PROVISION OF GREEN AND AFFORDABLE HOUSINGS WITH INCLUSIONARY ZONING

Abstract

The construction of real estate has passed through changes with new ideas and concepts being incorporated and tested every now and then to create a better built environment so that our quality of life, as occupants, can be enhanced. With the increasing awareness about global warming and climate change, the direction in real estate construction has since embarked on the path towards building sustainability with much emphasis on green buildings and technologies. Although commercial projects were among the earliest to adopt this concept, its application has extended into residential developments. Green features, alongside with other criteria such as affordability, are seen as a crucial part in the creation of sustainable housing and community. This dissertation attempts to explore the possibility of integrating green features into public housing while maintaining the affordability through the use of urban planning strategies. It first considers the people’s expectations on green housings and their readiness to accept the concept when it is applied on public housings. Using a new public housing project as an example, it tries to identify the premiums chargeable before the affordability threshold is met. Lastly, it reviews inclusionary zoning in terms of its suitability in the Singapore’s context. Due to unfamiliarity with green features, and especially the costs and benefits related, people are not fully ready to accept the idea. Management of costs, both initial and ongoing, is imperative to ensure the viability and maintain the affordability of green housings. We will require a better understanding of various aspects in the provision of green and affordable housings before a comprehensive strategy can be developed. 1