Sociologický ústav AV ČR, v.v.i.

Policies for new housing have to deal with many issues at once. Two of these seem to be especially important: affordability as the housing aspect, and sustainability, as the urban one. These are often in conflict with each other: affordability would require new housing to be built in cheaper, i.e more remote and less accessible areas - contributing in that way to urban sprawl. And vice versa: the sustainability oriented compact city idea makes new housing very often more expensive - i.e. less affordable.
Metropolitan housing markets differ substantially across Europe regarding the answer on this dilemma. In some countries market processes dominate, as a consequence of the fragmentation of the public sector. In others the public has some control over new housing, which might be used to promote either of the two aspects. There are also cases where city-region wide policies are subordinated to other interests.
The workshop aims to concentrate on the existence (strength) and choices (orientation) of metropolitan, city-region wide public policies over the forms and location of new housing. Special attention will be paid to develop hypotheses about the future: how will the growing challenges of climate change, raising energy prices and ageing society influence metropolitan housing policies in their choices between affordability and sustainability? Will these challenges and their conflicts lead to more coordinated, concentrated public policies or just the opposite, to more decentralization (towards the principle of subsidiarity)?
All enquiries about the workshop should be sent to Iván Tosics or Glen Bramley.

Papers to download bellow: