Alternative housing
(2022) European Network for Housing Research (ENHR) conference 2022. “The Struggle for the “Right to Housing” — Location: Barcelona (30.August.2022)
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- Abstract
- Our societies are evolving at a rapid pace, challenging the certainties of the past. Two fundamental changes stand out, and raise questions concerning housing. First, the composition of our societies is increasingly diverse from both cultural and social points of view. Second, in the absence of external supports (either from the family realm or welfare states), a growing number of individuals are left behind. To address these social challenges, alternative housing forms tend to depart from the quantitative design solutions of the past to address housing design from a qualitative point of view. Alternative ways of designing housing are explored in this paper, all of which find roots in history. On the one hand, housing a diverse population can be achieved by a series of means: by offering a great variety of complex housing possibilities, polyvalent dwellings where spaces can be used for various purposes and evolving housing. On the other hand, the decline in solidarity, whether in welfare state support or family bonds is one of the reasons for the resurgence of co-living projects in recent decades. Those projects tend to question the patriarchal approach to housing. By sharing childcare, cooking, and housing management as well as by making household chores visible, co-living models tend to provide a lever to empower and emancipate citizens, particularly women. Based on a general dissatisfaction of the conventional housing market, alternative housing models tend to question traditional dwelling layouts, land tenure systems and gender divisions at home. While still marginal, they could inform future housing design for a diverse and inclusive society.
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Citations
Ledent, G. (2022). Alternative housing. European Network for Housing Research (ENHR) conference 2022. “The Struggle for the “Right to Housing”, Barcelona. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/102672