Military housing privatization & the promise of design innovation

The objective of this paper is to answer the question, "Has the military housing privatization process produced design innovation?" Secondary questions are, "What specific role has the Army's Residential Communities Initiative played in fostering innovation? What are the key process drivers? What (if any) specific building product innovations have arisen from an architectural, sustainability, construction technology and community planning perspective over the last 10-15 years?" Particular emphasis is paid to design measures employed by the development partners to ensure client satisfaction, maintain the competitiveness of their product on the open market and preserve long term partnerships with the U.S. Government. Consideration is given to the ways in which the Army has streamlined the privatization solicitation process to foster private sector innovation and what impacts these efforts have had on both design drivers and customer satisfaction levels. Specific examples of planning, design and construction innovation are explored through case studies. The author concludes that privatization has produced significant innovation and high customer satisfaction in the military housing market. However, there is still room for further program innovation in light of parallel trends in university student housing privatization, public housing privatization and the private market. Research methodology included relevant literature review and direct, focused interviews with key industry players from the U.S. Government, design and development arenas. These approaches were augmented with select, relevant case study analyses and supporting site visits..

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Real Estate. Program in Real Estate Development.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Ellis, Jason (Jason Robert)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Dennis Frenchman.

• Center for Real Estate. Program in Real Estate Development.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/54848

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/54848