

|

DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES

DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES |

87


8000

8000

Ikea locates in the middle of Grangetown. it looks like a huge box lying on the ground. it is so ugly that it is hardly compatible with the surroundings. 88

|

DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES

Block Combinition

Unit Plan

Frame structure will be use to compose the structural frame. The structure is composed of 8000mm by 8000mm column grids. According to the family composition, units can be freely combined to fit the family. the area of a single unit is 64m^2, so after combinition, the area of one home can be 64m^2, 128m^2, or 192m^2 with one or two floors.

DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES |

89


There will be different materials being used and mixed to build these blocks, such as wood, aluminiium, polymer, concrete, and so on. Residents have chances to design their own houses. Workshops will be provided in the follies which have been proposed in the last strategy. Participants can get help and work with professionals. There will also be finished designs for residents to chose if them are not able or they do not want to design themselves. An APP will be provided to assist the design process.

There are corridors outside and inside. When this has been constructed, it can be a perfect example of Ikea’s housing programs. (Ikea has been doing housing programs) 90

|

DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES

Rendering of DIY modular Prefab housing on top of Ikea

DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES |

91


Why chosing DIY modular prefab housing (MPH)?

What can DIY modular prefab housing bring? 1. The abandoned factory which has been mentioned before will be refurbished for construction materials or Manufacturing. 2. An industrial chain will be created including Manufacturing, Material, Logistics and so on. 3. There will be more job opportunities for local residents. 4. It can attract more investments.

Advantages

Disadvantages

• Customizable • Replicable • Shorter construction time • Speed of implementation • Save the Contractor’s and Employee’s profit • Creative design options • Collaborations with designers for workshops

• • •

92

|

Lifespan Heat accumulation Fire resistance

DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES

There are several advantages and disadvantages of Modular Prefab Housing. Except for the numerous advantages, the disadvantages of MPH are actually drawbacks of the materials. However this will gradually be sorted with the development of technology.

Source:http://img25.house365.com/bbsuserpic/2014/10/21/thumb/141388032554461a05d9614.jpg

Source:http://img.mp.itc.cn/upload/20170705/3cdafe337ffe427c9cc958579048383c_th.jpg

Source:http://file16.zk71.com/File/CorpProductImages /2017/09/25/0_wuliuhuoyun_3591_0_20170925103939. jpeg

DESIGNING STRUCTURES, SPACES AND PLACES |

93


CO-OPERATIVE BANK Current Government Funds

Housing Finance

Tackling Poverty Fund

Tacklling Poverty Fund (Grangetown)Cardiff Council,

Regeneration

october 2017

Project

Private and Public

¥1,399,500 Commercial business

In a five-year agreement, the Welsh Government and official bodies representing housing associations and councils will sign a pact to work together on delivering a target of 20,000 new affordable homes. In total, 399.6 million pounds has been granted by government to invest affordable housing development in Cardiff. The 5-year target is gathering 1.4 billion to contribute housing for most vulnerable and poorest people. In 2018, the Welsh government has published the final budget for 2019 to 2020. They set the departmental expenditure limit and annually managed expenditure for 18,411 million pounds, 5.5% of budget allowance has grown for this year. The large proportion of funds will spend on Health and social service to maintain public health system. The rest will Source : https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/politics/30m-scheme-see-20000-affordable-12256539

94

|

HOUSING FINANCE

improvements

Transform retail shops (Attract customers)

District centre Environment Regeneration Tackle traffic + Pedestrians friendly

Grangetown Community

Hub Jan 2016

zone

Source : https://gov.wales/topics/housing-and-regeneration/regeneration/vibrant-and-viable-places/tackling-poverty-fund/grangetown/?lang=en

The city of Cardiff council received 1,339,500 pounds under Tackling Poverty Fund scheme, to help with regeneration project in Grangetown. The funds have been supported by private and public investment. The projects applied to three main sectors, these included commercial business improvement, district central environment regeneration and build new community hub.This scheme set to provide a vacant and vibrant place with more local shops, easier for pedestrian’s access and more convenient public transport on Penarth road the Clare road. Accompanied with a new community hub to help unemployment find a job, and provide partner service.

most spend on local government and public service, and education. HOUSING FINANCE |

95


Current House Funding Policies

Co-operative Bank Formulation Main Housing Policies Three most important housing policies are Community Infrastructure Levy (CLT), Local Development Plan 2006-2026, and Section 106. These three cooperate with each other to deliver affordable infrastructure and housing. The Local development plan 2006 to 2026 reference obligation to section 106, such as the number of affordable housing should be provided, where has urgent needs of housing plan. Government can negotiate with developers and make sure the section 106 is deliverable. The section 106 will ask for infrastructure and affordable houses. CLT can restrict developers avoid building affordable housing according to the flexibility of section 106. Also, CLT will provide fund for infrastructure regeneration, enhance

Source: Welsh Government 2018

96

|

HOUSING FINANCE

to

fulfill

the

community

Source : Yilin Gan

Setting up a Co-operative Bank in Grangetown is the most important strategy for the finance of our designing projects. The bank will be formed with the associations of Community Land Trust (CLT), Taff Housing Associations and non-governmental organizatons. They can also be a part of the bank later when the bank is set up properly. Grangetown residents will be the customers and managers of the Bank. Grange pavilion will help with the financial learning services to the Bank.

competitiveness. HOUSING FINANCE |

97


CONCLUSION ►►Initially, form being a physical entity or non-physical

The trial rooting Grangetown in Place

has to depend on finance but with our strategies for housing finance and designing structure, spaces and places we aim finance to follow the form. ►►It is difficult to analyse ever if a project is going to be successful or not. The strategies are so designed that they could be run for a trial basis and then modified according to the feedback and requirements of the residents. Follies being the best example and proposal for this case, they can be set Source : Yilin Gan

Residents of Grangetown get a lot of benefits being a part of this bank : ►►The bank lends money to the residents at lower rate of interest and permits more time to repay the money. ►►Residents get benefits in workshops and skill sessions at the Follies and also get a chance to be a part of associations linked to the bank. ►►People registered to the bank will only be allowed to work in the follies all over Grangetown, ►►They get preference in DIY housing schemes. ►►Also, customers will benefit from Tax avoidance. ►►As the Bank will be managed by Grangetown residents, it will avoid indirect gentrification. 98

|

HOUSING FINANCE

up initially at places like Tramshed and Cardiff City Stadium. ►►These trials of structures and bank with later modifications

can

definately

help

rooting

Grangetown in place. ►►The strategies aim at making the area of Grangetown a beautiful place to live of all categories of people, to generate income and use for the community and the needy, provide job opportunities and many more financial advantages from the bank.

Source : Yilin Gan

CONCLUSION |

99


Context A. DEOMOGRAPHICS ANALYSIS 1Household 2Age 3Living Arrangements 4Household Tenure 5WIND 6Future Trend 7Conclusion B.PROCESS OF PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT 1The Speculative Model of Property Development 2The Self Build Model of Property Development 3Peer to Peer: An alternative financial model for property development 4Lessons: How to adapt speculative, self-build and p2p models C. CASE STUDY 1SPARE Housing Exhibition 2Share Food 3Co-housing D.STRATEGIES 1ROOTED IN PLACE ALLIANCE 2RAISE FINANCE 3MOBILISATION 4SELF BUILT 5FUTURE MOBILISATION

INTRODUCTION

|

101


Demographics

Demographics

Deomographics Analysis-Household

Deomographics Analysis-Household Median Household Income (ÂŁ) 45000

900 800

40000

700 35000 30000

600

25000

500

20000

400

15000

300

10000

200 5000 0

100 0

Area 1

Area 2

Area 3

Area 4

Area 5

Area 6

Area 7

Area 8

Area 9

Area 10

Area 11

Area 12

No. of Households Over 60% of GB Median Income No. of Households Below 60% of GB Median Income

The average household income of most areas in Grangetown is lower than the average of Cardiff as well as 60% of GB Median Income, especially in the area3-5. At the same time, there is a large income gap between some areas and others. Source from: Welsh Government. https://gov.wales/?lang=en 102

|

DEMOGRAPHIC

Source from: Welsh Government. https://gov.wales/?lang=en DEMOGRAPHIC |

103


Living Arrangements (%)

Demographics

45 Demographics

Deomographics Analysis-Age

40 Deomographics Analysis-Living Arrangements 36

38.4

Grangetown Population Estimate by Age and Gender

30

1600

25

1400

20

1200

1000

800

600

Living Arrangements (%) 45 38.4

40

15

35

10

30

5

25

0

20

32.8

14.7

36

12.1

34

7 2.7

Married/samesex 15 civil partnership

14.7 Cohabiting

12.1

Single

1.4

Not living in a couple

Separated

200

0 0 to 4 5 to 9 10 to 15 to 20 to 25 to 30 to 35 to 40 to 45 to 50 to 55 to 60 to 65 to 70 to 75 to 80 to 85 14 19 24 29 34 39 44 49 54 59 64 69 74 79 84 Plus

Male

Female

Divorced 7

2.7

5 Married/samesex civil partnership

Cohabiting

Single

People in GRA

1.4

Not living in a couple

6.5

2.7 1.8

10

400

0

34

32.8

35

6.5

2.7 1.8 Separated

Divorced

4.2

5.6

Widowed

4.2

5.6

Widowed

People in Cardiff

The proportion of men and women is average.

Married couples and single residents make up the majority of the Grangetown population.

Meanwhile, Middle-aged and young people make up the majority of the population, which are easier to mobilize and participate in activities. It’s might be an advantage of Grangetown. There will be enough people involved in community building activities.

On the whole, the proportion of two or more people in a family is larger than that of the group living alone, which will affect housing construction in the future. People in GRA People in Cardiff

Source from: Welsh Government. https://gov.wales/?lang=en

Source from: Welsh Government. https://gov.wales/?lang=en

104

|

DEMOGRAPHIC

DEMOGRAPHIC |

105


Demographics

Demographics

Deomographics Analysis-Household Tenure Propotion of household tenure

Deomographics Analysis- Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation

Propotion of household tenure

Owned: Owned outright Owned: Owned outright

Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2000

Owned: Owned with a mortgage or loan

Owned: Owned with a mortgage or loan

Shared ownership (part owned and part rented)

Shared ownership (part owned and part rented)

Grangetown

Cardiff

Social rented: Rented from council (Local Authority)

Social rented: Rented from council (Local Authority) Social rented: Other

Social rented: Other Private rented: Private landlord or letting agency

Private rented: Private landlord or letting agency

1800 1600 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400

Private rented: Other

Private rented: Other

200

Living rent free

0

Living rent free

Overall Index

Income Domain

Area 4

Employment Domain

Area 10

Health Domain

Physical Environment Domain

Housing Domain

The Top 10% Most Deprived Areas in Wales

Proportionally, there are slightly more people living in GRA rental housing than those living in GRA rental housing. That's a larger proportion than Cardiff's average. This means that more than half of the population may not be able to own their own property due to economic problems.

Area 4 and 10 are the poorest and richest areas in Grangetown. Although income, employment and health disparities are wide, the physical environment and housing domain are lower than the average in Wales.

Source from: Welsh Government. https://gov.wales/?lang=en

Source from: Welsh Government. https://gov.wales/?lang=en

106

|

DEMOGRAPHIC

DEMOGRAPHIC |

107


Demographics

Demographic

Deomographics Analysis-Future Trend

Conclusion Main Problems: 1. Household incomes are low in most areas. 2. Perhaps because of income, more people live in rented houses than those who live in purchased houses. 3. The overall housing quality and physical environment quality are poor.

In the coming decades or more, more residents will choose Grangetown as their place of residence. They are mainly young people with lower incomes and retired elderly people. If the gentrification of the surrounding areas is quicker than Grangetown, there may be more people with low incomes choosing to live in Grangetown. Source from: produced by Yunqi Yang 108

|

DEMOGRAPHIC

DEMOGRAPHIC |

109


Existing models of property development

A brief look at some current models of property development and alternative finance

Existing models of property development The Speculative Model of Property Development

Speculative house building is one of the largest models used to develop sites around the UK. It is “speculative” because there has been no commitment from the end user, as in the final purchaser wont generally be involved until the point at which units are completed and ready for sale. This introduces a huge amount of risk due to cycles in the property market. These cycles dictate what the final houses will be worth at the point in future that they are to be sold, and a lot of the focus of developers is to try and mitigate this risk. Some of the methods of achieve this are mentioned below in relation to the flow chart outlining a common speculative development process.

To get an overview of the current state of housing building in Wales and the UK more generally we looked at two specific development models. These were the ‘speculative model’, favourited by large developers, and ‘self-build’, often smaller DIY and resident-led development. Beyond this we looked at the possibilities for alternative forms of funding that existed beyond the traditional bank loan, and how a combination of both these property development models and alternative funding streams maybe brought together to inform the strategy proposals for this project. 110

|

PROCESSES OF PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT

Source: produced by Thomas Treacher

A flow chart showing the common stages across a speculative model of property development PROCESSES OF PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT

|

111


Considering which aspects of this model may have a gentrifying effect on a development we found three key points. Firstly that it is a profit led model and so to maximise the sale price and profit percentage was a constant focus. Secondly acquiring “strategic” land had the effect of increasing land prices in the locality. The Office for Fair Trading’s 2008 report ‘Home Building in the UK - A Market Study’ found that 82% of land help by developers was classed as strategic, and there were no plans to develop it in the near future. The third issue was in the planning permissions stage in which developers often appealed their Section 106 commitments to a percentage of the housing development being ‘affordable housing’. This often resulted in a reduction in that percentage, sometimes this became 0% and a Community Interest Levy was negotiated instead. Another consideration was how build quality was effected by a profit led model which was under continual pressure to reduce costs. An RIBA report entitled ‘The Case for Space (2011), found that the average English home was only 92% of the recommended minimum size and that the UK has some of the smallest new build properties when compared to other European countries. This may be recognised by the general public, as Jon Neal found that 2/3rds of prospective home buyers were not considering new build properties (Improving Housing Quality: Unlocking the Market, 2009).

Existing models of property development The Self Build Model of Property Development

Self build takes two forms, the more common is simply a property development undertaken by the residents themselves using various contractors to undertake the work, the second form involves residents doing the building work themselves. By looking at a number of examples of self build properties we developed a second flow chart showing key stages in the working process.

Source: produced by Thomas Treacher

Copy and paste housing 112

|

PROCESSES OF PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT

Source: https://www.persimmonhomes.com/new-homes/cardiff/cardiff

A flow chart showing the common stages across a self build model of property development PROCESSES OF PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT

|

113


Self build has two distinct advantages over the speculative model. Firstly it’s not profits led, its resident led which has the effect of reducing cost cutting and in fact produces a form of cost stretching. The Callcutt Review of Housing Delivery (2007) found that self build projects often attempted to extend the budget in small ways to allow for upgrading of materials or the introduction of new technologies. The same report states that self build developments characteristically achieve higher quality of specifications and better cost-in-use, they are more likely to be innovative with construction - especially when addressing sustainability. The second advantage is that the end purchaser is already known and financially committed to the development, in fact they are often leading the project. This has the effect of reducing the risks from property market cycles which places a huge burden on the speculative model. Another positive of this model is its ability to retain profit for the residents themselves. Any revenue from the sale or rent of additional units or the capital gain in the property over the construction period is controlled by the residents themselves.

Existing models of property development

Peer to Peer: An alternative financial model for property development Peer to peer (p2p), sometimes referred to as crowdfunding, is a form of financial practice in which borrowing and lending is done between individuals rather than through a centralised institution such as a bank. In the last 10 to 15 years a huge number of property development companies have set up based on financing through p2p networks.

‘The Courtyard’ a self build development including rental units 114

|

PROCESSES OF PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT

Source: https://www.brightgreenfutures.co.uk/projects/the-courtyard/

PROCESSES OF PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT

|

115


We found that the majority of these companies replicated the more traditional developers, with language focusing on rates of return, dividend payments and capital growth. Although this is clearly necessary in terms of bringing in investment, and we acknowledge the vital role finance plays in almost all current processes of property development, we can see a need to refocus the discussion around property development and its financing towards the human impact of house building.

Existing models of property development

"We raise money through crowdfunding to purchase and rent 'buy-to-let' properties structured through an individual limited company." source: www.thehousecrowd.com/learn-more/how-it-works

From the above models and examples we condensed five considerations to take forward into our strategies. These would hopefully protect against some of the high risk, low quality and profit focused housing that has come to dominate property developments throughout the UK. The five lessons are as follows:

"As a shareholder [...] you share in the profits through quarterly dividend distributions and then at the end of the term, when the property is either sold or refinanced, you receive a share of any capital growth (after tax)." source: www.crowdlords.com/about-us There is a long history of the type of informal lending that p2p in part mimics. This history has been predominantly found in religious communities, and an example of this can be seen at The Shree Swaminarayan Hindu temple in Grangetown.

Source: https://www.swaminarayan.wales/about-us/history

The Shree Swaminarayan temple before and after redevelopment

116

|

PROCESSES OF PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT

Between 2005 and 2007 the temple underwent a ÂŁ700,000 redevelopment. The Welsh Government gave a grant for ÂŁ110,000 and the remaining finance was donated by members of the community. The important take away for us from this example is that - communities with a strong sense of cohesion and who have the intention to develop a site can indeed do so, on a large scale and importantly in Grangetown.

Lessons: How to adapt speculative, self-build and p2p models

1. Prioritise the human need and impact of a development 2. Frame profit as a necessary but secondary concern 3. Make 'affordable housing' the rule not the exception 4. Localise development by having self build projects led by the communities they effect 5. Utilise the peer-to-peer model so that profits from sale or rental can be directed back into local communities as much as possible

PROCESSES OF PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT

|

117


CASE STUDY 1

Case Study 1

SPARC is an NGO formed by social work professionals (1984), connected to state and corporate elites, with strong ties to global funding sources and networking opportunities. NSDF is a powerful grassroots community-based organization (1974). Mahila Milan is an organization of poor women (1986). The purpose of the Alliance is to gain secure tenure of land, adequate and durable housing, and access to elements of urban infrastructure. The Alliance cuts across between Hindus, Muslims, and Christians.

In brief, there are several benefits in housing exhibition. Firstly, start to learn about different skills, including savings and credit, house design and construction, and above all, in coming together to design solutions. Secondly, they act as a means to demonstrate the power of people’s organizations, attracting large numbers of poor people along with government officials and NGO staff, in order to get a promise and a good interaction. Thirdly, housing exhibitions offer a community-lead activity that communities are centre-stage and practical solutions are devised and shared.

Housing Exhibitions was organized by the Alliance, for the poor in Mumbai, then spread in many cities in India and other countries. At first, the house design did not permit creative participation by the beneficiaries themselves. During this process, the Mahila Milan members in the Byculla neighbourhood of Mumbai began to design their own ideal home, and from this emerged the idea of holding a housing exhibition at which the model home could be built on a life-sized scale. Thus, the first housing exhibition was held in Mumbai in 1986, with the women of Byculla being the main participants.

In a general way, SPARC contributed technical knowledge and elite connections to state authorities and the private sector. NSDF, through its leader, Arputham Jockin (background in the slums), and his activist colleagues, brought a radical brand of grassroots political organization in the form of the “federation” model. Mahila Milan brought the strength of poor women who had learned the hard way how to deal with police, municipal authorities, slumlords, and real estate developers.

Appadurai, A. 2002. Deep democracy: urban governmentality and the horizon of politics. Public Culture 14(1), pp. 21–47. doi: 10.1215/08992363-14-1-21.

Burra, S. 1999. Space Housing Exhibition. Available at: http://www.sparcindia.org/pdf/articles/ hsgexhib.pdf [Accessed: 7 January 2019]

SPARE Housing Exhibition

118

|

PUBLIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS

SPARE Housing Exhibition

PUBLIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS |

119


CASE STUDY 2 Share food

Strategies of Enhancing Cohesion: Sharing dinners

Case Study 3 Co-housing

Case from mealsharing.com. Active in the world, mainly in USA. Sharing food. Food is prepared weekly by different community member and used as a platform for ideas and building relationship, led by community organisations.

Opportunities for Communication The Joy of Cooking Together Promote Bonding A Platform for Discussions and Exchanges

Boring Tiring Lack of time People live in the same building or community and share some facilities (such as activity rooms and kitchens) while having private rooms.It's a good way to promote community solidarity of Grangetown. Resource: https://www.food.ubc.ca/meals-help-you-thrive/ https://www.clintonnazarene.org/events/2017/2/26/bring-share-lunch 120

|

PUBLIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS

Resource: https://www.improvistos.org/en/project/cohousing-illustration-and-animation/ https://architizer.com/projects/capitol-hill-urban-cohousing/ https://thetyee.ca/Video/2018/04/25/Cohousing-Antidote-Loneliness/

PUBLIC POLICIES AND REGULATIONS |

121


Design Strategies

Phase 1: Rooted-in-place Alliance

The existing organization in Grangetown and from Cardiff -> Rooted in Place Alliancen

The existing organization in Grangetown and from Cardiff -> Rooted in Place Alliancen

Build new houses Renovate old houses

Set the Alliance

Raise Finance

Memory Exhibition

Calling upon the existing organisation in and outside the Grangetown into an Alliance.

Raising finance through sale and rent of properties.

Enhancing residents’ sense of belonging.

Self Build

Housing Exhibition

People can self build according to popular housing types of housing exhibition.

Providing various options of self-build housing types through this exhibition.

Future mobilisation

0.5 years

Attracting young people with high education level to become future potential residents in Grangetown.

According to demographics and existing models of property development, our proposals combined with community mobilisation and a new process of property development. We also considered about the future mobilisation according to demographic trend. Source from: produced by Yawen Huang 122

|

STRATEGIES

Resource: http://grangetownwellbeing.wales/local-groups/

STRATEGIES |

123


Phase 2: Process of Rooted-in-Place property development Make profits for communities We research the organisations situation and divide them into different categories. For example, economic support, employment, housing, education‌ The red ones are from Grangetown, the blue highlight ones are outside the Grangetown but are useful. Communities Land Trust is introduced, the Development Trust Association Wales and the Conservation Volunteers are for calling upon the different organisation as well as for them to become stronger; the Confederation of Co-operative housing is for people to organise housing development; Grangetown hub is about council in Grangetown. These all will become to a new Alliance: Rooted in Place Alliance; different categories will support the different parts in the Alliance.

In the second phase, our process of property development is based on Rooted-in-Place Alliance set in the first phase. However, the difference between our process and normal profit-driven process is that the alliance makes profits for communities in Grangetown. All profits the alliance make will be used to increase the size of other projects committed to Grangetown. To sum up, this alliance plays two roles in the process. First of all, it owns properties like the landlord. Secondly, it provides financial, trading and career platforms in Grangetown, so that people in Grangetown can acquire financial support as well as other career support. We try to affect other developers and individual landlords through this process and keep the affordability continuing in Grangetown and improve residents’ well-being.

Rooted-in-Place Alliance Property (landlord) Build new houses

Platform s Renovate old houses

Raising finance

Timebank

Materials

labour

Source: produced by Yawen Huang

For the first role of the Alliance, it owns new and renovated houses for rent or sale, and then these properties are divided into mainly three categories after assessment. The most important property is affordable housing which provides for vulnerable people who are in the waiting list with Cardiff Council. The rent prices of affordable housing is restricted by Tenant’s security which include Secure Tenancies and Assured Tenancies. Secure Tenancies means that the amount of rent is fixed by the Rent Officer at Cardiff County Council. 124

|

STRATEGIES

STRATEGIES |

125


The Rent Officer is a public employee, and is completely independent of the organisation. Every 2 years the organisation can apply to the Rent Officer for tenant’s rent to be reassessed. The Rent Assessment Committee’s decision is final, and is binding upon the organisation and tenants. And Assured Tenancies means that tenant’s rent is reviewed every year, and the organisation must give tenants at least one month’s notice in writing of any increases. The rent is fixed by the organisation, although for some property types the rent is restricted to a certain level by the Welsh Government. If the tenant think the organisation have set the rent too high the tenant can appeal to the Rent Assessment Committee. Property (landlord)

And the sale price of affordable housing can be restricted by Community Land Trust mentioned in Group 1. Because organisations in the alliance are also members of Community Land Trust, so there is a guarantee to keep the affordability of these affordable housing. In addition, because the funding is a quite difficult problem to solve, so the profits of these market rate houses can be used to secure the affordability of other housing and increase the size of the project. The third category of properties is other types of property such as co-housing. Co-housing property can be affordable through sharing the rent with tenants.

|

STRATEGIES

Source: produced by Yawen Huang

Renovate old houses

Raising finance

For sale or rent

Affordable housing

Tenants’ security

Market rate sale

For sale

Community land trust

Make profits

From rent of properties

Build new houses or Renovate old houses

Individual investment (peer to peer lending)

Self-build projects Exhibitions

Government’s support

Property assessment

For rent

126

From sale of properties

Co-housing property

Platforms

For vulnerable people (waiting list with Cardiff Council)

Build new houses

In the second part, the financial platform helps raising finance to build properties and hold community mobilisation activities in the future such as memory exhibition and housing exhibition. These funding come from several ways: profits of property sale or rent, individual investment based on peer to peer lending model and financial supports come form the government. Timebank is also related to financial platform. This concept comes from Taff Housing Association of Grangetown. Timebank credits are awarded for anyone's time getting involved with the community. A certain amount of credits can exchange some deposits, market vouchers, tickets or reduce electricity bills, etc. It's also not limited to things just like these. At the same time. using Timebank credits is a good way to mobilise people who contributed to Grangetown.

Timebank

credits

Materials

Collective purchasing

Reduce the cost of materials

Tenants share the rent

labour affordable

Provide professional skills training

Recruit with wages/credits

Source: produced by Yawen Huang

The labour market is a good career platform in Grangetown served by the alliance, it can provide vacancies with wages or credits as well as professional skills training with low tuition fee. People can accept different kind of skills training courses to be a professional builder or other occupations, they can set to a professional core team to committed to the development of Grangetown. We believe that Grangetown can keep energetic and creative in the future with the contribution of the alliance.

Reduce the cost of property

Houses can be affordable

Builders

Set the core construction & repairing team

Future young people

Organisers/design ers/constructors …

STRATEGIES |

127


Phase 3-5: Mobilisation

Phase 3-5: Mobilisation Advertisement

Special Activities Advertisement Memory exhibition )Housing exhibition (affordable house )Housing exhibition (commercial, public buildings and space Special Activities Co-housing Share food Self built ...... Phases 3-5 are mobilisation. We divide the mobilization into special activities and the regular one. The special activities and different phases will be introduced in the next report.

Phase 3 is advertisement. Advertising by flyers, handbook, poster and different online communication tools. Aiming at informing the residents in GRA that the gentrification is happening and is happening around them. Flyers campaign aimed at creating an emotional response by highlighting the reality of gentrification on rent prices. Loretta Lees and Mara Ferreri handbook ‘Staying Put: An Anti-gentrification Handbook for Council Estates in London’ The handbook will be a free guide to resisting gentrification.

Source from: produced by Xuqing Cai, Yawen Huang, Thomas Treacher

128

|

STRATEGIES

Resource: Loretta Lees and Mara Ferreri handbook ‘Staying Put: An anti-gentrification Handbook for Council Estates in London’ STRATEGIES |

129


Phase 3-5: Mobilisation

Phase 3-5: Mobilisation

Memory Exhibition

Housing Exhibition about affordable house

The wood The factory The tram The road The house

The Pavilion The Tramshed The bus The Principality Stadium The Cardiff Stadium

The Peer to Peer The Co-housing The Self-built The Share food The Convenient

Phase 4 is the memory exhibition. Collective memory is a kind of mobilization in order to construct belonging in present. Thus, root their lives and strengthening ties to their neighbourhood. The exhibition demonstrates the old memory, the present situation and the expectation one. We think these could pave the way for further concept of anti-gentrification. The place is based on the follies. Source from: produced by Xuqing Cai

130

|

STRATEGIES

The process of housing exhibition in Grangetown starts from collecting the suggestion from the residents, training the basic skills for example how to utilize the space, the material about housing... Thus, based on the suggestion, make several plans from the professors. Then, use the simple material like cardboard, wood or concrete by residents themselves to self-built. Finally, invite the government officials, journalists, non-government people and residents to visit, aiming at providing different choice for residents about self-built in future. STRATEGIES | 131 Source from: produced by Xuqing Cai


Phase 3-5: Mobilisation

Phase 6: Self-built

Housing Exhibition about affordable house The sixth phase is self-build projects, this diagram shows how self-build projects are used in our strategy. After raising finance from the alliance on the financial platform, people who are interested in self build projects can start their self-build journey. They can buy construction materials with cheaper price on the material market of the alliance. The highlight thing is that in next step, self-build people can design their own properties based on popular housing types that elected in housing exhibition. It is a good way to mobilise residents by combing the self-build projects with the housing exhibition.

Housing Exhibition Life-size Housing Exhibition Model-size

The housing exhibition has two types: life-size housing exhibition outside in Marl Park and Sevenoaks Park, model housing exhibition for residents to choose in follies. Source from: produced by Xuqing Cai Resource from: https://www.designboom.com/architecture/maxxi-japanese-house-exhibition-rome-11-10-2016/ 132

|

STRATEGIES

After making the construction timetable, normally, they can find professional construction team of the alliance to build their houses, otherwise, they can also have a real self build after having the professional training courses provided by the alliance. Finally, after the implementation, t h e y h a v e d i ff e r e n t o p t i o n s , besides moving in their self-build houses, they can also sale their houses, but the sale price of selfbuild properties should also be restricted by Community Land Trust. In summary, self build project is a good way to make properties affordable.

People w ho w ant to self build

Raise finance •From the A lliance

O btain planning perm ission

Buy construction m aterial •From m aterialm arkets of the A lliance

D esign by them selves or designers

C onstruction •Builders (norm al) •Selfbuild (after training)

Im plem entation

• C om bined w ith housing exhibition

M ake a detailed tim etable

For sale •C om m unity land trust M oving in

Source: produced by Yawen Huang STRATEGIES | 133


Phase 7: Future Mobilisation

Spatialising the Self-build Houses

Methord 1: Forum in University

Graduates who have just graduated from the job hunting stage will be very important potential residents. Grangetown, with its low house price and beautiful environment, is very suitable for their choice of residence for their independent life. Publicity at school during graduation will help to make a good impression on them. Target university: Cardiff University, Cardiff Metropolitan University, University of Wales, RWCMD, etc

This is the spatialising image of self-build projects. Self-build housing can be built in some potential sites where vacant properties would be demolished in the future, and these sites are mainly located along the corridor or nearby the corridor. Source from: produced by Yawen Huang & Thomas Treacher

134

|

STRATEGIES

Source from: https://www.google.com/maps https://www.ncforum.org/ https://www.lsac.org/2018-law-school-forums

STRATEGIES |

135


Phase 7: Future Mobilisation

CONCLUSION

Methord 2: Online Attraction

Timetable of Process

We can use social media to promote young people who are interested in finding new long-tern homes. for example, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. It's effective to introduce Grangetown's security, affordability and fun to potential future households by introducing some community activities and interesting things through social networking.

Build new houses Renovate old houses

Set the Alliance

2 years

2 years

Raise Finance

0.5 year

Memory Exhibition

1 year 0.5 year Advertisement

Memory Exhibition Trials

Future mobilisation

Source from: https://twitter.com/grangecardiff https://www.tes.com/news/sbl-using-twitter-build-schoolbusiness-communit 136

|

STRATEGIES

2 years

Self Build

0.5 year

Housing Exhibition

To sum, our timetable is for 5-year strategy. Mobilization communities into Alliance for 2 years. In this period, after mobilizing the communities for 1 year, they could advertise the gentrification situation for residents. And also hold a memory exhibition for trials. Because we think these two activities are easy for the new Alliance to run-in. Then raising finance for 2 years, memory exhibition and housing exhibition are yearly activities. Self-built is for 2 years. In this way, self-built, built new houses, renovate old houses are all the methods to raise finance. Mobilize the current residents, communities and organizations, meanwhile, pay attention to the future ones. In addition, make housing, neighbourhood, poverty, communities, affordable, in order to anti-gentrification. Source from: produced by Yawen Huang CONCLUSION

|

137


CONCLUSION Rooted in Place : Designing a flexible masterplan for a resilient Grangetown As much as this project has been about strategising around the problem of gentrification, its has also been about recognising the complexity and contradictions the question of gentrification encompasses. In response, the project became a flexible masterplan outlining a wide variety of strategies that address: mobilising communities, public policy, models of property development, housing finance, land ownership, land use, spatial design and place identity. The backbone for this plan became the corridor, the first tap root in our resilience network.

Running down the centre of Grangetown the corridor is the focus for a series of commercial and residential initiative aimed at reducing the displacement of local businesses and people. Rent caps, training schemes, loan and grant initiatives as well as an Earned Income Tax Credit programme are all geared towards providing greater defence to those most at risk of moving due to economic pressures. The corridor also become the location for rethinking the traditions of housing construction by having residents themselves shape their environment. This DIY mentality continued with the proposal of a new property development model based on community-led house building. This sought to put residential needs first and enclosed profits locally. Beyond the corridor, improvements to transport infrastructure were outlined that sought to increase levels of active travel by addressing Grangetowns lack of a joined up pedestrian, cycle and public transport network. Offering cost effective transportation alternatives to some of the poorest residents. Dotted throughout Grangetown, a number of structures entitled “follies� acted as beacons and centres for collective action and allow residents to adapt their use to meet a changing need. These follies linked together a series of public awareness events, exhibitions, training and educational opportunities as well as housing many of the community organisations that form as a result of the strategies outlined above. Underpinning the masterplan is the conception of a Community Land Trust (CLT). Instead of applying time limited interventions to the issues of gentrification, the CLT became a deep-rooted and durable vehicle for securing land affordability and residential resilience in the long term and for future generations. Flexibility was a core consideration across all strategies due to the recognition that the needs of the area are far more varied that we can come to comprehend and will be subject to continuous change. The strategies were also reliant on creating strong working partnerships and alliances between pre-existing and newly formed community groups and organisations. Interventions needed to have a long term focus and be implemented from the bottom up as much as possible to allow for a sense of ownership over the project and the changes that would come to effect and represent a new Grangetown. As much as this can be considered a collection of anti-gentrification strategies, we hope that this can also be read as a processes for deepening the sense of ownership for residents over their local environment, and the strengthening of relationships between diverse pockets of the population. Although there is undoubtedly a lot we have missed out and misjudged, we hope that this document maybe the beginning of a conversation between the residents of Grangetown on how best to plan for the future and what potential futures are possible.

Source; Yuan Yuan 138

|

CONCLUSION


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.