Launch of the Research Center New Social Housing
‘Global Housing Crisis – Local Responses?’ – Launching the Research Center
On 13 October 2022 the Research Center for New Social Housing invited to an evening with discussion, lectures, interdisciplinary exchange and a book preview on topic of ‘Global Housing Crisis – Local Responses?’
Housing and crisis are terms closely connected and debated jointly not only in the academic realm. Responses are manifold and often local, while drivers are complex and interconnected globally. However, the polarizing dynamics on the housing market are reproducing social inequalities and ranging across scales. Homeownership through mortgages, ‚right-to-buy‘ policies or housing micro-financing are globally spreading mechanisms of housing financialization that convert housing into commodity – producing expulsion for many and accumulation for some. Against this background, local responses of grassroots movements and city administrations refer to the right to adequate housing (UDHR) and the SDG 11.1. (UN).
In this context, housing research that informs such responses requires a transdisciplinary understanding of both global and local dynamics, also in regard to the specificity and uniqueness of all ‘ordinary’ cities (Robinson 2006). Bringing together histories, methodologies and geographical contexts in housing research is one step for a ‘more globalized and open-minded dialogue‘ (Powell/Simone 2022).
With the launch, the Research Center for New Social Housing aimed at advancing towards this dialogue in housing research starting with keynotes by Sandi Hilal (DAAR Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency), David Madden (LSE) and Raquel Rolnik (University of São Paulo) and a subsequent discussion on the interconnectedness of the ‘Global Housing Crisis and Local Responses’. Thinking across scales, beyond disciplinary boundaries and territorial borders the Center posed the following questions in this event: What are necessary forms of knowledge about policy, housing design and everyday life that need to be considered in housing research? How could possible hands-on approaches look like when it comes to housing provision and activism? What is the social dimension of (social) housing?