Housing in Libya-Critical Plan for Literature

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Housing in Libya-Critical Plan for Literature

This chapter will look closely at the main aspects of the socio-cultural characteristic of Libyan society and identity the features, which affect most directly the design of houses. This will include the analysis of the relationship between people and their built environment, the influences, which are brought to bear on it and the need to maintain dignity whenever possibleThis paper presents the various authors' literature based on the topic named as Housing in Libya. This critical plan identifies the key features to be discussed in the literature review and the layout of the same. The literature will explore the current labour situation of the housing industry in Libya. The current trends of demand and supply of the housing and the government policies regarding the same are also presented in this chapter. Family life is important for Libyan families, the majority of which live in apartment blocks and other independent housing units, with precise modes of housing depending on their income and wealth.

1. Socio-Cultural Characteristic of Libyan Society

IN the late 1980s was in a state of transition from one set of structures and values to another. For nearly two decades the country's leader, Muammar al Qadhafi, had sought to transform Libya from an underdeveloped backwater into a modern socialist state compatible with the dictates of the Quran and the heritage of Islam. (Al-Tboly, 2009) The regime's policies and goals often aroused controversy as the country moved away from the Libyan-Arab mold of the past in which heredity and patronage determined social distinction and toward the new egalitarian society that was the Qadhafi regime's ideal.

The changes the society was undergoing were made possible in large measure by petroleum wealth, which had converted the country from one of the world's poorest at the time of independence in 1951 to one of the most prosperous. By the 1980s, most Libyans enjoyed educational opportunities, health care, and housing that were among the best in Africa and the Middle East (Bosworth, 2009). Responsibility for the care of the old and the needy had been largely shifted from the extended family to a comprehensive system of social security. Education and medical care were free, and when necessary the state subsidized housing and other necessities. Life expectancy, perhaps the ultimate measure of living standards, had lengthened by ten years since 1960, and social mobility was much improved (Ofori et al., 2009).

1.1 The People

As of 1987, the most recent census was that taken in July 1984, but the only available data showed a provisional population figure of 3.637 million inhabitants--one of the smallest totals on the African continent. Of these, an estimated 1.950 million were men, and 1.687 million women. Having slightly more men than women in the population was characteristic of developing countries such as Libya where health practices and sanitation were fast improving but where female mortality relating to childbirth and favoritism toward male over female children caused a slight skewing of the ...