Anna+M

MY SOLUTION: http://solvingurbandecay.wikispaces.com/

Ancient Roman Decay : - Those who could not afford to pay the rent to live in an apartment were forced to move out and live on the streets which lead to the increase of homelessness in Rome. - Because majority of the population was in poverty more and more people were forced to leave their home. - More and more buildings began to become abandoned and the buildings would crumble. - . "Fall of the Roman Empire." //Rome.info//. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan 2012. . - The ground floor in each apartment building always had the highest rent. - The apartment buildings could be up to 6 stories tall. The More stairs a family had to climb to get to their room, the cheaper the rent was - Top apartments were hot, crowded, and dirty. - "Why Rome fell and is the united states next?." //Yale national Intiative//. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Feb 2012. . - Roman emperors were becoming greedy and letting the empire begin to crumble because they cared about the money and the jewels more than the well being of Rome - "Decay." //About.com Ancient/classical history//. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Feb 2012. . - Because of the high levels of homelessness in Rome there were many violent groups created that would fight amongst themselves and preform many illegal activities. These groups raised the crime rate in Rome substantially. - Abandoned wooden buildings would catch fire very easily and very quickly. Many of the buildings that burned sat in piles of ashes for long periods of time before being cleaned up if they were ever cleaned up

Modern Day Decay: Signs and causes for Building Decay __Side walks__ -Decayed sidewalks are a danger for those with disabilities such as canes or wheel chairs - Many cities that do not fix their sidewalks such as L.A. make parts of their city virtually un walkable because of the poor conditions of the sidewalks - Before the sale of a house, if the inspector deems the sidewalk or drive way damaged and unsafe, the buyer must pay to have the sidewalk fixed before completing the sale. The buyers only pay for the sidewalk outside of their homes though. - This system is called Point-of-Sale program. This program makes sure that the payers see exactly where their money is going, creates a safer environment, causes the property value to go up because of the better appearance and lets the government not raise the taxes to pay for the sidewalks.
 * Fungai stains
 * Erosion of Mortar joints
 * Peeling Paint
 * Bad Installation of the A/C
 * Defective Rain water goods(Sagging rain gutter, broken iron down pipes, water spout not at proper ground level)
 * Cracking or leaning of inner or outer walls
 * Insect or termite infestations
 * Rotten floor boards
 * Defective roofing
 * Dampness penetrates walls (leaks)
 * Unstable foundation
 * Location of building
 * Vandalism
 * Use of building
 * Age of building

Shoup, Donald. "Fixing Broken Sidewalks." //Access//. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Feb 2012. .

Roads - Heavy trucks weight plus their speed are putting a lot of stress on the roads, causing many to crack after a while Crime

Grabmeier, Jeff. "HIGHER CRIME RATE LINKED TO LOW WAGES AND UNEMPLOYMENT, STUDY FINDS." //Research//. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Feb 2012. .

-The increasing crime rate is believed to be caused by the low wages and high unemployment rate: people will do anything to get money -Criminals motives are powered by the need for money -The lowering pay wages causes the raising pay for crime -Wages declining are responsible for over 50% of the property and violent crimes -Wages are a bigger cause for the increasing crime rate than the unemployment -In highly educated citizens the economic conditions of the country had little to no effect on the criminal rate compared to the lower educated citizens, whom were in more need of money

Questions: 1) Are there anything architecture/ construction techniques that can be used while constructing a building that would help prevent the decaying of the building or even postpone the decay ? 2.) How do workers repair a building that has begun to decay and at what point is a building too damaged to repair? 3.) After a building has been restored/repaired is it quickly put to use too gain inhabitants or does the building continue to be empty for a long period of time?