The impact of sustainable neighborhood development on housing affordability: A systematic analysis of affordable LEED ND towards framing architectural and planning guidelines for affordable sustainable neighborhoods.
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文摘
Currently,sustainability is moving from a theoretical concept into a practice where several techniques have been developed to satisfy its principles and goals. But,there are many challenges facing its implementation especially in the affordable housing field Myerson,2007). Only 56 projects spread out over 24 states in USA are Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Neighborhood LEED ND). Therefore,this research intends to identify effective strategies for developing Affordable Sustainable Housing Neighborhoods ASHN) that can match the needs of target populations. This is achieved by: &bull；Examining the distribution of existing ASHN in USA,and factors that affect its agglomeration； &bull； Identifying the most used architectural and planning strategies,reasons for selecting specific strategies over others,and challenges facing professionals； and,&bull； Assessing the housing cost efficiency of ASHN in terms of mortgage/rent,utility,and transportation. A mixed method approach was used to investigate the above themes through: a) Delineating the spatial distribution of ASHN in U.S.A. b) Undertaking content analysis for 56 ASHN to identify the most used strategies. c) Undertaking descriptive and inferential analysis for 137) responses collected from supply-side stakeholders participating in developing these 56 ASHN,and 51) responses collected from residents of Mueller Central,Austin - Texas. The research results pointed out that there is a positive relationship between the distribution of ASHN and housing price,where ASHN aggregated in states with expensive housing price. On the other hand,sustainable technology has a limited application in the USA due to higher initial construction cost. Despite the fact that sustainability is a holistic approach； green technology is the most common strategy because of promising savings. However,the perception of high costs for green buildings is a major barrier that challenges professionals in convincing clients to develop ASHN. Therefore,there is a need for public education that identifies benefits of ASHN. Furthermore,there is a salient discrepancy between supply-side stakeholders and residents in their respective feedback about ASHN efficiency in terms of mortgage,utilities,and transportation. This divergence related to supply - side stakeholders belief about ASHN cost efficiency which may not match residents expectations.