CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
1.10 Definition of Terms
D1.10.1 Housing
The following definitions support the adopted concept of housing for this research:
-Pugh (1980:50) defined housing as, “a fixed space and it exists in localities where private investment and publicly provided infrastructure are part of the local environment”.
-Rapoport (2001:145) “…considers housing as a system of settings within which a certain system of activities takes place.”
-National Housing Policy (2006:10) defined housing as, “the process of providing functional support by sustainable maintenance of the bulk environment for the day-to-day living and activities of individuals and families within the country”.
Four key elements of housing are vital to our proposition for the definition of housing and they are the ‘fixed space’ in terms of planning and design, the ‘investment’ element in terms of Profitability/motives and ‘a system of settings’ (this includes the housing environment and lifestyle). The fourth element is ‘the process’ element which is the driving mechanism from which all other elements engage their capabilities.
In this regard this thesis adopts a hybrid of all three definitions which is paraphrased thus; that housing is a ‘fixed space’ by design that should be provided for by ‘private investment’ and
‘public infrastructure’ in a ‘sustainable’ and ‘process’ based ‘system of settings’ from which day-to-day living and activities occurs. This definition encompasses the seeming diametric
constituents of housing that is of concern towards harnessing the potential of partnerships and adopted to inform the direction of this study.
D1.10.2 Housing Delivery System (HDS)
Prins(1994:39) “A housing delivery system can be considered as a social configuration relating to the production and distribution of housing, with more or less formalized relations between the actors performing the necessary functions in the housing process”.
This definition of HDS is most appropriate in its acceptance of social configuration thought to be fundamental to any HDS and liberal concept of relations between actors/partners.
D1.10.3 Public-Private Partnership (PPP)
UNCHS (1993:180 in Jones, Pisa, 2000), considers partnerships to be an active and deliberate process whereby agents work together in an interdependent fashion toward a common agenda or goal.
Pugh (1994), describes partnership arrangements as the joining-together of government policy makers, government agencies, community based organizations, non-government organizations, private builder and/or householders; and that, the success of the enablement approach is dependent on the success of partnerships. Pugh’s definition is a more inclusive approach for adaptation by this study. This definition is in line with the thesis proposition for the definition of objectives and roles among actors/partners.
D1.10.4 Adequate Housing Delivery (AHD)
Two concepts in housing furnished the basis for this definition; the concept of standards and the concept of sustainability of the housing delivery system. Therefore, if an item is a standard then, is it sustainable for the setting and the objectives. The definition of AHD is an answer to the definition of standards and sustainability.
Mabogunje, (in Jackson ed., 1978:78) defines standard as follows;
“Standards are two types; “official standards are those established by legislation, byelaws, or other rules and regulations, while cultural standards are those derived from traditional practices or found tolerable and acceptable by a large number of people.” The guide to these standards is called “criteria’;…they may be related to social values, or they may be recommendations offered by professional or scientific bodies and based on research, case
studies or professional judgment.” This culminated into a submission that …“standards should be scientifically desirable, culturally feasible, and socially acceptable”.
Choguill (2007:143-149) defined sustainability in the following terms;
-sustainability for whom: individual, household, community, city or country.
-dimension of sustainability: environment, use of scarce resources, cost recovery etc.
-sustainability for specific housing segments: housing delivery system, maintenance, transportation, poverty program, local governance, peoples empowerment, etc.
A measure of adequate housing delivery as a proposition for contextual use shall take the indicators above into consideration. This research used this descriptive meaning to capture the essence of adequacy from a simultaneous measure of the objectives of actors/partners’
standards and sustainability in terms of quantity, quality and quality of housing environment (quality of life).
D1.10.5 Housing Development Actors/Partners
The housing development actor/partner is defined for this study as a stakeholder whose informal/formal partnership arrangements enables their performance of one or more functions in the housing process (Ogu, 2001; Malpezi, 1990; Keonisberger, 1970; Prins,1994). They include the public sector officials: government policy makers (researchers, directors, permanent secretaries, professionals, etc), government agency officials, and the private sector officials: Corporate members (company professional staff) of real estate developers association (from REDAN member listing).
D1.10.6 Housing Process Expert
These are professional or academic experts who have exercised themselves in the study of housing and /or the practice of architecture/or an allied profession(UNCHS,1991,1990,Yai.et al2007;Yu.et al.2007;Zunino,2006;Zrudlo,1978;World Bank,1993).
They form the bulk of the informant interview participants as their opinion and experience usually informs the discretion of the informal sector; especially of private builders and politicians alike.
D1.10.7 Household/Residents
These are the current occupiers of housing in the four types of estates in this study (Irrespective of the tenure). As it has been proven that Lagos in particular have a huge housing shortage, there is therefore a high possibility of dwelling arrangement that has deviated from the standard formal institutional preconceived settings which are currently not upheld (Aradeon, 1978, Gyuse, 1984). Therefore defining household or residents otherwise may be misleading.
D1.10.8 Housing Environment
Rapoport (2001:146) defines it in terms of the “environmental quality profiles (settings)”.
These sets of attributes of environmental quality are the components of culture such as; ideals, images, schemata, meanings, norms, standards, expectations, rules etc. Thereby, answering the question of, “what is ‘good’ or ‘better’ environment (for whom, why and how one knows it is better) ’’
Jackson ed. (2001:3) describes it as that, which is...“created by investments or lack of them that are allocated by both the public and the private sectors”.
Thus, the investment capacity of these two sources accounts for the internalized differences and the general characteristics of the housing environment. These definitions synthesize the approach to this research.
D1.10.9 General Systems Theory (GST)
(Bertalanffy, 1950 in Bello, 1985:132) defines GST as, “A system can be defined as a complex of interacting elements within a whole; of which its part/elements stand in certain relation to each other,so that their behavior in one relation is different from other relations. The general systems theory GST,is a logico-mathematical discipline, which is in itself purely formal, but is applicable to all sciences concerned with systems.”
This definition is valuable in conceptualizing and explaining the interactions that co-exist within HDS.