Leonardo Ricaurte
ESR15

Host university
B10 - School of Built Environment, University of ReadingSupervising team
Flora Samuel (Supervisor) Lorraine Farrelly (Co-Supervisor) Jean-Cristophe Dissart (Co-Supervisor)Secondments
Clarion Housing Group, United Kingdom Institute for Sociology, Centre for Social Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences Centre of Excellence, Hungary Pacte - Laboratoire de sciences sociales, Université Grenoble Alpes, FranceResearch project
ESR15 - Social Evaluation of RegenerationSimilarly, he has research experience in sustainable and affordable housing projects fostering participatory practices, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the New Urban Agenda, as part of an internship in the research laboratory CRAterre in Grenoble. In 2020, he defended his master's dissertation “Possibilities of participatory tools in the attainment of sustainable housing solutions: The case of Bogotá” receiving a "mention très bien" with commendations from the jury. This research focused on the production of social housing in the context of international frameworks of sustainability, and the impact of market-led housing systems, urban inequality, and gentrification when creating comprehensive policies and strategies.
April, 01, 2022
September, 17, 2021
Capturing the social value of design in housing regeneration projects: The potential of POE and learning loops in the built environment
The aim of this project is to develop a framework for capturing the social value of housing at a building scale in collaboration with the housing association Clarion. Post-occupancy evaluation (POE) is a promising methodology to gauge a project’s capacity to meet social impact aims, comply with building regulations, and deliver improved sustainability and affordability (RIBA, 2020). It is subtly different to Building Performance Evaluation (BPE), whose scope tends to be limited to environmental impacts, performance benchmarks, and energy efficiency (Hay et al., 2017; Stevenson, 2019). POE has the potential to show what works in a building and what needs to be improved from the inhabitants’ point of view. When it comes to housing, a decision on the height of a bench in a common space, the position of windows in relation to a playground or the size of a stairwell can impact the social value of a project. Although architects such as Herman Hertzberger speculate about these impacts they have not been subject to systematic study or brought into line with contemporary debates about the social value of housing. This thesis seeks to align the potential of the ‘Capability approach’ of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum with debates on social value at the scale of a housing block.
The consideration of social value as an integral aspect of POE has been advocated by several publications in recent years (Behar et al., 2017; Samuel, 2020; Watson et al., 2016; Watson & Whitley, 2017). Social Value is understood as an umbrella term that encompasses the wider economic, social and environmental effects of any given activity; it is a concept that has become very prominent, especially in the UK after the advent of the Social Value Act in 2012 (UKGBC, 2020, 2021). Since then a great deal of progress has been made in incorporating the idea of measuring quantitatively the impact of projects in communities and in general in society. Nevertheless, when it comes to the establishment of the role of the construction field in its implementation, the transition has been sluggish (Samuel & Hatleskog, 2020). The social value of design is the focus of this thesis. This research aims to complement the body of knowledge devoted to understanding how buildings work, but bringing forward the human scale and the inhabitants' interaction with and behaviour in the space. In the end, architecture should be first about people and then about buildings; or in the words of Jan Gehl: “First life, then spaces, then buildings. The other way around never works”.
Keywords: Post-Occupancy Evaluation; wellbeing assessment; housing regeneration; affordability by design; social value of design
References:
Behar, C., Bradshaw, F., Bowles, L., Croxford, B., Chen, D., Davies, J., Heaslip, M., Helliwell, T., Holgate, P., & Keeling, T. (2017). Building Knowledge: Pathways to Post Occupancy Evaluation.
Clapham, D., Foye, C., & Blyth, R. (2019). How should we evaluate housing outcomes?
Hay, R., Samuel, F., Watson, K. J., & Bradbury, S. (2017). Post-occupancy evaluation in architecture: experiences and perspectives from UK practice. Building Research & Information, 46(6), 698–710. https://doi.org/10.1080/09613218.2017.1314692
RIBA. (2020). Post Occupancy Evaluation An essential tool to improve the built environment.
Samuel, F. (2020). RIBA social value toolkit for architecture. Royal Institute of British Architects.
Samuel, F., & Hatleskog, E. (2020). Why Social Value? Architectural Design, 90(4), 6–13. https://doi.org/10.1002/AD.2584
Stevenson, F. (2019). Housing fit for purpose: Performance, feedback and learning. Routledge.
UKGBC. (2020). A guide to measuring the social value of buildings and places. https://www.ukgbc.org/ukgbc-work/delivering-social-value-measurement/
UKGBC. (2021). Framework for Defining Social Value. https://www.ukgbc.org/ukgbc-work/framework-for-defining-social-value/
Watson, K. J., Evans, J., Karvonen, A., & Whitley, T. (2016). Re-conceiving building design quality: A review of building users in their social context. Indoor + Built Environment : The Journal of the International Society of the Built Environment, 25(3), 509–523. https://doi.org/10.1177/1420326X14557550
Watson, K. J., & Whitley, T. (2017). Applying Social Return on Investment (SROI) to the built environment., 45(8), 875–891. https://doi.org/10.1080/09613218.2016.1223486
Reference documents
Housing regeneration in Europe: Possibilities for social value creation in the context of the Renovation Wave
In the framework of integrated plans such as the Renovation Wave and the European Green Deal, several urban renewal projects are to be implemented in cities across the continent in the coming years. This depicts a remarkable opportunity to channel expertise, decision-making and funds towards better practices and trigger a paradigm shift in city-making. Accordingly, the research question that will steer the development of this study is: How can the social value and wellbeing generated by housing projects be better captured and capitalized in the context of major urban regeneration schemes?
Housing projects that envision creating more cohesive and inclusive communities will be targeted in a series of data collection activities, planned to offer the possibility of experimenting with different methods, and considering all the actors involved. The methodology to be used is a mix of quantitative and qualitative data collection processes, incorporating methods like participatory action research, and selected from the array of existing Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) frameworks and social value toolkits for architecture, selected through a systematic literature review. The feedback acquired will be instrumental in informing the development of an own tailor-made social evaluating framework. The intention is to demonstrate the benefits of conducting POE and showcasing projects that reconcile affordability and sustainability. And ultimately inspire decision-makers, private developers, academia, and civil society to get on board.
The secondments that complement this research are fundamental for the creation of tangible and productive links between academia and industry. In this aspect, the findings obtained will potentially contribute to the institutions’ own activities. Counting on Clarion’s expertise in regeneration projects for carrying out data collection activities. Consequently, England and France are subjects of a comprehensive analysis, yet other countries participants of the RE-DWELL network remain considered possible sources of input that resonates with the research aims. This study emphasizes the great potential that resides in incorporating practices such as POE, wellbeing and quality of life and social value assessment when developing housing regeneration schemes. Hence, by leveraging on the experiences and momentum, the generation of new projects could be attained.
Keywords: Post-Occupancy Evaluation; social value; Renovation Wave; quality of life; housing regeneration; affordability by design; collaborative housing
Reference documents

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