Speaker
Description
Collaborative Housing and Planning: Institutional Interfaces in the UK and Spain
This research examines collaborative housing's contribution to planning practice through its function as an “institutional interface” through which housing struggles can be articulated and out into relation with the prevailing institutional logics of activity (Florea, Gagyi and Jacobsson, 2022). It investigates how collaborative housing may become institutionalised within policy frameworks and what this means for its capacity to address housing needs and provide other social benefits and its implications for the political dimensions of the movement.
The study analyses cases from the UK and Spain through stakeholder interviews and policy reviews. These countries present contrasting contexts for collaborative housing development: the UK demonstrates emergence through community activism and some policy recognition, especially in specific areas, while Spain development emerges through more in connection with housing rights movements and shows more localised and urban centric policy recognition. In both cases policy support has been sporadic, rather than sustained. Case studies situate collaborative housing projects within their contexts to understand relationships between housing activists, residents and state institutions. The analysis focuses on interactions between housing organisations and planning systems to examine how housing struggles might be translated into planning outcomes. This analysis highlights the role of planning frameworks in shaping project outcomes and explores tensions between institutional requirements and community objectives.
The research contributes to planning scholarship by examining collaborative housing's position within institutional frameworks. Findings indicate these schemes require policy support and methods to establish and maintain affordability and other social benefits. Results show planning systems must develop specific mechanisms to support collaborative housing while preserving its distinctive characteristics. However, in a context of deepening housing affordability struggles tensions remain between the understanding of collaborative housing schemes as one-of projects versus a sustained empowerment of local communities in relation to housing affordability, housing choice and community control.
References
Reference:
Florea, I., Gagyi, A., Jacobsson, K. (2022). Structural Fields of Contention in Housing Struggles: Comparative Lessons. In: Contemporary Housing Struggles . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
| Keywords | Collaborative housing, Housing; housing politics |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | No |
