Lecture Series: Green Transition and Housing Inequalities

The online lecture series addresses central challenges of contemporary housing policy in Europe, with a particular focus on inequalities in access to affordable and high-quality housing. Drawing on findings from the EU-funded research project ReHousIn , the lectures examine how economic restructuring and climate policy measures affect housing provision in selected European countries and in comparative European perspectives.

The series introduces different national and local housing contexts across Europe (including France, Hungary, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom), highlighting housing subsidy and financing mechanisms, governance structures in housing policy, policies related to social and ecological transformation (specifically densification and retrofitting policies and nature-based solutions), and key housing policy conflicts and trade-offs.

Special attention is given to current developments in different large, medium and small cities as a case study, reflecting empirical research conducted within the ReHousIn project. Overall, the lecture series aims to provide students with a theoretically and empirically grounded understanding of housing policy dynamics in Europe.

The online lecture series primarily relies on guest lectures in the framework of the ReHousIn lecture series delivered by international and national experts in housing research, urban planning and public policy. These lectures present diverse disciplinary and geographical perspectives on housing policy challenges in Europe. Moderated discussions may be integrated into selected sessions to clarify concepts, contextualize empirical examples and encourage critical engagement with the material.

Lecture series schedule

6 March, 17:30: Lecture Series kick-off and introduction
6 March, 18h: Retrofitting policies in Hungary – latent drivers of social problems? (Iván Tosics, Éva Gerőházi and Nóra Teller; Metropolitan Research Institute)
11 March, 15h: Inequalities in housing affordability in urban Poland in the 21st century: Patterns and processes (Szymon Marcińczak, University of Lodz)
25 March, 10h: Housing inqualities and the green transition in France (Marco Cremaschi, Federica Rotondo, Antoine Guironnet; Sciences Po)
22 April, tbc: (Simon Güntner, Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften Hamburg)
29 April, tbc: (Gabu Heindl, Universität Kassel)
20 May, 15h: Green Re-Commodification of Housing: The UK Case (Phoebe Stirling, Sonia Arbaci, University College London)
3 June: Retrofits in an Owner-dominated country: Challenges for equity and place-keeping in Barcelona (Melissa García-Lamarca, Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies, Isabelle Anguelovski, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)
10 June, 15h: The evolution of EU discourses and initiatives on sustainable housing from the European Green Deal to the current Commission (Sebastiano Sabato, European Social Observatory)

Additional information

The online lecture series is conducted in English language and open to all students enrolled at the Faculty of Architecture and Spatial Planning (TU Wien) as well as admitted non-degree students.

Concept and coordination: Judith M. Lehner (Research Center New Social Housing).

More information and registration on TISS