PACEISH, Production of habitability and conditions of effectiveness of Social Housing initiatives

Project status: concluded

Description

Since the 1980s, Western countries have seen a real turning point in terms of housing policy, with local communities becoming involved in the creation of residential neighbourhoods and services. In the USA and the UK in particular, many non-profit homeowners’ associations have been created, and in Europe the involvement of third-sector organizations such as cooperatives, charities and social enterprises has been widely acknowledged. This cultural transformation, aiming at putting inhabitants at the core of urban regeneration initiatives and housing, started to be considered not just a matter of building houses.
This project intends to extend the general theory of the commons to the specific research area of housing.

Objectives

The primary goal of this project is to apply an analysis of the commons, which to date has only been applied to goods relating to nature and the environment, to the area of housing issues. The project critically analyses the role of self-organized communities of inhabitants in producing habitability.

A number of conditions for their institutional success have been identified. It emphasizes why the state might consider it useful and appropriate to support this kind of activity.Finally the research has been contextualized to the case of Trentino in Italy, through a comparative analysis approach.

Main results

During this three-year project, some main outcomes have been reached, in line with the established goals. The research activities produced the definition of a theoretical framework, the mapping of the identified cases according to a general framework, the positioning of the Trentino cases within the national framework and the promotion of local debate on social housing through a comparative analysis.

Publications 

(2011), Open book sull’housing sociale, Euricse.

Minora, F., “L’abitabilità come un bene comune: considerazioni generali e ipotesi specifiche”, in Paradoxa 4/2011.

Minora, F., Le proprietà collettive. un modello da rivalutare? paper presented at the XIV conference “Abitare l’Italia: territori, economie, disuguaglianze” organized by Società Italiana degli urbanisti  (SIU), 24-26 March 2011, Torin.

Minora, F., Social Housing in Italy: Outlines of innovation paper presented at the conference “Social Innovation through Social Entrepreneurship in Civil Society”, 3rd EMES International Research Conference on Social Enterprise, 4-7 July 2011, Roskilde (Denmark).

Minora, F., Terzo settore, impresa sociale e produzione di abitabilità: alcune ipotesi di lavoro, paper presented at “Colloquio scientifico annuale sull’impresa sociale 2011”, organized by Iris Network; 20 – 21 May 2011, Milano.

Minora, F., The collective properties in the 21st century. Long – standing models, brand – new views paper presented at the conference “Territoriality of the Commons: Spatial Perspectives on the Governance of Public Goods in Past and Present International Research Workshop”, organized by IRS Leibniz Institute for Regional Development and Structural Planning, 29- 30 September 2011, Erkner (Berlin).

Minora, F, Housing sociale e produzione di nuovi modelli abitativi: un approccio istituzionalista, paper presented at “Colloquio scientifico annuale sull’impresa sociale 2012,organized by Iris Network,  25 – 26 may2012.

Minora, F., (2012) “Le proprietà collettive di Cento e Cortina d’Ampezzo” In Moroni S. e Brunetta G. (a cura di) La città intraprendente,  Carocci, Roma.

Minora, F., Pasi, R., (2014), Abitabilità a Trento. Un quadro interpretativo, Euricse research report.

 

European program: Marie Curie COFOUND

Project duration: March 2011 – February 2014

x