LIVING 2060

LIVING 2060 Europe – Southeast Asia: housing models of the future „Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food, clothing and housing …“ (Universal Declaration of Human Rights / Article 25.1) Given the rapid social changes and climate change taking place globally, most traditional housing models seem outmoded. Until the 20th century, most housing models primarily assumed inhabitants who, structured in families, would often live and work in one and the same place for an entire lifetime. Yet current upheavals in the demographic structure (birth rates, life expectancy, migration etc.), in the working world (restructuring of working conditions etc.), in the family unit (single parents, one-person households, patchwork families etc.), and in social relations (changing gender roles etc.) create – in Europe as much as in Southeast Asia – new living models, which create new housing needs and therefore require new forms and typologies of housing. While these transformations and their consequences are frequent subjects of discussion, satisfying solutions remain rare. Furthermore, the debate around what future housing models should and could look like in a globalised 21st century – in their concrete material manifestations as well as their impact on the structure of urban conglomerations – has only just begun. How can architecture, design, the applied arts and urbanism contribute to future and humane housing? What conceptions and aspirations does architecture encounter in connection with the topic “living”? How can it contribute to a reflective perception of itself? These core questions are the point of departure for the planned interdisciplinary project LIVING 2060 (architecture, interior design, town planning, etc.), which seeks to provide first answers to and visions for this global challenge through transcultural analysis and reflection on European and Southeast Asian living styles. Deliberately, therefore, experts and artists from Europe as well as (culturally and socio-economically equally heterogeneous) Southeast Asia are earmarked for the project; especially as today the significant parameters of the subject matter have global relevance: poverty can today (albeit on a different level) also be found in (Eastern) Europe, and suburbanisation has become an issue also in Southeast Asia. The following questions are to be discussed in detail in the respective project cities (project modules): What housing models and environments can be found in Europe? How are these perceived by their daily users (workers and students, men and women, the oldestablished and new arrivals, the wealthy and the poor...)? What demands and requirements do they have on architecture? (photo reflections) What ideas and dreams do future inhabitants (the children and youth of today) have around housing? What are their expectations and wishes with regards to architecture and interior design? (creative workshops) What architectural approaches are needed for the development of affordable housing of high artistic and social value? What attributes (ecology, neighbourhood etc.) will be important for future models of housing? What are the spatial solutions that correspond most closely with current social change? What potential for the development of future-proof housing models can be found in European and Southeast Asian cities, with their often centuries-old and regionally specific characteristics? (design workshops)