This article is provided by Aedes-Actiz Kenniscentrum Wonen Zorg and edited by the ISHF team. “The new townspeople will be old”, says Professor Jan Latten, Professor of Social Demography at the University of Amsterdam. “It’s not so much that the elderly go to the city en masse, but that people stay in the city and grow… Read More Jan Latten points out that loneliness amongst elderly is a key issue.
With so many important and headline-grabbing challenges such as crime, migration and climate change facing cities, it is often easy to forget that, in many places, the ageing profile of city-dwellers is a challenge that is as urgent and deserving of immediate action as any of the above. Aedes-Actiz KCWZ’s Yvonne Witter is on board to… Read More ‘I am always happy to meet people who are also crazy about older people’
One of the things we are most proud of at the ISHF is our bringing together of voices from so many different national contexts, and whilst the problems and definitions may differ from country to country, the fight for decent and affordable housing remains universal! In this interview, Mr. Caesar W. Enwefah, Executive Secretary of the… Read More The struggle for housing rights in Nigeria
What is your background, and what exactly is Urban- Think Tank? I am an American/Venezuelan architect, currently based in Zurich, Switzerland. Together with co-founder Hubert Klumpner, I started multidisciplinary design practice Urban Think Tank in 1998 in Caracas, Venezuela. Our firm is working on a variety of projects, most of them in developing countries. Typical… Read More Our housing policies are outdated
The very first reason to organize a International Social Housing Festival was sharing knowledge on housing internationally, as we are very much aware that the biggest challege regarding housing lays in the developing world. Therefore we dedicated one festival day, the 20th of June, to sharing knowledge with countries outside of the European continent. Here… Read More IHS’s Ellen Geurts explains why she strives for better housing in the Global South
Affordable Housing in India The concept and importance of affordable housing takes on a whole different meaning in a country like India. In India, this issue has taken center stage as the rough estimate research says that there is an extreme shortage of millions of housing units. Some estimates put the number at 20… Read More Affordable Housing in India
Egbert de Vries of Amsterdamse Federatie van Woningcorporaties, founding partner of the ISHF, discusses the past and present of social housing in the Netherlands and points towards the importance of a European exchange of knowledge. Article by Alix Glodstein, ISHF team What is AFWC? Why should people know about your organization? AFWC represents all social housing… Read More Opening minds through an European exchange of knowledge
The provision of social housing is one of the most vital of essential human rights. In South Africa, social housing is being used to address the rebuilding of trust between the government and its people who have endured unequal treatment and poverty for too long. Political and economic segregation still leave their ugly scars in… Read More South African Social Housing in a Nutshell
In my short career in social housing, I have noticed that many programs revolve around helping work able households improve self-sufficiency. There is a national program (FSS) just to do that in coordination with housing programs. However; housing providers often serve a large number of senior and disabled households. While there are a number of great examples… Read More How the Dutch Lead the Way in Senior Housing Innovation
One of the most exiting items of the International Social Housing Festival, is the ‘Housing Laboratory’, a one to one mockup in Het Schip Museum that enables visitors to create their ideal apartment, by moving walls and really building their dreams. The Laboratory is conceived by Rotterdam based architectural firm Sputnik. We asked the architects… Read More The architects of Sputnik invite us to their Housing Laboratory
Housing Futures 