Periodic Reporting for period 2 - RE-DWELL (Delivering affordable and sustainable housing in Europe)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2022-10-01 al 2024-09-30
In many European countries, housing is becoming increasingly unaffordable, particularly in urban areas. Currently, housing affordability is considered one of the most pressing issues in Europe, and it is proving very difficult to resolve. As the European Green Deal seeks to decarbonize the building stock to meet newly established global targets, the housing sector faces two seemingly contradictory challenges: on the one hand, preventing an increasing number of urban dwellers from struggling to access decent housing; and, on the other hand, boosting private investment to make existing and future housing more sustainable across multiple dimensions—environmental, social, economic, and cultural.
Providing affordable and sustainable housing is a complex task that involves multiple disciplines, sectors, and stakeholders. However, housing affordability and sustainability have often been addressed separately, from various disciplinary perspectives (e.g. architecture and planning, economics, sociology) and realms (e.g. policymaking, sustainable development, urban planning, green building). Recent research suggests that it is necessary to view housing affordability and sustainability as complementary and interrelated aspects requiring a transdisciplinary approach. This involves combining academic disciplines and engaging non-academic sectors in the co-production of knowledge.
To address this, ten academic beneficiaries and twelve non-academic partner organizations created a learning and research environment to train future professionals to approach housing challenges transdisciplinarily. Fifteen early-stage researchers (ESRs) from diverse backgrounds conducted PhD investigations, co-producing knowledge to tackle three interrelated research areas: design, planning, and building; community participation; and policy and financing.
Over three years, a structured training environment supported ESRs in developing and applying transdisciplinary skills through:
1. Courses in research methods, tools, and transferable skills for inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration.
2. Networking activities, including workshops, summer schools, and conferences, to foster cross-disciplinary dialogues with academics and non-academic stakeholders.
3. Secondments with academic and non-academic partners, providing practical experience in addressing affordable and sustainable housing challenges.
The programme's success in achieving its objectives—training a new generation of professionals capable of tackling housing challenges transdisciplinarily—will be evaluated in the medium to long term. The quality and impact of the ESRs’ PhD dissertations will also provide insight into their potential to drive meaningful change across academic and practical domains.
Providing affordable and sustainable housing is a complex task that involves multiple disciplines, sectors, and stakeholders. However, housing affordability and sustainability have often been addressed separately, from various disciplinary perspectives (e.g. architecture and planning, economics, sociology) and realms (e.g. policymaking, sustainable development, urban planning, green building). Recent research suggests that it is necessary to view housing affordability and sustainability as complementary and interrelated aspects requiring a transdisciplinary approach. This involves combining academic disciplines and engaging non-academic sectors in the co-production of knowledge.
To address this, ten academic beneficiaries and twelve non-academic partner organizations created a learning and research environment to train future professionals to approach housing challenges transdisciplinarily. Fifteen early-stage researchers (ESRs) from diverse backgrounds conducted PhD investigations, co-producing knowledge to tackle three interrelated research areas: design, planning, and building; community participation; and policy and financing.
Over three years, a structured training environment supported ESRs in developing and applying transdisciplinary skills through:
1. Courses in research methods, tools, and transferable skills for inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration.
2. Networking activities, including workshops, summer schools, and conferences, to foster cross-disciplinary dialogues with academics and non-academic stakeholders.
3. Secondments with academic and non-academic partners, providing practical experience in addressing affordable and sustainable housing challenges.
The programme's success in achieving its objectives—training a new generation of professionals capable of tackling housing challenges transdisciplinarily—will be evaluated in the medium to long term. The quality and impact of the ESRs’ PhD dissertations will also provide insight into their potential to drive meaningful change across academic and practical domains.
A Transdisciplinary Environment for Affordable and Sustainable Housing (TEASH) was created, structured around four layers:
1. Crossing disciplines to understand challenges, trade-offs, and strategies across fields.
2. Linking academia and society to co-construct knowledge using a tripartite framework: target, systems, and transformation knowledge.
3. Exchanging knowledge through tools fostering collaboration among diverse stakeholders, including experts and non-experts.
4. Building impact via outputs such as white papers, guidelines, policy recommendations, and academic publications, aiding stakeholders’ understanding of specific challenges.
To identify cross-cutting themes that interlink individual research projects and broader research areas, we collaboratively developed a shared vocabulary and a library of case studies on affordable and sustainable housing. Additionally, a toolbox for collaborative knowledge construction was developed, tested and applied in local contexts through partnerships with Lisbon City Council, Clarion Housing Group in London, and the Cyprus Land Development Corporation.
The network’s work was promoted through various activities targeting academics and stakeholders. RE-DWELL roundtables hosted international experts to discuss their work. Two international conferences in Grenoble and Barcelona attracted scholars who shared research with participants.
ESRs engaged with housing associations, construction companies, and policymakers during their secondments, presenting their findings at external events such as the European Network for Housing Research (ENHR) conferences (2022–2024) and the International Social Housing Festivals (2022, 2023).
Exhibitions showcased the network’s collective work at venues like the Chamber of Architects of Valencia, CIUL in Lisbon, and partner universities, including Universitat Politècnica de València and the University of Cyprus.
The network produced 89 publications, including 12 journal articles, which are available on the project website and uploaded to Zenodo.
A book is being prepared to compile the network's work on housing challenges, both in Europe and globally. It will:
1. Summarize the network’s activities, achievements, and insights over three years.
2. Reflect on the methodologies used, fostering further dialogue and innovation.
The book targets academics, researchers, practitioners, and civic leaders focused on affordable and sustainable housing.
1. Crossing disciplines to understand challenges, trade-offs, and strategies across fields.
2. Linking academia and society to co-construct knowledge using a tripartite framework: target, systems, and transformation knowledge.
3. Exchanging knowledge through tools fostering collaboration among diverse stakeholders, including experts and non-experts.
4. Building impact via outputs such as white papers, guidelines, policy recommendations, and academic publications, aiding stakeholders’ understanding of specific challenges.
To identify cross-cutting themes that interlink individual research projects and broader research areas, we collaboratively developed a shared vocabulary and a library of case studies on affordable and sustainable housing. Additionally, a toolbox for collaborative knowledge construction was developed, tested and applied in local contexts through partnerships with Lisbon City Council, Clarion Housing Group in London, and the Cyprus Land Development Corporation.
The network’s work was promoted through various activities targeting academics and stakeholders. RE-DWELL roundtables hosted international experts to discuss their work. Two international conferences in Grenoble and Barcelona attracted scholars who shared research with participants.
ESRs engaged with housing associations, construction companies, and policymakers during their secondments, presenting their findings at external events such as the European Network for Housing Research (ENHR) conferences (2022–2024) and the International Social Housing Festivals (2022, 2023).
Exhibitions showcased the network’s collective work at venues like the Chamber of Architects of Valencia, CIUL in Lisbon, and partner universities, including Universitat Politècnica de València and the University of Cyprus.
The network produced 89 publications, including 12 journal articles, which are available on the project website and uploaded to Zenodo.
A book is being prepared to compile the network's work on housing challenges, both in Europe and globally. It will:
1. Summarize the network’s activities, achievements, and insights over three years.
2. Reflect on the methodologies used, fostering further dialogue and innovation.
The book targets academics, researchers, practitioners, and civic leaders focused on affordable and sustainable housing.
ESRs have engaged with non-academic audiences to boost the real-world impact of their research. This includes focus groups and presentations with housing associations, developers, municipalities, policymakers, and construction companies. Some ESRs authored policy whitepapers, such as work on energy poverty cited by the Dutch government, while others contributed to pilot projects, including a design renovation applying trauma-informed principles.
The network generated meaningful policy recommendations with significant socio-economic impact, including:
• Financial incentives to improve housing affordability and encourage cooperative housing practices.
• Revised post-occupancy evaluation frameworks to include resident-centered metrics enhancing community resilience and housing sustainability.
• Citizen participation strategies for neighborhood planning, public commons collaborations, and social housing design and management.
• Adoption of industrialized construction methods, circular economy principles, and retrofit practices to enhance affordability and sustainability.
• Measures to alleviate energy poverty and ensure equity within energy policies as fossil fuel transitions accelerate.
• Reforms in education to promote live project methodologies and innovative construction practices.
The work and outreach conducted by the network already represent a significant level of societal impact. However, since most ESRs are still completing their PhDs, the full effect of their research will continue to unfold beyond the life of the project. To ensure sustained impact, a series of actions has been initiated:
• Dissemination: Identifying events and conferences to share key findings.
• Policy Impact: Developing additional whitepapers and creating a directory of government contacts to influence policy.
• Funding and Collaboration: Exploring further funding opportunities and Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, with one ESR awarded a Fulbright scholarship.
• Specialized Outputs: Planning a special journal issue on the RE-DWELL project and establishing an annual forum for ongoing housing discussions.
The network generated meaningful policy recommendations with significant socio-economic impact, including:
• Financial incentives to improve housing affordability and encourage cooperative housing practices.
• Revised post-occupancy evaluation frameworks to include resident-centered metrics enhancing community resilience and housing sustainability.
• Citizen participation strategies for neighborhood planning, public commons collaborations, and social housing design and management.
• Adoption of industrialized construction methods, circular economy principles, and retrofit practices to enhance affordability and sustainability.
• Measures to alleviate energy poverty and ensure equity within energy policies as fossil fuel transitions accelerate.
• Reforms in education to promote live project methodologies and innovative construction practices.
The work and outreach conducted by the network already represent a significant level of societal impact. However, since most ESRs are still completing their PhDs, the full effect of their research will continue to unfold beyond the life of the project. To ensure sustained impact, a series of actions has been initiated:
• Dissemination: Identifying events and conferences to share key findings.
• Policy Impact: Developing additional whitepapers and creating a directory of government contacts to influence policy.
• Funding and Collaboration: Exploring further funding opportunities and Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, with one ESR awarded a Fulbright scholarship.
• Specialized Outputs: Planning a special journal issue on the RE-DWELL project and establishing an annual forum for ongoing housing discussions.