Purpose This study aims to reframe the common concept of post-disaster reconstruction “building back better”, especially in the context of post-disaster housing design. Design/methodology/approach An Aceh post-tsunami housing reconstruction project is used as a case study with qualitative methodology through in-depth interviews of selected respondents. Findings The study findings have shown that the term “building back better” is not a familiar term for housing recipients. Whichever different personal background post-disaster survivors come from, whether they are housewife, civil servant, fisherman, university student, businessman or a professional, none have ever heard this phrase. All found it hard to understand the term. This study argues that the “building back better” concept is good in policy but not working in practice. As a result, housing recipients not only were dissatisfied with their new houses but also found that the new housing configurations profoundly altered their traditional way of life. In light of these findings, the paper argues that the concept of “building back better” needs to be reframed to take account of the cultural individual and communal needs and wants of post-disaster survivors. Research limitations/implications This study discusses only one aspect of post-disaster reconstruction that is the design of housing reconstruction. Practical implications Results from this study provide a practical contribution for reconstruction actors especially designers, architects and planners. It helps them to reconsider the common concepts they have used for post-disaster reconstruction processes particularly in designing housing reconstruction projects. Originality/value This study focuses on the question of how tsunami survivors in Aceh reacted to the design of their new post-tsunami houses and what they had done themselves to make their homes a better and nicer place to live within their own cultural needs. This study also sought to understand what motivated the opinions the respondents had about the design of housing reconstruction after the tsunami in Aceh generally. In addition, the study investigated whether survivors knew the phrase and the credo of “building back better” in a post-disaster context.

No abstract

Our experiences in Aceh lead us to believe that a surprising amount of the reconstruction and development agenda has failed to address the cultural and historical dimensions of social recovery. In spite of all the meetings, coordinating sessions and public statements about interagency cooperation, it is impossible to find a commonly-accepted definition of what 'recovery' entails or should look like. It is difficult to imagine such resources could be allocated and spent 1 without a clearly-defined end-game, but unfortunately this is an endemic problem in many post-disaster situations 2 (Bennett et al. 2006; Telford and Cosgrave 2006). The evidence from Aceh suggests that this is specially a concern when there are large numbers of external organizations involved in aid and reconstruction processes. Naomi Klein's influential book The Shock Doctrine draws attention to the cynical and opportunistic behaviour often accompanying post-conflict and post-disaster reconstruction processes. She builds a powerful argument that government and corporate interests exploit the aftermath of large-scale social trauma for political and/or economic gain, and in some cases initiate or encourage trauma (Klein 2007). While there are certainly cases where relief and development aid is manipulated to achieve political, economic or social goals, we want to argue in this chapter that practices which target social transformation that fall outside pre-existing social and cultural contexts can impede the recovery of traumatized communities, even when it is

Covid-19 pandemic has directed hospitals to concentrate services for patients who are positive or still in undefined status. Some countries are even forced to build temporary structures or utilize multifunctional buildings such as sports/public halls. On the other hand, hospitals still have to keep performing other routine services and this becomes a challenge for them. When global attention nowadays focuses more on how hospitals serve the Covid-19 cases, this research proposes another side of healthcare service needed by people in the pandemic, which is the dental clinic. The spread of Covid-19 through droplets puts both dental patients and practitioners at risk target of Covid-19 transmission. Therefore, particular standards and protocols are mandatory to be deployed. A prototype design of the temporary dental clinic is the main output from this research. The main objective is to provide service for the community without being afraid of contracting the pandemic as the clinic will be isolated from the regular hospital buildings. To achieve this objective, this research employed three approaches for the methodology. It was started with the desk study to review references on recent technology of temporary building structures. Followed by the online questionnaire using the Google platform distributed to 206 registered dental practitioners in Aceh, in collaboration with the Indonesian Dental Association, Aceh Province, Indonesia. The questionnaire collected the data related to the needs, standards, procedures, and dental service protocols under the Covid-19 pandemic as the main reference for the design process. The last approach was gathering feedback from dentists and international architects who are experts in building science and technology. This was done through a series of pre-design reviews. This research has a high degree of urgency globally, including Saudi Arabia, which is also impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. It is also in line with Saudi Vision 2030 to enhance the standard quality and sustainability of healthcare services. The prototype design proposed in this research does not only contribute to the Covid-19 pandemic in particular but also post-Covid scenarios or other possible global pandemics in the future.

Asian cities often experience complex urban problems, mainly due to weak regulations to respond to the changes. There is a need to answer these problems. Using Banda Aceh as the case, this study examines the transformation of the city form through reading the urban elements and layers from historical chronological order focuses on the inner city and its surrounded areas. The aim is to identify the physical and non-physical primary elements and the ordinary layers of the city, as well as analyze the symbolical, sociological, historical, morphological layers and their transformation from time to time. Historical and typo-morphological methodology were used by comparing maps and building styles supported with photographs collected through a series of field observation and from literature. The analysis was divided into pre-colonial, colonial, post-colonial, and post-tsunami disaster periods. Findings from this study shows that there are three main factors that contribute to the transformation of Banda Aceh: the past international trading activities, colonialism, and the tsunami. This study provides a reference for urban designers and planners to understand the complexity of the urban form of the Asian cities which can also be utilized by policy-makers to control regulations for urban development, particularly in Asia.

In disaster situations, physical buildings and infrastructures can be damaged or destroyed, including the community’s livelihood, yet generally, the cultural structures that shaped the settlements persist. However, local cultural values have been commonly ignored in a postdisaster intervention. It creates conflict, which results in improper development practice that contributes to the weak sustainability outcomes. Using the Aceh tsunami disaster as a case study, this study examines how far the community recognises their cultural values after the disaster. It argues that culture is a potential resource that is significant for community building. Thus, assessing the cultural state of the affected community is vital to be carried out for the longer term of sustainability of the new development. The study relied on a qualitative approach as the primary methodology. The data was collected through a series of fieldwork, which involved indepth interviews and site observations. It was supported by desk research to gather related statistical information and literature. The study targeted all levels of the community ranging from young people, elderly, key persons (such as the head of the village and religious leaders), male and female, educated, and uneducated people. The desk research was conducted to get the overview and background information regarding the history of the places, significant values, profile of the areas, and the statistical data. Both tangible (such as substantial buildings, monuments, and sites) and intangible aspects, including everyday life, cultural interaction, and traditional practices were assessed. The study covered the area of Banda Aceh city and part of Aceh Besar district. Both were the devastated areas hit by the tsunami disaster of 26th December 2004. Studies on the importance of culture for sustainable development have been carried out; however, this study will be different since it focuses on sustainable development in the context of post-disaster, which was not commonly studied. The results of this study offer a lesson learned and provide a recommendation for the planning of sustainable development after a disaster. It may also contribute to the development studies and practices in general.

No abstract

No abstract