Profile
Today, at the beginning of a new decade, living is a socially highly relevant and urgent task. Housing is a function of existence, housing is an essential component of urban and regional development; this is true in dense, growing areas as well as in the (rural) region. Housing needs are becoming more and more differentiated. At the same time, housing is becoming a rare commodity, so that individual freedom of choice is dwindling. Housing is integrated into complex market processes and comprehensive governmental regulations. Affordability and accessibility are two central keys to ensuring access to housing for broad segments of the population. Ensuring sustainable housing and developing it with quality from a long-term perspective is a complex, ongoing task that requires competencies and responsibilities. The linking of product and process quality plays a central role in this process.
The need for research is undiminished at the interfaces of typology and design, construction, and realization, from the neighborhood to the region, planning-, management- and utilization-processes. The research network adopts an action-oriented perspective and thus contributes to research, development and reflection on current tasks related to housing.