Estate Management & Valuation
http://dr.lib.sjp.ac.lk/handle/123456789/45
2024-03-28T15:29:05ZPhysical Environment and Employee Happiness in Two Public Sector Offices in Colombo District
http://dr.lib.sjp.ac.lk/handle/123456789/12129
Physical Environment and Employee Happiness in Two Public Sector Offices in Colombo District
Fernando, W.W.C.D.; Perera, T.G.U.P.
Employee happiness can determine the productivity and service quality of
production and distribution spaces such as offices. The study aims to
examine how the workplace physical environment is associated with
employee ‘happiness’ concerning public sector offices in Colombo, Sri
Lanka. The data was collected through a structured questionnaire targeting
100 employees from two public sector offices in Colombo. Using the
convenience sampling method, respondents were recruited by visiting each
office from May to June of 2020. The data were analyzed using descriptive
inferential statistics. The results revealed that the physical work
environment of public sector offices impacts respective employee
happiness. However, circumstances prevail where not all elements of the
office physical environment impact employee happiness similarly. The
findings add to a better understanding of the complicated links between
office physical environment attributes and employee happiness. These
insights may be utilized to evaluate important features of work
environments to find relevant interventions in value-added management of
buildings and facilities, as we add needless costs for office building
development and vice versa.
2022-01-01T00:00:00ZSuperstitions and Residential Property Buyer Decision Making in Sri Lanka
http://dr.lib.sjp.ac.lk/handle/123456789/10348
Superstitions and Residential Property Buyer Decision Making in Sri Lanka
Poologasingam, C; Perera, T.G.U.P
The purpose of this study is to identify the influence of superstitious beliefs on the residential property buyer’s decision-making in Sri Lanka. Despite
plethora of research devoted to study superstitious beliefs affecting residential property prices, limited studies are available discussing the effects of
superstitious beliefs on the entire buyer decision-making process. Besides, no studies are dedicated to discuss the issue pertaining to the Sri Lankan
residential market. Rooted to Vastu, Almanac, and Islamic discipline, superstitious beliefs on the residential property exist in Sri Lanka. These superstitious
beliefs, on the whole, concentrate on the design, shape, alignment, size, location, and structure of residential properties. Superstitious beliefs of buyers
become a factor affecting their problem recognition, an insight for the information search, a criterion for evaluation of alternatives, a critical factor to make a
purchase or purchase intention decision, and measurement of satisfaction of the residential property purchased. These findings are based on in-depth
interviews with twenty (20) residential and community experts and thirty (30) residential buyers. John Dewey's five-stage buyer decision-making process is
employed as a theoretical framework for data analysis. This examination provides useful insights on the behavioural aspect of the residential market in Sri
Lanka for its market actors including real estate developers, agents, businesses, and real estate planners.
2021-01-01T00:00:00ZCOVID-19 Lockdown Home Gardening in the Western Province of Sri Lanka
http://dr.lib.sjp.ac.lk/handle/123456789/9578
COVID-19 Lockdown Home Gardening in the Western Province of Sri Lanka
Perera, T.G.U.P; Wickramaarachchi, N.C; Karunarathne, H.M.L.P; Munasinghe, L.M; Rupasinghe, K
Sampling a set of households from three districts of the Western Province,
this paper explored the landscape of lockdown home gardening which took
place during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka. A
structured questionnaire published online enabled collecting 939 household
responses. A descriptive analysis performed using the IBM SPSS package
highlights that the lockdown conditions have intensified the level of home
gardening of the participants. The study validates the findings from recent
studies that home gardening has no dividing line when it comes to the socioeconomic character of households. Primary benefit of home gardening is of
households’ being in seek of good and healthy consumption, vegetables and
fruits have been the most preferred crop types to grow. Application of organic
fertiliser have been preferred by the majority of the households. This study
supports the notion that urban land scarcity is not a limiting factor for home
gardening. The paper suggests that this home gardening trend reignited
during the Covid-19 lockdown needs to be supported by three means:
promoting healthy lifestyles, connecting government officials with local
home gardeners and local plans being supportive and appreciative of home
gardening.
2021-01-01T00:00:00ZCommunicative Planning Potentials of Housing Estate Development Process in England: A Case Study from Dickens Heath New Settlement
http://dr.lib.sjp.ac.lk/handle/123456789/9437
Communicative Planning Potentials of Housing Estate Development Process in England: A Case Study from Dickens Heath New Settlement
Perera, U
In the 21st century, societies are increasingly multi-sided with secular interests, making urban issues
complex, dynamic and unable to be solved by a single institution. In this context, communicative
planning propagates that the pathway to finding sustainable solutions for complex social problems would
come from stakeholder participation and the identification of shared interests among such secular
interests (consensus building). Rooted to Habermasian communicative rationality, communicative
planning argues, stakeholder participation can ponder not only the scientific knowledge but also emotive
and moral knowledge of lay actors such as local communities to inform planning better. In this respect,
the paper explores the extent to which communicative planning works for the housing estate delivery
process in England. With key pieces of planning legislation, mandating community engagement in all
forms of physical development, England is considered one of the highest forms of legal backing for
communicative planning. Meanwhile, housing provision is one of the complex and critical planning
concerns of all cities. Dickens Heath New Settlement (DHNS) - a large scale housing estate development
in the West Midlands of England, has been selected as the case study here to investigate this
communicative planning potential in the context of housing estate development. Following qualitative
methods, data were collected through sixty in-depth interviews with DHNS residents, community groups,
master planners and local authority planners, and documentary evidence such as the DHNS master plan
and local planning documents. The findings highlighted that communicative planning had a negligible
effect at the conceptual planning stage of DHNS, but accrued relatively positive outcomes at the mature
design, development and management phases of the estate development. These are valuable insights for
housing development practice, communicative planning theory and practice, and reflect on Sustainable
Development Goal (SDG) 11 - sustainable cities and communities in the context of England.
2021-01-01T00:00:00Z