Doctoral Programme New Social Housing

The Research Center for New Social Housing is launching the pilot year for the Doctoral Programme New Social Housing in November 2024. Supported by the EXCITE-initiative of the Faculty of Architecture and Planning of TU Wien, this programme seeks to establish an interdisciplinary setting around social housing themes and looks for a connection of international and local perspectives.

Highly dynamic political, social, ecological, and political transitions bring a number of challenges to the provision of housing today. The current global housing crisis is stimulating political interest and a broad public debate on housing issues and practical solutions. As a complex research field, housing includes the design of buildings, housing as a form of practice, and housing regimes and policies but, also, an ideological and epistemological component. Housing studies at the intersection of basic and applied research require new transdisciplinary methodological approaches and perspectives across positions of Global North and South. In view of these challenges and demands, the following questions arise: How do we as housing researchers/designers approach the research–practice gap in housing and develop methodologies across disciplinary boundaries? What are the necessary forms of knowledge in housing design, policy, and everyday life that need to be considered in housing research? How do we engage in a global comparative approach across Global North and South addressing the specificity of housing to advance in housing studies?

AIMS
To pursue these challenges and requirements, the international and interdisciplinary doctoral programme seeks to establish an ‘open-minded dialogue across scales and positions’ (Powell & Simone, 2022) on the topic of New Social Housing. The thematic focus of the programme will be social housing in its definition as common good (Güntner, Hauser, Lehner & Reinprecht 2023) and transdisciplinary methodological approaches in housing studies. Beyond the (1) aim of promoting excellent doctoral training, the programme additionally seeks to (2) achieve positioning the Faculty of Architecture and Spatial Planning in the network of international housing studies and consolidate or extent international collaborations. Additionally, our goal in the advancement of housing research is to (3) qualify supervising scientists and early-stage researchers for competitive funding, and to (4) increase visibility of research through public events and publication in open access, peer-reviewed journals.

The doctoral programme in the framework of the TUW faculty’s focus “Social Infrastructure: Health/Education/Housing” aims to complement and further develop teaching in doctoral settings aligned with the faculty’s research school structure and TU Wien’s doctoral school. The proposed programme brings added value through the inter/transdisciplinary approach and innovative peer-supervision & learning. The didactical approach of the programme – with cross-disciplinary supervision, workshops focussed on problem-based-learning and collaborative interdisciplinary research settings – seeks to develop a peer-culture in doctoral education, leading to capacity building on all three career levels (predoc, postdoc and professorship). Additionally, the programme allows for international networking and advancing the excellency in housing research/design through the inclusion of highly renown international scientists of international universities, the City of Vienna as a collaborator for transdisciplinary exchange and the output of public keynote events and a peer reviewed, open-access special issue / edited volume.

Being situated in Vienna, a city with a refined system of social housing and proficient housing expertise in city administration, practice, social organizations and universities, the proposed doctoral programme therefore offers doctoral students not only a scientific career development in an international setting, but also the opportunity of engaging with a field of competence in applied practice. At the same time, the doctoral programme offers scientists of TU Wien to get new insights through the international exchange. In particular with regard to Sustainable Development Goal 11 'Sustainable Cities and Communities' with SDG 11.1 'Safe and Affordable Housing', the project organizers and partners are developing new formats for knowledge transfer and cooperation networks, available/accessible for all participants and beyond.

METHODOLOGY and PROGRAMME STRUCTURE
The doctoral programme consists of various actors participating and supporting the programme structure. The Research Center for New Social Housing functions as an organisational body. Project organizers facilitate events, teach courses and edit the foreseen joint peer-reviewed publication. Professors of the different research units of TU Wien and international institutions (see cooperation partners below) work as advisors in a team-supervising setting. This means students are supervised during the programme by a team of advisors rather than single supervisors, so that mentoring and discussion can take place as part of a peer culture, meeting demands of contemporary didactic approaches in doctoral training. The cohort of doctoral students is expected to entail students of TU Wien and of international universities from different disciplinary fields. The programme is conducted in English.

The complementary training activities to the doctoral curriculum of TU Wien and partner institutions are offered through the doctoral programme. Teaching activities and scientific exchange include:

Kick-off event: November 2024
On-site meetings: 2x4 days (Winter 2024/25 and spring/summer 2025)
Internal sessions for progress reports + subsequent writing retreat + Public event
Research-guided Teaching: Winter- and Summer Webinars 2 half-days (in winter and summer term)
Courses on housing studies + progress reports + transferable skills training.
Summer School: 5 days in September 2025 in the framework of the Vienna International Summer School on New Social Housing

PROJECT ORGANISERS and international cooperation partners

Dr. Judith M. Lehner, Research Center for New Social Housing, future.lab, E285-01
Dr. Bernadette Krejs, Research Unit Housing and Design, E253-2
Dr. Selim Banabak, Research Unit Urban and Regional Research, E280-2

Prof. Dr. Amita Bhide, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, School of Habitat Studies,
Prof. Dr. Massimo Bricocoli, Politecnico Milano, Dipartimento di Architettura e Studi Urbani,
Prof. Dr. Raquel Rolnik, Universidade de São Paulo, Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo
Stadt Wien, MA 50, Referat für Stategische Projekte und Internationales

CONTACT for more information: newsocialhousing@tuwien.ac.at

OPEN CALL for doctoral students and supervisors! Apply now until 6 October 2024 to be part of the pilot year. More information here.