History of housing and cities

80% of our built environment consists of housing; its quality has a major influence on the quality of the city. Furthermore, housing is one of the important lenses at the disposal of architects and planners to understand social change over time. This course is an introduction to the housing field, focusing on processes, typologies, markets, policies, and practices of housing in the 20th and 21st centuries. The following topics will be covered in the lecture part of the course: history of social, public, collective housing in Europe and the Netherlands, the single family home and homeownership as a social, economic and political project, private rental from residual housing to innovative typologies, collaborative housing and citizen mobilization, self-provisioning and self-build, platform real estate and housing not for housing, housing financialization, home and changing domesticities.

Alongside the lecture series, students will work on an group assignment geared toward analysing housing typologies and the relationship between form and planning/policy making/market/social processes through a case-study set-up. Students are expected to go out into the field to document their case, and to write a well argued descriptive report, including drawings and designs.

• For Student Mobility Alliance students: This course doesn’t require additional requirements other than stated above (if any). The course will be delivered on TU/e campus with the possibility for you to join online. A few face-face meetings might be scheduled for project or presentations. The final examination is a written (group) paper.

After successful completion of this course, the student will be able to formulatean articulated point of view on historical and current challenges to urban housing, markets, and cities. The student will be able to:

• Analyse a particular housing phenomenon/typology from a variety of angles: spatial, architectural, economic, political, social, etc.
• Reflect on the implications of design and urban planning decisions for the quality of urban housing, affordability, social inclusion
• Analyze through a case study and clearly present the impact of a housing typology/tenure on the socio-spatal development of neighbourhoods/ the city and their quality of life.
• Compare the influences of different stakeholders in the evolution of housing policies and design strategies over time.