UNIVERSITY OF

PANGASINAN
ARC 150: HOUSING

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERNG & ARCHITECTURE

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE

RESEARCH WORK NO. 9

“TECHNOLOGICAL ISSUES IN MASS
HOUSING”

SCHEDULE: T/TH 11:00- 12:00 AM

UP-FB1-BSAR5-01

RESOLME JHON- KENETH P.

STUDENT

AR. CESAR L. AGPOON

INSTRUCTOR
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

3 PATH’s Approach to Advancing Housing Technology……………………………………...3

Advancing Innovation Housing………………………………..……..…………………………4
Promoting Innovation………………………….………………………………………..………...4
Removing Barriers…………………..……………………………………………..…….………6
Dissiminating Information……………..…………………………………………………………8
References………………………………………………………………………………………..10

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3 PATH’s Approach to Advancing Housing Technology

The mission of PATH is to improve the performance of housing and the housing industry
by fostering the development and diffusion of innovative technology. PATH’s original goals were
to improve the performance and reduce the cost of housing. The NRC committee noted in its 2000
assessment report that the complexity of housing performance issues and the limited role of
technology in determining housing cost made housing performance and affordability goals
inappropriate measures for PATH (NRC, 2001). PATH has now refocused its goals on intermediate
outcomes (removing barriers to innovation, disseminating information, and fostering research) that
affect the rate of innovation in the housing industry.

By refocusing its goals, the program has created an opportunity to directly assess its impact
on the housing industry. However, PATH planning and evaluation have been hampered by the lack
of housing-specific paradigms to describe the development and diffusion of innovation and by the
limited amount of baseline data. Other than an estimate of the dollars spent on housing-related
R&D, there are no data on innovation in housing construction that measure the rate at which new
technologies are developed and adopted. There is general agreement that the housing industry
needs to be more innovative, but this is mostly based on anecdotal information (NAHBRC, 1998).

PATH was created on the hypothesis that there is insufficient innovation in housing. It was
developed as a program that supports activities to address issues that are perceived by the housing
industry to be the primary causes of the problem: barriers to innovation, lack of accessible
information, and insufficient R&D (NAHBRC, 1998). Yet a number of technologies broadly
adopted in the last quarter century—such as power nailers, engineered wood products, house
wraps, energy-conserving glazing, and prefabricated components—have made homes easier to
build and more comfortable to live in.

Although the approaches PATH has taken may be appropriate, much more information is
needed to fully evaluate the lack of innovation, the appropriateness of activities to address the
problem, and how they affect the housing industry. Lacking specific information on the
development and diffusion of technology in housing, the following discussion applies general
theories of innovation to the information available on the housing industry to describe what the
committee believes is an appropriate course for PATH. This general information illustrates what
could be expected of PATH and is a baseline for the committee’s program evaluation

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ADVANCING INNOVATION IN HOUSING
The need for PATH described in the committee’s 2000 assessment report (NRC, 2001)
arises from economic and social factors inherent in the housing industry in the United States. These
include specific market failures relating to public goods, externalities, and information
asymmetries.1 PATH has the potential to effectively address these market failures by identifying,
understanding, and removing barriers to innovation, disseminating information to all participants
in the housing industry, and undertaking research itself and facilitating privately sponsored
research.

The application of technology to housing design, construction, and operation offers

opportunities for improved affordability, energy efficiency, comfort, safety, and convenience for
consumers. New technologies and production processes could help resolve serious issues facing
housing producers, including labor shortages, interruptions due to inclement weather, quality
control, and theft and vandalism. However, it is generally believed that realizing these benefits
broadly is, to a large extent, hindered by characteristics of the housing industry that inhibit the
development and diffusion of innovations. The challenge for PATH is to capitalize on the
momentum of ongoing technology development in order to increase the rate of innovation in the
industry. To meet this challenge, it needs to plan a program that responds to the properties of the
housing industry that determine the development and diffusion of new technologies.

PROMOTING INNOVATION
A body of knowledge and research on the nature and dynamics of the development and
diffusion of innovation has been built over the last 100 years (CI, 2002). Previous reports on
innovation in housing (Blakely and Shepard, 1996; Koebel, 1999) have used the innovation
paradigm published by Everett Rogers (1995) and provide some basis for applying this paradigm
to the evaluation of PATH.

Innovation can be considered anything that seems new. It can be new to the world, the
industry, a company, or a person. For this report, innovation is synonymous with new technology,
both hardware (materials, tools and appliances) and software (process and information). For PATH
to be successful, it needs to influence the development and diffusion of new technologies so as to
increase the probability of their success.2 By facilitating technology transfer, PATH-sponsored
activities can help define the

1 Public goods are goods available to all that are not diminished by use; e.g., standards for
construction materials and techniques represent public goods. Externality occurs when a firm pays
only part of the costs for or receives only partial benefits from its actions, e.g., adopting unproven
technologies when doing so would benefit competitors, who would not bear the risks. A

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fundamental principle underlying competitive markets is that both buyers and sellers have all the
information available about products; if they have different amounts of information, asymmetries
give rise to informationally imperfect markets.

2 Rogers has identified five characteristics of innovations that affect their rate of adoption
and their ultimate success in diffusion and improving outcomes: (1) relative advantage or
perceived advantage, (2) compatibility with existing systems, (3) complexity or ease of use and
understanding, (4) trialability, the possibility of use on a limited basis with a limited commitment,
and (5) observability, the ability of persons other than the adopter to see the results of the
innovation (Rogers, 1995) opportunities for and potential advantages of innovations. By bringing
together creators and adopters of innovation, PATH can help reduce incompatibilities and address
potential complexities that might become barriers to innovation. PATH-sponsored field evaluations
and demonstration projects have the potential to increase the trialability and observability of
products and thus reduce the time needed for the industry to observe the benefits of new
technologies. By eliminating barriers and increasing the rate of diffusion, PATH can provide
incentives for private investment in R&D.

Sources of innovation are many: innovation may be driven by the basic curiosity of
scientists looking for new knowledge, or it may result from the need to solve a particular problem
or from the synthesis of different lines of research that generate new ways of looking at old
problems (Smith, 1987). The source of innovation can occur at any point in the supply chain from
end-users to material suppliers, manufacturers, researchers, and others whose jobs or well-being
are affected by new technologies. Eric von Hipple has shown through numerous case studies that
innovation will take place where there is greatest economic benefit to the innovator (von Hipple,
1988). Thus, programs intended to stimulate innovation need varied approaches that reach all
possible sources of innovation and stimulate communication among all possible stakeholders.

Earlier attempts by the federal government, including the Civilian Industrial Technology
Program initiated in 1962 and Operation Breakthrough initiated in 1968, failed to have the desired
effect on the housing industry in part because they emphasized the development of technology
without addressing the barriers to diffusion.

The characteristics of the existing housing production system were seen as impediments to
change, but no apparent attention was paid to diffusion strategies for new technologies. Nor was
there any effort to understand the benefits of an existing social system that resisted substantial
change. Rather than increased understanding, the outcomes of these early efforts to promote
technology in housing production reinforced a sense of failure and irrational resistance to change.
(Koebel, 1999)

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 The committee previously recommended that, at this early stage of its development, PATH
should emphasize activities aimed at increasing the diffusion and adoption of existing technologies
(NRC, 2001, 2002). As Rogers noted:

Getting a new idea adopted, even when it has obvious advantages, is often very difficult.
Many innovations require a lengthy period, often of many years, from the time they become
available to the time they are widely adopted. Therefore, a common problem for many individuals
and organizations is how to speed up the rate of diffusion of an innovation. (Rogers, 1995)

Rogers defines diffusion as the process by which an innovation is communicated among

members of a social system through certain channels over time. A federal program like PATH is
ideally suited to enhance communication by developing and disseminating information about
innovations.

REMOVING BARRIERS
The process that guides a technological concept from creation to ultimate market
acceptance is tremendously complex. It is logical to assume that consumers would welcome
technologies that perform better and are more affordable and that builders would be standing in
line to provide these advances to their clients, but there are often barriers that slow or prevent this
process. These barriers need to be identified, understood, and overcome if innovation is to be
increased in the homebuilding industry. A rigorous effort will be required to fully identify and
understand the barriers. The following is a summary of barriers to innovation identified by the
committee as possible initiatives for further action by PATH:

• Education: Home construction is a trades-based industry with a workforce that has

relatively little formal education (EUROPA, 2002); the industry has a pervasive
culture of experiential learning (on-the-job training). The level of education
attained by a homebuilder has been shown to have greater influence on the adoption
of new technologies than the fragmented structure of the industry, which is often
cited (Blakely and Shepard, 1996). To reduce this barrier, education for the housing
industry should be systemic and embrace all who are involved in the network that
connects creation of an innovation to market assimilation. PATH could help the
building industry examine the way it trains its workforce. Education in
conventional and innovative technologies is important for those in the workplace,
markets, and professional service. Collaborations between industry, employee
groups and unions, professional societies, and academia can lead to much-needed
workforce education programs in both traditional and innovative formats.

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 It would be erroneous for PATH to focus its efforts solely on the supply side of the housing
economy. A basic economic principle is that any program that attempts to affect the supply of
goods or services should also pay attention to the demand for such goods or services to prevent
distorting the market. This could be achieved, in part, through partnership with the U.S.
Cooperative Extension Service of the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension
Service (CSREES) within the USDA. CSREES is linked to every county in the country through
working arrangements with each state’s land grant university. Many of these universities have
Extension Housing Specialists on their faculties who are engaged in large-scale consumer
education programs.

• Risk: Huge costs are assessed to any company that needs to defend itself in a civil
suit—even if it is not at fault. The cost of damage awards can be even larger when
companies are actually in the wrong. In addition, the possibility of callbacks and
the expense of unanticipated repairs discourage builders from trying new products.
Builders are thus pressured to adopt an ultracautious approach to protect both their
profit margins and corporate reputations. Also anxious to avoid risk are the officials
who are responsible for ensuring the general safety and welfare of the public.
Building officials want proof that new technologies work. It is unlikely that they
will encourage or even allow use of an unknown technology. Homeowners consider
the purchase of a home to be complicated and intimidating. This makes consumers
also unlikely to accept the risk associated with new technologies.

Officials, builders, and consumers need to be informed about the benefits and proven
performance of new technologies in order to create a consumer pull for innovation. The sharing of
experiences among colleagues and peers is an important step toward removing the barrier of
perceived risk due to insufficient knowledge about a process or material. PATH can also facilitate
private programs for the evaluation, testing, and certification of housing innovations.

• Fragmentation: Participants in the system may share an interest in promoting

innovations that improve the delivery and performance of housing, but a
fragmented system restricts peer interaction. Participants are separated by
inconsistent terminology, gaps in technical expertise, and reluctance to trust the
information conveyed because of conflicting business interests. PATH has the
potential to bring all the participants together to convey unbiased information about
new technologies.

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 • Regulations: There are several model codes, with numerous editions and thousands
of code interpretations, enforced in this country. Neighboring municipalities, even
in states that have a statewide building code, often have different interpretations
and requirements for a given construction application. The extent of local discretion
and the resultant inconsistency in approval of new technologies increase the
difficulty of introducing new technologies. Few if any regulations promote
innovation and enhanced performance.

• Cultural values: Consumers gravitate toward traditional, familiar products that

present little risk. In general, consumers’ housing choices display a preference for
products that resemble the homes they grew up in when making housing decisions
(Deane, 2001). Off-the-shelf technologies and effective procedures to improve
sustainability, such as the use of engineered framing systems that consume less
lumber, reduced environmental impact of alternative materials, or construction
recycling practices are not valued or even considered by most homebuyers.

DISSEMINATING INFORMATION
The transfer of information is at the heart of all phases of the development and diffusion of
new technology, and the channels of communication for the housing industry are many and varied.
No single approach will effectively diffuse all the information needed to advance technology in
housing. Successful technology transfer for innovative R&D often requires cross-disciplinary
communications that operate outside normal scientific and technical channels. Mass media have
proven to be effective in the early stages of adoption, but the rapid spread of information to later
adopters depends on peer-to-peer communication, which in turn requires better-defined, more
specialized channels for the information adopters to understand and evaluate new technologies. In
order for PATH to use information as a tool for eliminating barriers, there needs to be a thorough
understanding of the myriad channels of communication and their unique qualities of language
and custom.

The source and quality of the information as well as the means of communication all need
to be considered when information to advance technology is disseminated. The source conveys to
the receiver a sense of the authority and reliability of the information. Usually the sources that
most closely resemble the receiver (peers) are the most trusted; yet interdisciplinary
communication is also important to the development and diffusion of new technology (Rogers,
1995).

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 PATH is in the position of a switchboard to connect all the channels of communication. It
can accomplish its goals by ensuring the clarity and reliability of the information and using all
appropriate means to transfer it.

FOSTERING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Section 833 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992 directed HUD to
study the extent of research in the United States housing industry, its success in developing and
marketing new technologies for housing, and the extent of U.S. competitiveness in this field. The
study, prepared for HUD by NAHBRC, found that housing research in the United States was
fragmented, uncoordinated, unresponsive to the needs of builders and consumers, and lagging
behind the efforts of our trading partners (HUD, 1994). The result is minimal investment in R&D
(0.2 percent of the value of new housing construction in 1992) compared to the construction
industry overall (0.5 percent of the value of construction in 1992) and a composite of all industries
(3.7 percent of the value of sales in 1992) (NAHBRC, 1998).

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REFERENCES
https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/10688/chapter/5#26

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