Programme
A holistic, transdisciplinary framework will reveal the links between social, economic and environmental factors in the provision of affordable and sustainable housing.
1. Design, planning and building
a) Sustainable planning:
Planning sustainable housing in urban areas; integration of sustainability dimensions (environmental, social, economic) and scales (building, district, city, region) in the design of A&S housing.
b) Industrialized construction:
Design and construction of sustainable housing with industrialized methods; sustainable materials and building components; application of BIM and digital fabrication in A&S housing.
c) Green building:
Methods and tools to support environmental sustainability in the design, planning and operation of residential buildings and urban environments; renewable resources at building and district level.
d) Building retrofitting and urban regeneration:
Adapting housing environments to dwellers’ needs; housing retrofitting; flexible and transformable housing layouts; applying ICTs to smart housing/living, post-occupancy evaluation.
e) Housing design education:
Implementing in academic programmes inclusive housing design studios open to multiple stakeholders, embedded in local milieus.
2. Community participation
a) Co-housing and co-design:
Co-housing as mechanism to achieve sustainable dwellings (environmentally, economically and socially); co-creation of eco-villages and sustainable communities.
b) Community planning:
Participation in the revitalization and regeneration of housing estates and derelict urban areas; public-private partnerships to support housing retrofitting and urban regeneration programmes.
c) Inclusive design:
Living conditions for elderly and disabled persons (housing, access to public spaces), access to public spaces); adapting existing buildings and neighbourhoods to their needs, intergenerational housing.
d) Transient and digital societies:
Intertwining digital and physical structures in contemporary urban life, the impact of mobile populations (tourists, migrants, refugees) in buildings and neighbourhoods, urban living labs as drivers of social and urban changes.
3. Policy and financing
a) Innovative procurement:
Financial innovations to support social housing: impact investment, intermediate housing tenures, social rental agencies, and guarantees for cooperatives; innovative procurement strategies: small-scale housing competitions, energy labelling.
b) Social housing policies:
Land provision, community land trusts, new zoning regulations, regulatory and financial instruments to foster housing tenures beyond homeownership.
c) Vulnerable groups:
Housing policies to assure access to housing for vulnerable segments: homeless, evicted owners, single-parent families.
d) Governance, market and financing:
Local governance and national frameworks allowing for innovative housing projects to emerge (in terms of energy efficiency and sustainability; affordable and social housing, etc.); transferring good practices from one country to another overcoming institutional differences.