Built Environment: Product (03-09-2008)

HOUSING-AN ACT OR A PRODUCT?

This lecture we discuss about housing.
Question: housing is an act or a product?From the point of being an act, housing is a verb.

Housing involves 5 keys:

1. Hand key: key which is used to open the doors of building(pass the key to someone after payment, you can go inside)
2. Structural and infill: infill an existing structure
3. Core house: extend when infill infrastructure (extend as and when the need arises)
4. Site and Services: build on exisitng infrastructure
5. Provide land: give the task of building determining to the end users.

Sometimes housing is an act of collecting votes.
Nowadays, housing is not a problem because it is a demand for people. It is a place where people use to run activities. Peoples like contractors, architects, engineers and quantity surveyors use it to make money. The design of local houses is to obtain a minimum cost and is affordable by the buyers.

If we say housing is a product, then housing can be categorised into different types such as low-cost houses, medium-cost houses and high-cost houses. People who buy the high-cost houses are going to subsidise those who buy the low-cost houses. This is because low-cost houses also cost around RM1.5M. Hostel, resort and hotel is not considered as house.

Housing can be differentiated as:
Form: aggregation, division
Management: self, condominium