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Module 1: Global Housing Issues, Challenges and Strategies
Last Updated: 2026-02-05 16:02:12
Abstract
Globally over one billion people lack adequate housing. Meeting their housing needs requires innovative solutions that are affordable, inclusive, sustainable and scalable. We will critically review the causes and consequences of the current housing crisis and the various strategies through which a wide range of actors at local, national and international level are addressing the housing question.
Objective
The students will learn to understand the meaning of housing in relation to its broader socioeconomic, cultural, political, and spatial context and to critically reflect on the viability, effectiveness and sustainability of different housing strategies.
Content
Housing is a human right but also one of the most daunting challenges of urbanisation globally. Currently over one billion people lack adequate and affordable housing, a number that may increase to 1.6 billion people within a decade. Ensuring access to adequate, safe and affordable housing to all is one of the targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. However, this target is unlikely to be met without a radical change in housing policies and practices. Indeed, meeting millions of people’s housing needs requires innovative solutions that are inclusive, sustainable and scalable. The course focuses on the causes and consequences of the global housing crisis. Further it will critically reflect upon the concept of adequate housing and on the various strategies through which national governments, municipalities, the private sector, and communities in different contexts have been, or are currently addressing the housing question.
Resources
Lecture Notes
A reader will be distributed at the beginning of the semester containing an overview of all lectures, the involved exercises, and required readings.
Learning Materials (Links)
- Main link
- Information
General Information
- Language
- English
- Levels
- NDS
- Frequency
- Yearly recurring
Examination
- Type
- ungraded semester performance
Registration & Places
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| lecture with exercise |
Module 1: Global Housing Issues, Challenges and Strategies
No course on 27.10. (seminar week).
|
|
2 h weekly |
Offered In
-
MAS in Housing (1 year full time course in English, starting every autumn semester. Further information on Lectures, workshops, individual and group tutorials and excursions organized in the framework of the four modules: Cultural, socio-economic, demographic and political aspects of housing and human settlements (M1); Adequate housing and neighbourhood development strategies (M2); Housing for migrants, refugees, and people displaced by disasters (M3); Housing research and evaluation methods (M4). Introduction to the MAS Housing: Room HIT H 13 (Date and Time will follow in due time). Presentation of MAS Thesis Proposals: Room HIT H 13 (Date and time will follow in due time).)