AS 2004 Volume 11 Issue 1&2

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http://hdl.handle.net/11660/5496

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    Combating HIV and AIDS in South African construction through effective communication
    (University of the Free State, 2004) Haupt, Theo C.; Munshi, Meenakshi; Smallwood, John
    English: It is increasingly being recognized that the only viable means of preventing the spread of new HIV infections is sexual behavior change. Behavior change programs should include information on risk that is communicated often, repetitively and intensively to workers. Effective HIV and AIDS communication involves providing relevant and meaningful information accurately, consistently, reiteratively, and repetitively using multiple methods, mediums, and languages including vernacular, that build on previous HIV and AIDS knowledge while at the same time recognizing the differing personal backgrounds of workers in an environment conducive to open and uninhibited interaction. The authors argue from anecdotal evidence gathered during a series of national multi stakeholder workshops as well as the findings of knowledge, attitude and behavior (KAB) surveys of two samples, namely in South Africa and in Namibia, for greater involvement of construction employers in purposeful structured management led and targeted HIV and AIDS communication programs designed to influ ence sexual behavior. Considering that television and radio were the most popular and influential mediums of communication, employers are encouraged to support, reinforce and complement HIV and AIDS campaigns and messages via these mediums as part of primary health promotion programs. Further, the authors recommend that employers create opportunities for HIV and AIDS education of workers by their peers.
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    Demographic challenges in non-metropolitan Western Australia: community development strategies in a neo-liberal economic environment
    (University of the Free State, 2004) McKenzie, Fiona Haslam
    English: Many communities throughout non metropolitan Australia are experiencing change; changes in service delivery and infrastructure, changes in traditional industries and the industry mix, changes in the demographic and cultural mix of local residents and changes in local and political leadership. Some com munities, particularly those in broadacre agricultural areas have experienced significant depopulation and struggle to remain viable, while others, particularly those on the coast, have experienced unprecedented population growth, creating pressure on the local economy, housing, infrastructure, long held traditions and social networks. It would appear that both types of communities often feel threatened and have grappled with change from a number of perspectives; some with more success than others. In the proposed paper, the author will seek to understand why some com munities have coped with change better than others and identify the inhibitors and facilitators enabling the optimisation of change for sustainable regional development. Related to this, is the need for greater exploration of the new styles of community leadership and strategies for continued commitment to capacity building and the creation of social capital in non metropolitan areas of Australia, particularly those experiencing change. The economic, social and environmental implications will be viewed as a set of issues that are indivisible from other policy pursuits. It is proposed that two regions will be examined, one that has been threatened by depopulation, such as the Central Wheatbelt of Western Australia, and the other to be investigated will be one that has experienced significant coastal growth, such as the Capes region of South West, Western Australia. The coping mechanisms and the regional development strategies of each will be compared and contrasted. An anticipated outcome would be strategies that encourage greater collaboration between the policy makers, authorities and stakeholders, thereby enhancing the capabilities and capacities.
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    Economic and regulatory approaches to improve the environmental performance of buildings in South Africa
    (University of the Free State, 2004) Barker, G.; Hill, R. C.; Bowen, P. A.; Evans, K.
    resisted by industry, government and the public. As such, they were used only in exceptional circumstances. More recently, there has been a realisation that economic instruments can be a powerful complement to direct regulations. Consequently, economic instruments1 are playing an increasingly important role in the environmental management of buildings. The activities of the con struction industry are driven by economic forces, so using market mechanisms is a logical strategy to pursue the objectives of sustainable construction.2 Perhaps the question is not whether economic mechanisms should be employed to improve environmental building performance, but rather how this should be achieved. This paper suggests that it can be achieved by using the economic instrument of ecolabelling to create market competition for improved building perform ance. Ecolabelling has traditionally been associated with household products, but has more recently been applied to a wider range of products, including buildings and building materials. The basis for building ecolabels is provided by the results of building environmental assessments, which evaluate building per formance. In developed countries, these assessments have stimulated market demand for ‘green’ building developments. Building environmental assessment methods have used the concept of ecolabelling to provide consumers with an additional benchmark in renting or purchasing buildings. Yet, it is unknown whether the South African building market will be similarly responsive to ‘green’ market incentives. In South Africa, where the majority of the population are struggling to satisfy their basic needs, and lack proper education, the environmental ‘ethos’ of the general public has not developed to an extent where environmental issues are seen as a serious priority. Building environmental assessment methods in South Africa are evolving from ‘green’ evaluations that were pragmatically developed to respond to imme diate needs, to the measurement of ‘sustainability’. Ecolabels can now reflect the performance of building development in terms of all aspects of sustain ability, including socio economic, technical and environmental dimensions of sustainable construction. This has been made possible by the development of a unique South African building environmental assessment method that measures sustainability, namely the “Sustainable Buildings Assessment Technique.” Although much has been written about economic mechanisms, practical guidance on how to implement these mechanisms in building developments is scarce. This paper outlines some of the opportunities and constraints associ ated with market driven and environmental performance in buildings. The limitations of economic approaches in South Africa include a lack of environ mental awareness, misconceptions of ‘green’ buildings, building industry constraints and the market dependence of voluntary assessment protocols. Regulatory approaches are not without their own limitations, the most significant of which is the acute shortage of resources in South African environmental authorities, a factor that is likely to restrict the effectiveness of regulatory approaches. The paper goes on to examine the particular problems associated with de veloping world markets (such as South Africa’s). Furthermore, the relationship between regulatory, ‘command and control’ approaches and economic, market driven approaches is discussed. It is concluded that the ideals of sustain able construction can best be achieved by using regulatory approaches in conjunction with economic instruments.
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    Architecture, heritage, history, memory
    (University of the Free State, 2004) Lipman, Alan
    English: ... when the modern world finds that the eclecticism of the present is barren and fruitless, and that it needs and will have a style of architecture which ... can only be as part of a change as wide and as deep as that which destroyed Feudalism; when it has come to that conclusion, the style of architecture will have to be historic in the true sense; it will not be able to dispense with tradition; it cannot begin at least without doing something quite different from anything that has been done before; yet whatever the form of it may be, the spirit of it will be in sympathy with the needs and aspirations of its own time, not simulations of needs and aspirations passed away. Thus it will remember the history of the past, make history in the present, and teach history in the future. (William Morris, 1889 in Cole, ed.,1944, p. 492)
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    Collaborations: the architecture of Ahrends, Burton and Koralek (ABK) edited by Kenneth Powell
    (University of the Free State, 2004) Noble, Jonathan; Raman, Pattabi G.
    English: This article on one of the enduring British partnerships is not a vanity publication that we are accustomed to in our profession. Edited by Kenneth Powell, it contains illuminating essays of overlapping themes. The editor provides the overview. Jeremy Melvin writes a sensitive piece on the formation of the practice. While Elain Harwood and Frank Macdonald respectively describe early works and Irish projects of the practice Paul Finch contributes an intelligent essay on collaboration. The essays are not presented in succession but in layered colour strips on the top and bottom of pages with images in the body under the thematic titles of private/public, context, light/space and process. One does have to overcome the initial irritation of this unconventional layout before realising the importance of the ABK story. Indeed the interlocking of different narratives and the images has a resonance with the character of the practice itself, with three distinct personalities of Ahrends, Burton and Koralek, each with unique but complementary interests and predilections.
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    The art of the brick: reviewed
    (University of the Free State, 2004) Groves, Derham
    English: To celebrate Australia’s strong tradition of brick architecture, as well as the largely unsung art of bricklaying, Australian architect and curator, Derham Groves, organized two complementary public exhibitions of full-scale brick structures designed by various architects and artists. The results were an intriguing mixture of art and the everyday, as Groves describes in the following article.