AND ECONOMIC

UNITED NATIONS

ECONOMIC

AND

SOCIAL COUNCIL

Distr.

LIMITED

E/GN.14/SCXJ/46

5 June 1969

Original: ENGLISH ECONOMIC COM SSI ON FOR AFRICA

Working Group of Experts on House-Building Costa

Tangier, 1-12 September 1969

BUI LUNG KiiiSEAHCH AND THE USE OF KNOWLEDGE IN PRACTICE

Contents

1. INTEGRATED APPROACH r 2- DECISION-TAXING

3. OP1IMAL QJALITT AND STANDARKEZAKON

4. HESSAKCH 0 o „ ,,

5 - OHE EEVELOPJM!? CTCIE .. . o o o

AoknowlecUement

The basic ideas and most of the content of this paper were taken from "Problems and methods of Low-Cost Housing"

by J. van Sttinger Sr, - Executive President, Bouwoentrum, and J. van Ettingor Jr. - Staff Engineer, Bouwcentrum,

published by Bouwcentrum, tfeena 100, Postbus 299, Rotterdam, the Netherlands^ January 1969.

M69-I675

E/CN,14/HOj/46\

1. INTEGRATED APPROACH

Housing has become one of the most important, urgent and difficult problems of today. To solve this problem it is

essential to extend the element of thinking in building, that is, to spend more time in research, furthermore it is essential to ensure that the resulting costs have the most useful effect

possible* T^ this end, research should go hand in hand With

transmission of knowledge and be directed towards rendering '

effective the decisions that have to be taken within the framework

of planning and building including the use of building.

The housing problem can and will only be solved if an

integrated approach is applied. This integrated approach comprises

the following pc~ iitss

1= an intrepid urbanization and housing policy for . the increasing number of households, as part of

long-term development planning;

?. imaginative physical planning for the optimum use of the land;

3* a realistic policy promoting saving and investment;

4. basic decisions concerning quality levels (housing

- , standard) founded on human needs and economic

reality;

5* an intensive encouragement of research divided in:

— functional research

— techno-physical research

— techno—economic research

6. a suitable working method integrating research and

practice to achieve optimum quality. The method introduced and refined by the Bouwoentrum is oalled the Development Cycle,

E/CN.14/HOI/46

Page 2

2. DECISION-TAKING

We will have to recognize two types of decisions. They may be called macro-decisions and micro-decisions,

The macro-decisions areconnected with tne establishment of the general development plan., the national physical plan, regional plan and town plan. They are equally concerned with the national building

programme - which is in turn closely connected with the general

development plan and the physical planning policy and the division of the total over the sectors: economic aotiviti housing and:

recreation (see figure l).

The micro-decisions that must La taken for each building or group of buildings may be divided as follows;

- basic decisions (purpose, capacity, location, etc.).

- functional decisions (programme of-requirements resulting from the establishment of the spatial consequences of the

purpose);

design decisions (choice of structure, maturials and installations and establishment of total conception);

- production decisions (execution of the plan, supply of

commodities, organization on the site, mechanisation, etc.);

- use decisions (organization of use, maintenance, repairs).

These macro- and micro-decisions should all be directed towards

the continuous production of :

sufficiently large quantities of duellings

the necessary number of different types (low-rise - high-rise; small - large; low-, sediurn--.. high-cost);

optimal quality for each type.

E/CN.14/HCU/46

Page 3

None of these decisions (see figure 2) can be taken

independently owing to their fairly close inter-relationship.

The oentral, regional and local governments must not only establish the overall policy, sponsor the physical planning and

produce the infrastructures, but they must also create the conditions for a sound development of building production by promoting continuity, simplification, standardization, research and transmission of

knowledge in building.

The owner has to make a programme of requirements, formulating his objectives in the clearest possible way so as to establish, from

the very outset, what is essential for the use of the building.

The architect when realizing the programme of requirements will constantly have to balance use-value and cost and take into account the requirements of a rational production. ...-,..,

The contractor will have to/enlarge his knowledge of organization:

techniques ana be willing to make his expert knowledge, in the field , of technology and economics available in the initial stages when the,

design and specifications are being prepared.

The manufacturers of building commodities must be aware of the trends of development following the planning and design activities and adjust their production to optimal standards and dimensional

oo-ordination.

The experience of the user, who in many cases is not the owner, must be fed back to exert an influence on new designs so that

the most favourable relationship between use-value and running cost

may be achieved.

E/CN.14/HOJ/4*

Page 4

3, OPTIMAL QJAUTr AND STANDABDIZkTLON

The quality cf a product is defined as the measure in which its properties are adapted to the demand of the User. Tfi"order to judge the quality of a product it "becomes necessary, besides

analysing the characteristic properties of the product, also to analyse the desire and the economic situation of the user. Quality in this relative sense has been called "fitness for purpose".

In a purely functional sense; abstracted from economic

considerations, quality is the use-value—' of a product to anticipated user, that is, the attuning of its properties to his assumed needs.

The use-value may be expressed as a function b(x) of the quality level,

x, expressed by relevant physical properties of the product,

"b(x) is normally a progressively decreasing function of x.

By comparing the use—value to a given user with the importance to the same user of the neoessary sacrifices one arrives at the definition of. economic quality as the difference between use-value

and sacrifices (see figure 3)- The sacrifices include such economic

quantities as the cost of the product and the financial capacity of the user. The sacrifices connected with the use of the

product may be expressed as a function c(x) of the quality level, x,

c(x) is normally a progressively increasing function of x.

The excess of use-value over sacrifices is, in itself, a function of a quality level, having a maximum at a quality level which is

called optimal quality (see figv.ro 4).

T7 Use-value has also been called "abstract quality".

Page 5

Working on a quality level which is higher than optimal quality, means that one incurs considerably more sacrifices .thair-:a"fc'/:tlie optimal level without producing a use-value significantly higher than at the optimal level. Working on a quality level inferior to the optimal leryel means .a-signiljLcant losb .of ude-■■value witiiout significantly lower sacrifices. Both situations therefore imply a wastage, and ■ optimal quality consequently implies elimination of waste.

Use-value and sacrifices are functions which are not stable in time. Generally speaking, both functions are moving continuously

towards higher quality levels- (see figure 5)* In other words," ■-

a given use—value which at an earlier date occurred at a certain quality level, will occur in subsequent years at a higher quality level." The same holds good for the sacrifices. The displacement of the use-value function is the result of social and technological changes; the displacement of the sacrifices function is the result of in-creased efficiency of design and production.

In designing products which have a relatively long life one has to take the dynamics of quality into account. The same holds for the installation of, machinery which produces commodities on fixed quality levels.

The needs and financial capacity of each user are not standardiz ed but unique. If the unique situation of the user must be satisfied by standardized means, an "adaptation loss" arises from the fact that

the standardized product is not ideally adapted to the needs and financial capacity of the user. The larger the number of different types of a product, the lower the adaptation losses, but also the ...

higher the production and distribution costs. _r..

Optimal standardization iL's the standardization of that number of types, for.which the sum of adaptation losses on the one hand and production and distribution costs on-the other hand are a minimum'

(see figure 6)*

Page 6

4# RESEARCH ...

- .. functional research aims at finding out how people live and would like to live with emphasis on the spatial requirements for living., indoor climate and sanitary facilities.

The life in a house may be divided into a number of functions

such as: , .

1. Personal care

a) sleeping, dressing and personal hygiene

b) mental and physical activities and recreation c) care of babies, elderly and sick family members

2. Household activities

a) preparation of food, cooking, eating and related

■ ■'"■•■'. activities;

-,-.•;[■ ..*>■) washing.* drying and mending (of clothes) and

related activities;

c) cleaning and maintenance (influencing the choice

of materials and the treatment, of floors, walls,

ceilings,furniture and fixtures).

3# Storing

al storing of clothes and other personal belongings b) storing of food, crockery etc.

o) other storing and garaging

The spatial consequences of the functions thus recognized should be established one by Gnu as a "basis for decisions on

housing standards. The practical testing of several well prepared model dwellings and the statistical survey of actual family life in different settlements under different economio circumstances will gradually increase the knowledge of functional requirements of

dwellings for people. This knowledge should be summarized in a

publication which may be called "Regulations and Recommendations for

the design of dwellings" referable to a specific oountry, region or

town. The publication, of course, has to be continuously revised

Page 7

as the .country develops e^id. xhe levwl cf ->ptimal quality ris

"but in each period of development the compulsory regulations .must be carefully balanced to the economic conditions _.of. .the people*

Regulations which prev-iirl people x'rom building -homes at feasible cost can only retard development.

TechnG'-physic'al r*? search aims at defining suitable building ' systems- The "building system" may be defined as a method of

transforming natural resources into housoa (or other buildings).

The teohno—physical research it* fundamental for the selection of those building systems \;}ij.ob. vrill oi'.for optimal quality*

Each tribe has its traditional builrir.g system, In modern...

development^ however., z\ioh o,ysto:ns may net be entirely satisfactory and new systems - especially in urofn areas have to be developed and adopted^

The teohno-physicnl roc^-uch ir.plier. the finding of resources for production of cuildint: L.a^oriaJ t ^rid components and the standard ization for dimensional cc-ordination c thfj building site as

well as for serial production in the factory. The physical, properties of tliw prc::.u.o"t.s; t'o?: 'builcirio end the functional, performances of building ^leinents have tc be definedo

Techno-economic re -jgaroh ains at finding1 the most economic solutions 'in "tie iraple.jiHUT'3/G.Lon o±- u^j..j.q.j.!-s bybl^iiis. This kind of research ie mainly dealing vii'th T-ationa].:. zaticn of all activities ■ involved, trying to 2*cducj as far as ;oos^ible unnecessary

operations and m^ipOT-nL-? "i^^1''": c^ .3no^, ■

The selection of aunt advantageous working methods, whether labour-intensive or LnecnruvLsoC, s,nd bhe \ooaticn of factories in relation to area.? to !>= 'rjuilt up fox taniinun transport are part of the techno-.ooo^o^:; c v-ecy

Page 8

The studying of labour-wages and piece rate payments is another part as well as research into the most advantageous organization pattern for the-whole complex of decisions, financing, design, materials supply, construction and administration of housing -areas

(and other built up areas)0 IJo is wollknovrn that ?.ack of organization (not only on site "but as a totality) is one of the most hampering

factors in development.

The techno—economic research so far revealed that the

industrial serial production must be achieved as s. flow from the

y

natural resources to the finished "buildings. Buildings must grow up in a well planned continuity,. Physical planning, financing, urban infrastructural construction, the materials and manufacturing

of commodities and the erection work on site are all involved in

the organization of this industrial serial production. Techno-economio research is all-embraoing in the field of planning and building.

This kind of researoh should lead to firm national decisions and their implementation. That is The sense of "integrated approach".

Industrial serial production of dwellings can only be achieved in actual practice, if the preparation of the projects takes place in close consultation between all parties involved.

This may be realized by teams in which representatives of the government, owners, town planners, architects and engineers,

contractors and manufacturers of building commodities are

represented, (see page 3). This teamwork is a process in which

each member may loso some of his independence but gain from the arising public spirit*

T/including both labour-intensive and mechanized methods.

3/CN.14/HCU/4* ■ Page 9 ' ^ ,:;:-'.r

The Bouwcentrum of the Netherlands found that in this conn try- serial production of dwellings - without special attention to the efficiency of the project and its execution - may need an average of

l?380 man.hours per dwelling over a series of 240 dwellings which

is roughly 50 per cert of that of the first dwelling (26-20). 'This average can be reduced by roughly another 50 per cent (to 660 ) by making the town plan, the design of the dwelling and the organization of the execution fully efficient. " : ';

After the introduction of techno—economic research and the

application of its results in the Netherlands the annual production

of dwellings rose from 76»5OO in 1962 to 127,500 in 1967-

(62 per cent increase in five years). The labour force engaged in house-building rose from 64?5OO to 76,000 (l8 per cent) in the

same period. The rise of the quality level at the same time was impressive.s: ..Effective floor area per dwelling increased 15 p'er cent;

central heating was installed in 84 per cent of the dwellings in 1967rcompared1 to 10 per cent in 1962; sound and heat insulation

were remarkably improved. The number of working hours per week

decreas.edydTrom 48-to 42, so the actual labour productivity in house-building rose more than 70 per cent in the Netherlands over

the five-year period I962-I967,

This may be taken as an example of the return from investment in house-building research,.

On pages 10 and 11 the Bouwcentrum way of working is described.

The most important aspect of this nay of working is the transmission of knowledge from research to practice. The method is called the"

Development Cycle. The secretariat of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa is anxious that the member States of the Commission should know about this method and as soon as possible employ it by starting national centres of the type rBouwcentrumn,

E/CN.14/HOJ/46

Page 10

6* THE DEVELOPMENT CYCLE METHOD

In order to achieve optimal quality in practice as a result of functional, teohno-physical and teohno-economic research the ■' . Bouwcentrum introduced and refined the Development Cycle method.

This is a systematic way of integrating research in practice. . The Bouwcentrum of the Netherlands has developed three specific

activities:

1. Building teams, which have started the development of a house-building project can ask Bouwcentrum to evaluate their plan from the functional, techno- physical and techno-economic point of view. This method of evaluation, which can be applied at different stages of development of the plan, is called "X-raying".

The results of this evaluation form a basis for the further development of the plan.

2. A development group, consisting of a large number of experts on housing, building and planning was constituted in 1965. This first group has developed a low-cost

apartment, to be constructed in multi-storey buildings, for a family of 4-6 persons. The result has been an apartment of outstanding properties at a cost level which is acceptable for "Housing Act" dwellings. In total around 3000 of these apartments will be constructed in 5 different municipalities. A second development group is working on the development of a low-cost one-family house. A third development group has been assigned

to deal with school building.

3. On the basis of the experience with the application of the Development Cycle Method in the Netherlands, an International Development Cycle Course was set up in

1968. This Course, which is open to building teams from any country in the world, was attended for the first time by teams from India and Thailand. They both worked out an actual housing project for their countries in accordance with the Development Cycle Method. In this they were assisted by a counterpart team from Bouwcentrum, which consisted of experts in the functional techno-physical and teohno-economic

fields.

E/CN.U/EOU/46

Page 11

The aim of the Development Cycle Method is to strive

systematically for an optimal attuning of the properties and the costs of buildings to the needs and financial capacities of the users,

through teamwork aiming at:

- optimal standardization and continuity in production - integration of thought and action and full use of

the experience gained.

To this end all decisions influencing the quality of a project are arranged in six consecutive stages, namely:

— basic decisions «• production

— programme of requirements - distribution

— design — service

These six stages form the Cycle (see figure f). In addition to

this arrangement of all relevant decisions into six stages, the

following main characteristics have to be mentioned:

— In each of the six stages all relevant existing knowledge is brought in systematically, without loosing sight of the necessary speed of action

- The gaps in the existing knowledge are being defined, and research for filling them is begun at suitable institutes.

- Before starting the final mass-production for a project the design of it is tested in full-size models and experimental production series by whioh its functional, techno—physical and techno—economic qualities are evaluated.

The experiences gained in each stage are fed into the work of other stages whenever relevant. The experience from all stages forms

the basis of a new cycle whereby better results might be achieved in the future. In this way the Development Cyole aims at incoporating

a maximum of knowledge and experience into each separate project so as to systematically reach either lower costs or higher quality, or a combination of the two.

MACRO- DECISIONS

^{Fig. 1}

The decision makers :

CENTRAL REGIONAL

OR LOCAL

GOVERNMENT

general development plan

national physical plan

NATIONAL BUILDING PROGRAMME

residential buildings

non-resid.

buildings

other constr. works

MICRO-DECISIONS

The decision makers ;

OWNER

ARCHITECT

MANUFACTURER

CONTRACTOR

USER

basic decisions

functional decisions

design decisions

production decisions

use decisions

>

>

>

>

>

OBJECTIVES PROGRAMME

DESIGN

PRODUCTION

MANAGEMENT of the building in

Fig. 2

use

Fig- 3 TENANT

needs

Economic Quality

financial capacity

use value, b(x) sacrifices, c(x)

properties costs

DWELLING

Fig.

069-238

optimal quality

Dynamic quality Fig. 5

c.b

•

■

-

-

/

11 * '

y>

r

-4

ii

—r ■--

/•

1

-I r—

—1 1 ■

—t r

b

■

1 1 1 1—

I

■

I I 1 / /

1 1 , L L.

11 11 11 If 1

*

-

..,. 1 1 1

original optimum

new

optimum

OPTIMAL STANDARDISATION Fig. 6

15 20 optimum

total costs

of production and distribution

.». numbtr of typts

Fig. 7

Development cycle