Circular Use of Living Space: Municipal Strategies, Success Factors, Effects (ZiWoNu)

When it comes to housing, many local authorities face a dilemma: on the one hand, they need to create new housing to reduce the housing shortage or increase municipal revenues through migration. On the other hand, they have to refrain from new construction in order to achieve ecological goals or because they simply cannot designate any more new areas for new construction.

In many places, existing housing is not distributed in line with demand, resulting in a housing shortage despite an average increase in living space per capita. While young families, for example, face great difficulties in finding adequate housing, older people often remain in large homes after their children have moved out. For some of the older residents, this size becomes a burden, but downsizing is difficult.

This is where the circular housing use project comes in, investigating which structural, organisational and communicative strategies can be used to increase residential mobility in the post-child phase, enabling and promoting life-stage-related housing provision.

Project Approach and Procedure

The core of the project is the implementation of a real-world laboratory in the municipality of Neuenhagen near Berlin. New buildings are to be constructed on a conversion area of around one hectare, formerly a market garden in the centre of the municipality, which will encourage circular use of living space. As part of the project, in addition to a targeted structural design, organisational approaches – such as the guarantee of a lifelong usufructuary right in the new flat after the former home has been sold to the municipality – and communication strategies will be developed and tested. To this end, measures for circular use of living space elsewhere are being examined in terms of their qualitative and quantitative impact from the perspective of local authorities and residents. In addition, the INHABIT resident-building model is being further developed to enable the effects of various mobilisation strategies and relocation scenarios on the supply of living space in Germany to be modelled. On this basis, potential for ecological relief will then be derived, in particular through the reduction of under-occupancy, the avoidance of new construction and the sealing of new areas. 

A fundamental component of the project is continuous knowledge transfer. To this end, the project is supported by a practical advisory board and reflective communities. Various public relations formats and publications are intended to further support the transfer of knowledge into practice.

Project Objectives and Expected Results

The central objective of the project is to develop and gain a better understanding of structural, organisational and communicative strategies for circular living space utilisation. This also includes investigating barriers to residential mobility, particularly among people in the post-child phase. In Neuenhagen near Berlin, appropriate measures are to be developed and implemented depending on the political and construction process. The findings derived from the pilot project will be compiled in a guide and thus made available to other local authorities. 

Partners

• Municipality of Neuhagen near Berlin
• TU-Berlin, Urban Planning and Urban Regeneration
• Institut für Energie- und Umweltforschung Heidelberg
• Environmental Action Germany e.V.