What can Bedlington teach the big outside developing world?

[𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐋𝐨𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐞]

My friends at the South East Asia Globe posted an article of new "affordable housing" for the middle-class in Cambodia. It reminded me immediately of terraced houses and for comparison I looked up some images with Bedlington the best.  I often blog comparing life and times between Northumberland and the developing world especially Cambodia and St Helena.  I wonder if Cambodia could learn from Bedlington's experiences?  The old terrace houses had a lot going for them, both good and bad, and are loved and despised in equal measures, aren't they?  The question how can the same mistakes be avoided?  I am not just referring to structures and facilities but how can they become thriving communities for all ages? As I pose in the Tweet stream (

), I can't help thinking that for Cambodia - and the middle-class for whom the houses are intended - mistakes will be made. I doubt if these new terraces will last a 100 years. http://anorthumbrianabroad.blogspot.com/  As I mention in other blogs, for now Cambodian children can be seen still playing out in the streets, as was the way-of-life for all Northumbrian children till TV, videos, and the internet arrived. However that too is now coming to an end in Cambodia, indeed even the poorest now have mobile phones. http://anorthumbrianabroad.blogspot.com/2018/04/fascinating-back-streets.html A quick link to Globe Article: http://sea-globe.com/affordable-housing-cambodia?fb_ref=qOC5m01PcI-Twitter&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=ShareButton&utm_campaign=GetSocial

Edited May 28, 2019 by 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐋𝐨𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐞

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

No idea what a typical Cambodian housing estate would like.  If it's affordable to the locals then is it better than what they have now?

 

http://anorthumbrianabroad.blogspot.com/2017/07/cambodia-microcosm-2-neighbourhood.html

Edited May 28, 2019 by Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)

[𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐋𝐨𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐞]

Thanks for the prompt reply.  There have been few housing estates in Cambodia as we know them in the UK.  The first ones appeared not long ago as enclaves for the elite. They had a mix of detached, semi-detached and even linked houses but all expensive, modeled on what was called Thai-style but resembled US villas. These developments have fully-manned security perimeters.

The feature I picked up is the first I have seen offering affordable housing for lower social-economic groups, although as it reads, it will still be only relatively well-off people, who will be able to afford them. The housing shortage and limited financing markets will mean that they will sell, although the user/occupier/family may not persist. Instead I can see multiple occupancies to defray and share costs and ownerships gravitating to private landlords especially where original buyers default on loans.

The most striking thing is of course the bland uniformity and lack of private space. Those should be put right at the outset.  Indeed the UK demonstrates in abundance the extent to which people do want to individualize their properties and every “home is a castle”.

It is shame to see rows of terrraced houses in the UK fall in to disrepair and disuse with many demolished. Yet we do see many perhaps most refurbished and extended to add facilities and living-space. We also know that many people preferred them to the high-rise residential blocks that like housing estates emerged all over the UK after World War II.  Chinese-led/funded “condominium” blocks are also proliferating around Phnom Penh and two other cities Siem Reap.

There is an organisation in Cambodia founded by young architects called Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT). It was one of the first to try to advocate for and develop a pro-poor urban development policy not one that automatically displaces them from city centres.  They tend to congregate in shanty or grossly over-crowded dwellings without safe utilities or proper sanitation. Over the last 20 years they have been forcibly removed without adequate compensation. Supporting those communities led to STT and other organisations in to conflict with local authorities and developers.

You would have thought with the rich history we have in the UK of housing initiatives, successes and failures, and the personal experiences of people like those of Bedlington, who have endured the changes, that countries like Cambodia would be interested and not make the same mistakes.  The UK Embassy has not (I believe) offered an exchange for young urban-planning professionals and students like those from STT.

Anyway it would be good if any folks wanted to share their views on what works and does not work for terraced-house living,

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

On 29/05/2019 at 07:56, 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐋𝐨𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐞 said:

 

Anyway it would be good if any folks wanted to share their views on what works and does not work for terraced-house living,

 

I have very simplistic views. If the housing is affordable and people wan to live in their own house, with all their own facilities, then nothing wrong with terraced housing = good soundproof insulation. After that then I would say it's all down to the tenants - some will mix respect their neighbours and some will not. I doubt that will ever change whether it's terrace, semi or detached housing.