Workshops

Chairs: Henrik Gutzon Larsen, Richard Lang

Description: The coordinators of the ENHR working group Collaborative Housing invite abstracts related but not limited to this year’s ENHR conference topic, with a particular focus on the links between collaborative housing forms and affordable housing in greening cities. Collaborative housing is an umbrella term that encompasses a variety of housing forms with different degrees of collective self organization and formalisation. Central to this type of housing is the presence of a significant level of collaboration amongst (future) residents, and between them and external actors and/or stakeholders, with a view to realising the housing project. Collaborative housing initiatives often address pressing housing and societal problems through decommodification strategies, decarbonisation practices, and the creation of opportunities for social connection through shared practices and spaces. At the same time, however, collaborative housing faces a number of practical, political and cultural challenges for its development on a larger scale, as well as scepticism by critics from different perspectives.

Chairs: Marja Elsinga, Michelle Norris, Mark Stephens, Martin Grander

Description: After our successful workshop in Delft, we are pleased to invite abstracts for our workshop in Paris.

We welcome papers on all aspects of international comparative housing, including policy, policy transfer, theoretical frameworks, methodology of comparative research and policy transfer.  

Our workshops are friendly and supportive and provide the ideal environment for exploring and discussing your research.

Chairs: Galyna Sukhomud, Julie Lawson, Vita Schnaider

Description: This working group, Crises, Conflict and Recovery, was initiated by RMIT University Centre for Urban Research and New Housing Policy (Ukraine) in August 2022. It provides a space to focus on housing systems, homes, and neighbourhoods in the context of war and crises. It is led by researchers with direct experience of the impact of war. Both co-ordinators are members of the NGO New Housing Policy (Ukraine), which works to inform and promote policy reform to address the many challenges in Ukraine. This working group provides a place to exchange and collaborate on the topic of conflict and reconstruction is a useful forum in the context of the ongoing war on Ukraine and experience of post war reconstruction in other countries, regions and territories inside or near Europe.

It encourages European researchers and policy developers, from a range of disciplines and fields to share information, analyse and debate the process of crises, reform, and recovery. Potential topics include emergency responses such as accommodating displaced persons as well as long term housing and urban reconstruction processes, including a focus on the role of donor agencies and civil society, in housing system reform and the emergence of new forms of housing provision and neighbourhoods. Contributions from both inside and outside Ukraine are encouraged, for example which reflect on post-conflict reconstruction in other regions and eras.  The co-ordinators have supported the organisation of relevant events throughout 2023-2026 including the successful series of symposium series Rebuilding a Place to Call Home, involving researchers across Europe and beyond.

Chairs: Claire Carriou, Tom Moore, Claire Simonneau

Description:

The excesses of the real estate market, the financialisation and commodification of the sector, and the expansion of private property with its exclusionary effects have been widely debated over the last two decades. Processes of gentrification and housing evictions are visible in the Global North as well as in the Global South, and the retrenchment of the welfare state is patent in Europe (Aalbers et al., 2020). Against this backdrop, new forms of land and housing arrangements are needed to resist these powerful and mainstream processes. In many European cities, such as Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin or Vienna, some counter-pressures against the financialisation of housing have emerged (Wijburg, 2020). These come from city government bodies and/or pressure from social movements and associations.

Decommodification of land is one of the most promising ways to facilitate access to decent housing. Community Land Trusts, for example, are designed to hold land in perpetuity, taking it off the market with the intention of developing affordable housing. In some housing cooperatives, land is owned by the cooperative. Resale restrictions are another type of tool to prevent land speculation. Land decommodification is seen as a way of supporting a ‘social production’ of housing, guided by the needs of residents rather than the prospect of profitability, and allowing intra-community and sometimes inter-generational solidarity through anti-speculation provisions.

The emergence and development of land decommodification experiments in many countries, such as CLTs in North America, Europe, or Australia are noteworthy. In Brazil, the new Master Plan for Rio de Janeiro, adopted in December 2023, includes legal provisions for the creation of Community Land Trusts, explicitly designed to limit land speculation during the rehabilitation of favelas. In France, new public-interest landholding bodies, the OFSs (organismes de foncier solidaires), have been developing since 2017 to produce affordable home ownership thanks to a mechanism for stripping out the land.

These different initiatives and experiments are generally understudied, and rarely studied together, which limits a comprehensive understanding of this trend. Further research is also needed to assess its transformative potential for access to housing, towards property markets and social mix at neighbourhood and city level (Ramiller et al., 2022). The special session on the decommodification of land for housing welcomes contributions that address questions such as:

– What are the different aspects of land decommodification? To what extent does land decommodification ensure housing affordability?

– How do they emerge between urban governance, local experiments and international networks and movements?

– How do they work pragmatically in a financialised and commodified environment? 

– How do public authorities enable or constrain land decommodification processes?

– What are their scope and purpose?

– What are their impacts on households, local politics and local property markets? 

Contributions with a comparative and international perspective are welcome.

References

Aalbers, M. B., Rolnik, R., & Krijnen, M. (2020). The Financialization of Housing in Capitalism’s Peripheries. Housing Policy Debate, 30(4), Article 4.

Ramiller, A., Acolin, A., Walter, R. J., & Wang, R. (2022). Moving to shared equity : Locational outcomes for households in shared equity homeownership programs. Housing Studies, 0(0), Article 0. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673037.2022.2115467

Wijburg, G. (2020). The de-financialization of housing : Towards a research agenda. Housing Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673037.2020.1762847

Chairs: Ida Borg, Eva Andersson

Description: We welcome contributions on the Paris’ conference theme ‘Affordable housing in greening cities’ with emphasise on the affordability aspect. This Working Group focuses on urban neighbourhoods and local communities. We are interested in the social mechanisms behind and the implications of concentrated poverty and deprivation, segregation between various socio-economic groups, and broader social inequalities between residents. Other topics of interest are life course trajectories, social networks, social capital, or social cohesion, and neighbourhood effects, as well as policies targeting matters in neighbourhoods and urban areas, such as social mix and de-concentration policies. Another focus concerns the question how neighbourhoods and their residents deal with the impacts of macro trends such as welfare state retrenchment, austerity regimes, and budget cuts.

While quantitative modelling has become prominent in the workshop, we very much welcome qualitative research. Furthermore, we are particularly keen to discuss new approaches focussing on analysis of register data, (linked) open data and social media feeds, specialised evaluation approaches (e.g. realist evaluation) and mixed-methods designs that innovatively combine qualitative and quantitative approaches. The workshop has always maintained very high standards in the research it selects and it is intended that this approach will continue. 

Chairs: Henk Visscher, Catalina Turcu, Ebru Ergoz Karahan 

Description: Energy is a fundamental and strategic element of modern society, closely linked with critical challenges such as climate change, environmental degradation, security, poverty, health, food production, agriculture, and water resources. The housing sector, responsible for 27% of global energy consumption, faces significant challenges in planning, design, construction, and renovation. These challenges include the need to reduce energy usage and enhance thermal performance in both new and existing buildings. Hence, today, the energy efficiency of housing and its wider environmental sustainability are important areas of investigation for the research and policy communities.

The Energy Efficiency and Environmental Sustainability of Housing (EEESH) Working Group provides a forum for research-based discussions about specific aspects of energy-efficient housing, as well as wider environmental sustainability aspects of housing. It aims to look at:

• Key concepts and methodologies; technologies and policies
• Applications for different stages in the housing process i.e. planning/ policy, design, certification, regulation/ legislation, construction, occupation, renovation/ demolition, pre- and post-occupancy evaluations, etc.
• Lessons and implications for policymaking and industry
• Relevance to SDG7 (affordable and clean energy), SDG11 (sustainable cities and communities), SDG12 (responsible consumption and production), SDG17 (partnership for the goals) goals, targets, and performance
• Implications to wider economic, social, and institutional frameworks or debates.

Chairs: Claire Hancock, Saila-Maria Saaristo, Chloé Salembier, Lidewij Tummers

Description: We welcome contributions from researchers and practitioners who want to present and discuss feminist issues, methods, perspectives and practices in Housing. Topics could be: (lack of) segregated data; invisible user groups; LBGTQI; housing precarity; women only projects; masculinity; implementing intersectional approaches; resistances; mechanisms of exclusion in the housing market; gender mainstreaming housing policies/Housing law; feminist ecology and so on.

We argue that feminist approaches are crucial to sustainable housing and look forward to advancing Housing Research and Policy in this direction with you!

Chairs: Willem Korthals Altes, Berit Nordahl, Ivan Tosics

Description: Welcome to this workshop on land, housing, and governance in metropolitan areas. This is the workshop for researchers who are interested in metropolitan dynamics, urban change, governance, land markets, and housing policy.

The analysis of housing policies and land policies must take the metropolitan context into account. On the one hand, the dynamics of metropolitan areas involves powerful mechanisms of price formation, spatial differentiation, wealth distribution and variations in livability and social cohesion. On the other hand, metropolitan areas are also breeding ground for new initiatives and the rethinking of established policies and habits.

Our ambition with this working group is to establish an arena for scholarly and practical discussions which depart on and take account of metropolitan dynamics. Under this umbrella we welcome papers on metropolitan housing policy initiatives across Europe (and beyond), papers on land market dynamics and institutions, policies, actors, and tools. Our aim is to conduct multi-disciplinary analysis on how housing processes can be steered with governance and spatial planning tools in urban areas – not necessarily on metropolitan area level but giving priority to the spatial dimension. In this WG we have a special interest in metropolitan land policies, which play a crucial role in efforts towards more affordability in housing.

This year’s conference will be organized in Grand Paris, more specifically in Créteil, which is part of the functional urban area, but outside of the administrative border of Paris itself. This situation gives a nice framework for discussing inner peripheries and agglomerational settlements, through the lense of housing, land management and governance in metropolitan systems. Call for abstract – for the conference and a special issue. At the Grand Paris conference the coordinators want to share thoughts about the potentials of a special issue – we are considering the Nordic Journal of Urban Studies (NJUS) and Urban Research and Practice (URP) to publish selected papers. Please indicate if you would like to have your abstract considered for a special issue.

Chairs: Blanca Deusdad Ayala, Marianne Abramsson

Description: Participants are welcome to submit papers on any topic relevant to the focus of the working group. Of particular interest is the ageing of populations across many countries in the world and how to cater for adequate and affordable housing for this group. Longer lives may imply changing housing needs and a change in residential mobility patterns. Another topic of importance is the effect of climate change on the housing situation and living conditions of older adults in particular. The workshop will also include a presentation of the Special Issue ‘Housing models in ageing societies’ for the International Journal of Housing Policy.

We look forward to your contributions, fruitful discussions and new opportunities for networking during the conference!

Chairs: Rosa M. Garcia Teruel

Description: New technologies, such as big data analysis, blockchain, crowdfunding, the internet of things (IoT), domotics, robotics, proptech or digital printing, are expected to make an impact on housing itself (Davidson 2017; Nasarre-Aznar, 2018), as well as the theories and methodologies that housing researchers use in their research projects (Vols 2019) . These new technologies change, for example, the way we build, sell, rent, or interact with our homes. By way of example, it is now possible to sell a property just attaching a certain right (e.g. the ownership) to a digital token, and transmitting immediately this token to another person (Garcia-Teruel, 2020). But while these technologies are facilitating our lives (e.g. connected devices in our homes), reducing costs of buying or renting a property (e.g. blockchain), or allowing consumers to also invest in real estate thanks to crowdfunding schemes (Garcia-Teruel, 2019), some challenges and open questions arise: are these technologies going to change the way in which we conceive housing? What are the legal and ethical risks for citizens (e.g. data privacy and consumer protection, Edwards, 2015; Theoharidou, 2014)? Can digital printing reduce building costs without reducing the quality of the construction? (Hager, 2016) What are the major benefits of using these tools? How could data science techniques contribute to housing research? Taking into account that new technologies are increasing attention of scholars and professionals in the field of housing, this working group aims to promote dialogues and discussions on the impact of new technologies on housing (research) from an interdisciplinary and comparative perspective.

Some themes of this working group are the following:

• Big data analysis and housing (research)
• Distributed ledger technologies (blockchain) in housing
• Real estate crowdfunding
• Proptech
• Housing digital printing
• Internet of Things, robots and connected devices in homes
• 5G Networks of housing
• Applications of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in the housing sector and housing research
• Interconnected (smart) cities

Chairs: Igor Costarelli, Oana Druta, Constance Uyttebrouck

Description: In the last two decades, due to the combined effects of the 2008 economic crisis and the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, the position of young people in relation to housing markets and housing outcomes has progressively worsened (Mackie, 2016). Economic and job uncertainties have further delayed transitions to independent living (Luppi et al., 2021) or forced many young people to return to live with parents in the family house. While family support does provide a safety net, forced cohabitation does not always guarantee adequate living standards causing negative effects on youth psychological and social well-being (FEANTSA and Fondation Abbé Pierre 2021; Housing Europe Observatory 2018; Wilkinson & Ortega-Alcázar, 2019). Youth reliance on temporary job contracts often translates into temporary tenure conditions, less stability and more insecurity (e.g., Hughes, 2013). As a result, a new cohort of young renters in precarious living arrangements is on the rise. Various expressions have been coined to define youth’s weaker position on the housing markets, from generation rent to generation share (Hoolachan et al. 2017; Maalsen 2020), and the housing literature has documented a number of negative implications including residential alienation, low self-esteem and feelings of powerlessness (FEANTSA and Fondation Abbé Pierre 2021).

The lack of affordable and adequate housing solutions for young people is also an obstacle to social mobility. Difficult access to social housing and weakened welfare state have made youth destinies more dependent on the resources provided by the family of origin (Hochstenbach & Boterman, 2015, Druta & Ronald, 2017, 2019), situating housing at the core of debates on intergenerational dynamics of social inequality (Forrest & Yip 2013; Manzo et al. 2019). Those seeking better job and education opportunities in the most attractive cities see their right to the city denied by the lack of adequate housing. Against this backdrop, some attempts are being made by social housing organisations and institutions to improve youth access to affordable housing. These attempts include support to emerging living concepts addressing young professionals and students’ housing needs (Uyttebrouck et al., 2020) as well as innovative programs that allocate housing to young people in exchange for voluntary work for neighbourhood regeneration and community empowerment (Costarelli & Melic, 2021). A better understanding of the effects that the current state of housing for young people has on social inequalities and exclusion as well as the potential of innovative housing solutions to tackle urban problems is of paramount importance to position young people’s housing issues at the core of policy agenda on sustainable and equitable development.

Considering the growing relevance of these issues in contemporary society and the lack of specific working groups addressing them within the ENHR, we propose to initiate a discussion for and with the contributions of all community members. The proposed working group will explore the following topics:

• Housing conditions of youth and young adults (discussing aspects of housing inequality related to youth, e.g. affordability, living conditions, housing preferences, careers and pathways, youth homelessness etc.)
• Access to housing (reflecting on young people’s struggles to access affordable and adequate housing solutions in cities, the coping strategies and socio-economic implications)
• Provision of housing for young people (types of housing solutions proposed by institutions, private developers and social housing organisations to meet the housing needs and demand of youth). We are interested in exploring the main characteristics of proposed solutions/policies, in terms of selection criteria, tenure conditions, governance etc., and in better understanding their implications on youth wellbeing, housing quality, inclusion/exclusion process, transition to adulthood and life outcomes.
• Youth and emerging housing forms (young people’s lived experiences in intergenerational co-living, mixed housing, shared houses and other forms of innovative housing). This would include investigations of the youth as a preferred target group of emerging market segments aiming to respond to assumed specific needs and lifestyles. We would also explore the instrumental role of the youth in the support and development of such housing solutions.
• Critical analysis of concepts used to describe the housing conditions of youth and the types of accommodation they live in (e.g. Generation rent, Generation share, shared housing, micro-living etc.)
• Intergenerational housing inequalities (comparing housing conditions across generations, examining the role of housing in the intergenerational reproduction of social inequality, accumulation and transmission of housing wealth across generations)
• Youth and urban neighbourhoods, exploring the relationship between young people and their residential environment, including youth lived experiences in the neighbourhood, local participation dynamics in housing, planning, urban regeneration domains, neighbourhood transformations connected to studentification/youthification processes, neighbourhood effects on children and teenagers (age 16-19).

Chairs: Peter Boelhouwer, Andreja Cirman

Description: This workshop is a merger between the well-established Workshops housing market dynamics and housing economics. It relates to the functioning of housing markets within societies which housing markets are in many cases outbalanced and are affected by the great influx of migrants, refugees and a decreasing housing output. We would particularly welcome papers, beside economics also from other relevant disciplines, which address these issues. Papers dealing with modelling, theoretical and methodological approaches and with policy analysis and consumer perspectives are invited, and we would also welcome returning papers which enable a review of progress from previous workshops.

This is a highly participative workshop, and all colleagues – at whatever stage of their work – are warmly welcomed to join the workshop.

Chairs: Andreja Cirman, Michael Voigtländer, Pekka Sagner

Description: The Housing Finance Working Group of the European Network for Housing Research (ENHR) invites submissions for its workshop at the 2025 conference in Paris. Our mission is to initiate and stimulate research in housing finance, fostering an effective network among researchers.

We welcome contributions that explore housing finance broadly, including but not limited to:

• Mortgage Systems: Structures, trends, and innovations.
• Debt and Leverage: Impacts on households, developers, and financial institutions.
• Developer Finance: Mechanisms and challenges in financing residential developments.
• Risk Management: Strategies for mitigating financial risks in housing.
• Regulation and Government Involvement: Policies shaping housing finance systems.
• Social Housing Finance: Funding mechanisms and their effects on affordability and access.
• Housing Affordability: Financial challenges and solutions for accessible housing.

We encourage both theoretical and empirical studies, as well as policy-oriented research. This workshop offers a platform to present innovative research and engage in meaningful discussions on pressing issues in housing finance. Join us in Paris to contribute to the advancement of housing finance research.

Chairs: Stefan van Tongeren, Mark Jordan, Michel Vols

Description: The primary aims of the Housing Law Working Group are to foster dialogue and European research on the significance of law, rights, and regulation in all aspects of housing, land, and planning. These objectives are intentionally broad to accommodate national variations. Beyond their political, social, and economic implications, housing, land, and planning are deeply shaped by differing national legal frameworks. Divergent national approaches have long hindered international exchange in this field, and while traditional groupings of legal and socio-legal expertise have not explicitly addressed land law, they have strongly influenced it despite efforts towards European harmonisation. This group seeks to encourage exchange and debate among individuals working in this domain and to deepen understanding of the diverse types of law involved. Contributions drawing on legal, economic, sociological, and philosophical theories are welcome, alongside empirical sociological research on the implementation of the law, with the aim of enhancing cross-border understanding and expertise

Chairs: Hannu Ruonavaara, Chris Foye

Description: In recent decades great progress has been made in theorising different aspects of housing, as well as its connections to societal processes at large. Continuing in this vein, this workshop invites empirical and theoretical papers that contribute to behavioural, social and cultural theory in housing studies. We encourage papers that engage with and build upon theory from the social sciences (e.g. sociology, political-science, heterodox economics, geography) and beyond (e.g. philosophy). Overall, the workshop will provide a valuable forum for housing-related scholars to engage with, apply and develop theory from across the academic disciplines.

Chairs: Gideon Bolt, Rikke Skovgaard Nielsen, Arthur Acolin, Aafke Heringa, Ida Borg, Eva Andersson

Description: The integration of immigrants and their descendants and equality in housing access has been a focus across European countries with housing and its location being key elements that can contribute to or hinder integration and intergenerational economic mobility. Recent years have seen increased availability of administrative and survey data that allow to identify immigrants, their children and in some cases grandchildren. This data makes it possible to better understand the intergenerational housing experience of immigrants and their descendants as well as to identify market, policy and cultural factors that drive variations in housing experience among immigrant and descendant groups within and across countries. At the same time, we also need a better qualitative understanding of the intergenerational housing experiences. The proposed joint workshop between the Minority Ethnic Groups and Housing and the Disadvantaged Urban Neighbourhoods and Communities working groups seeks submissions from different disciplinary backgrounds and methodological standpoints examining the housing experience of immigrants and their descendants from a range of origin and destination countries, analyzing specific policy outcomes, or making conceptual contributions. We are hoping to make a special issue based on a subset of papers presented at the workshop but you are welcome to submit papers without wanting them to be included in the special issue. Acceptance to the workshop does not guarantee inclusion in the special issue. Don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions.

Chairs: Rory Coulter, Tomáš Hoření Samec, Isabel Palomares

Description: The Housing, Migration and Family Dynamics Working Group (WG) provides a forum for the discussion of research examining migration dynamics and how families interact with housing systems across the globe. As work on these topics is diverse and is often spread thinly across fields and disciplines, an important goal of the WG is to provide a collegial network which brings together researchers at all career stages to exchange ideas, findings and insights.

We will be organising a strand of workshop sessions at the ENHR 2025 conference in Paris. Submissions on any topic relating to families, migration and housing are welcome, including (but not limited to):

• Quantitative research examining how demographic events such as leaving the parental home, childbirth, employment transitions or changes in partnerships are linked to residential moves, as well as to housing and neighbourhood transitions in different countries.
• Studies of family relations and housing pathways — including work exploring intergenerational social mobility within housing systems, practices of family support in housing markets, and the socialisation of housing aspirations/preferences.
• Research into international and internal migration flows, in particular the ways these reshape and are affected by housing systems and family networks.
• Analyses of how family life is affected by housing conditions, design and systems of housing welfare and support.
• Theoretical and applied research drawing on constructionist perspectives, discourse analysis and/or innovative participatory research methods to understand family practices and relational interactions within housing systems.

We will be organising a joint session with the Working Group on Housing and Young People and would particularly welcome submissions concentrating on the dynamics of young adults’ housing. If you would like to discuss whether a submission would be suitable for this joint session or the Working Group more generally then please do not hesitate to contact the convenors (Rory: r.coulter@ucl.ac.uk; Tomáš: tomas.horeni-samec@soc.cas.cz and Isabel: ipalomares@ugr.es).

Chairs: Joris Hoekstra, João Carvalhosa, Sacha Tsenkova

Description: In the post-pandemic urban world, the housing crisis coupled with a cost of living crisis has created major challenges for the social housing sector. Social housing providers are expanding their traditional roles to address a massive supply shortage through new forms of housing provision, such as infill and office conversion, mixed-income rental housing, temporary housing solutions, and communal housing arrangements using a model of social mix to foster social cohesion. Furthermore, new forms of social housing finance, policy directives for decarbonisation of social housing, and EU regulations on economic competition and sustainability profoundly impact the strategies of social housing providers. Simultaneously, in response to growing socio-spatial differences, cities and regions are increasingly developing their own housing policies as part of the local welfare system. Social housing policies are being redefined ‘between local and global,’ thereby engaging new types of partnerships. This workshop group will discuss how these multiple transitions change social housing practice, focusing on new trends and policy/practice innovation. The approach to this may be top-down and theoretical, but also bottom-up and more practical. Similarly, the scope of the research may range from international comparisons of social housing systems to case studies of new social housing developments. The strong focus on mutual learning, possibilities for policy transfer, and scaling up innovation makes the working group relevant not only for academics but also for practitioners and policymakers.

Chairs: Jaana Nevalainen, Steffen Wetzstein

Description: The ENHR Working Group ‘Policy and Research’ brings together up-to-date research and policy insights on the topic of housing policy, affordable and sustainable housing provision. We are interested, for example, in the variety of international, national and subnational housing policy instruments, the key actors and stakeholders and their strategies, policy/research responses to the housing crisis, the underlying political agendas, main institutional settings, particular financial models and the impact on processes and outcomes for people and places. For the upcoming ENHR Annual Conference 2025 ‘Affordable housing in greening cities’in Grand Paris – Champs/Marne, France on 30 June – 4 July the Working Group coordinators, Dr. Jaana Nevalainen and Dr. Steffen Wetzstein invite fresh and relevant contributions that broadly speak to this theme, also policy recommendations based on research are welcome. Past papers and presentations for this Working Group have produced new knowledge on the relationship of housing and policy with respect to inclusive urban development and regeneration, affordability and cost-of-living crisis, health and Covid-19 impact, housing and social reproduction, innovative housing finance, gender relations in the home, mobility and transport – and much more. Jaana and Steffen would be delighted to receive innovative contributions for insightful Working Group sessions in Grand Paris – Champs/Marne.

Chairs: Claudio Acioly Jr., Yurdanur Dügleroğlu, Gülden Erkut, Kosta Mathéy

Description: The ENHR Grand Paris 2025 congress focuses on Affordable Housing in Greening Cities. The workshop organized by the Working Group Housing in the Global South focuses on the nexus housing affordability – housing responses to climate change. The workshop calls upon researchers to prepare abstracts and papers that address the challenges of greening housing solutions through adaptation and mitigation policies for example on solutions that improve the carbon footprint of building materials and construction processes; spatial planning and architecture that saves energy and adopts nature-based solutions; on innovate carbon-based markets for affordable housing finance; locational attributes that promotes compact cities and higher urban density in housing developments; how to reconcile these solutions with the demand for affordable and well-located housing for the poorest and most needy segments of society? The challenging and fundamental question is how can we develop housing that is climate neutral and is affordable to low-income households?

Chairs: Jana Zdrahalova, Hélène Bélanger

Description: Residential environments are designed and restructured by people for people. The relationship between residential environments and people is mutual. Residential environments afford functions for and communicate meanings to people through the ways in which they are shaped, and human beings design functions and attach meanings to residential environments through their everyday life and activities. This Working Group focuses on the relationship between people and residential environments from the perspective of the individual. People’ attitudes, perceptions, preferences, values, choices and evaluations of the features and qualities of residential environments provide us with important information on the ways in which residential environments are used and (re)shaped. Such information may well provide a better understanding of the mechanisms behind residential preference and choice, values associated with residential environments, residential satisfaction, the quality of residential environments, the meaning of place, and the design of residential environments. This year, we welcome theoretical and empirical papers related to the general theme of the Working Group.

Chairs: Gerard van Bortel, Marco Peverini 

Description: The overall objective of the Working Group is to explore and develop concepts for analysing institutional and organisational change and dynamics in affordable housing provision. Government policies, management reforms and rapidly changing social and economic contexts have placed new expectations on social and public landlords. In addition, policies encouraging partnering with the private sector and/or direct private market provision of social and public housing have blurred the lines between public and private housing activities. The processes and outcomes relating to these changes are the main focus for participants in this Working Group. Several main themes have emerged out of our workshops and international collaborations to date:

•     Housing as a system / network
•     The dynamics of institutional and organisational transformations
•     Governance and regulation of housing
•     Partnerships for affordable housing
•     Social housing finance (NEW)
•     Social housing management (NEW)

See ENHR WG page for additional information: https://enhr.net/social-housing-institutions-organisations-and-governance/

Chairs: Emma Baker, Terry Hartig

Description: For the workshop on the Residential Context of Health, we welcome contributions that address a variety of broad themes involving housing, the residential context more broadly, and health. In addition to papers aligned with the conference theme of affordable housing in greening cities, papers could address topics concerned with the effect of physical housing variables on mental and physical health; the role of behavioral, social, and cultural factors in shaping relations between housing and health; the ways in which housing policy can be coordinated with other policies to more effectively pursue public health objectives; health consequences of forced moves from homes (due to war, climate change, or eviction); and individual and social consequences of insecure tenure and concomitant residential instability.

Chairs: Jesper Ole Jensen, Montserrat Pareja Eastaway, Nessa Winston

Description: The working group on Sustainable Communities and Housing invites papers on the sustainability of various aspects of housing in the urban context. This year we wish to host a panel discussion on case studies of best practice in addressing energy poverty.  This may take place as a joint session with the Working Group on Energy Efficiency and Environmental Sustainability. We aim to produce a publication on this topic. We also welcome papers relating to the social, economic, environmental or political dimensions of sustainable communities and sustainable housing.

Chairs: Chris Bevan, Yoshihiro Okamoto, Magdalena Mostowska, Joe Finnerty

Description: We invite you to participate in the annual workshop of the WELPHASE Working Group at the ENHR 2025 conference in Paris. Since 2004, we’ve created a collaborative space for researchers to share diverse perspectives, methodologies, and insights; we explore housing exclusion, homelessness, and their links to social policy. Whether your work focuses on policy evaluation or theory development, whether you use qualitative, quantitative or comparative methods, we welcome your contribution. Join us for lively discussions and the chance to network with others working on these issues!