Affordable housing for all: policy implications of shrinking budgets

Posted on: 9 November 2011
By: mackene
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The European Housing Forum (EHF), co-chaired by RICS, organised a second lecture series in 2001 on the topic of affordable housing. The following presentations are available online:

Good housing for all: cities as frontrunners, or under pressure?

Heidrun Feigelfeld, lead expert of the Urbact II SUITE project, presented the recommendations of this project in terms of EU policy in the field of housing. The SUITE project, launched in January 2009 and ending in July 2011, aims to optimise a sustainable and affordable supply of housing and to assure social cohesion through social mix and sustainable housing. It focuses on the integration of the three pillars of sustainability in the field of housing: environmentally sound, economically viable and socially inclusive.

Housing policy, shaping or shadowing the market?

Professor Ian Cole from Sheffield Hallam University discussed whether public policy can shape housing market outcomes to achieve social and economic goals, or whether policy merely shadows the process of change and responds belatedly. Professor Cole’s paper has suggested that the ‘shaping’ mode of state interactions with the housing market tends to be provisional, time limited and partial.  In considering the balance between ‘shadowing’ and ‘shaping’, three developments seemed especially relevant in recent British housing policy: the shift from tenure-centred to market-centred policy approaches; the use of new forms of market intelligence to guide policy measures, and the assembly of more flexible forms of intervention, steering a course between direct provision, on one hand, and light-touch strategic steer, on the other.

Home owning or renting? The role of policy

This lecture discussed the role of policy in choosing living arrangements. Professor Marja Elsinga of the Delft University of Technology discussed the pros and cons of both owning and renting, as well as the influence policy measures have on the decision people make.

Tenure-neutral policy for stable housing markets

The final lecture, in which Vincent Gruis, Professor of Housing Management at the Technical University of Delft, addressed the implications for policy decisions of recent development in housing systems and markets that have led to significant challenges concerning the management of the European housing stock.

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Cities of tomorrow: Challenges, visions, ways forward

Posted on: 3 November 2011
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The EC Directorate General for Regional Policy has published DG Regio has published a report on the outcome of a reflection carried out by a number of urban experts and representatives of European cities on the challenges that cities will face in the years ahead. The report emphasises that: cities are key to the sustainable development of the European Union; the European model of sustainable urban development is under threat; there are opportunities to turn the threats into positive challenges; and new forms of governance are essential to respond to these urban challenges. Thematic issues papers are available on: urban social challenges; urban economic challenges; urban environmental challenges; urban governance challenges; mapping of urban foresights; and ten case studies of “Good policies and practices of cities tackling challenges”.

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European scenario analysis

Posted on: 3 November 2011
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This DTZ Research report quantifies the impact of a double dip recession across 45 European office markets and compares it to DTZ’s base case forecasts. The analysis assesses the extent of the downside to individual markets, identifying relative winners and losers. Markets in the UK, Nordics and CEE, outside of the traditional safe haven euro zone core, show greater resilience to rental and capital value declines under the downside scenario.

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The housing sector: Consumption of households from a European perspective

Posted on: 3 November 2011
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This report, published by RICS, provides a detailed Member State (macro) level overview of consumer spending, with a specific focus on housing related items. This report looks into more detail at the main components that make up housing consumption: owner-occupied expenses, rents, energy consumption and maintenance.

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Effective urban waste water treatment: a key prerequisite for successful implementation of the Water Framework Directive. Brussels, 25 October 2011

Posted on: 31 October 2011
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This annual European Water Association conference provides an opportunity to take stock of implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive and its contribution in achieving its goals. Presentations are available online.

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Informed Cities Forum 2011: Rio+20, local performance and the role of research. Naples, 26-27 October 2011

Posted on: 31 October 2011
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This event brought together local policy makers, researchers working on urban sustainability and the representatives of the institutions behind the main European local sustainability schemes to take stock of local governments’ achievements so far and outline a new vision for local sustainability, in preparation for the Rio+20 UN conference in 2012. Presentations are available online.

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Perspectives for European SD Policy & Governance in the context of recent EU policy strategies and Rio+20. Berlin, 27-28 October 2011

Posted on: 31 October 2011
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This 7th European Sustainable Development Network Workshop was hosted by the ESDN in cooperation with the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. In total, the workshop drew 45 participant from 16 European countries and spurred very lively discussions. A full workshop documentation, including the background paper, the workshop report, presentations, and the participant list, are online.

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Green buildings and the future of urban development. Freiburg, 27-28 October 2011

Posted on: 31 October 2011
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The fourth conference of the Local Renewables Series focused on green buildings and the future of sustainable urban development”. Organised by ICLEI, the conference looked at the evolving role of renewable energy in sustainable buildings and addressed the issue of energy efficiency, both from a technological and city development point of view. Issues covered in the conference included: the political framework for sustainable construction and urban planning from a European, national and regional perspective; upgrading options for the existing building stock;  best practice examples of zero emission districts across Europe; cutting-edge technologies and clever design for energy efficient  solutions; district heating and cooling; financing models and mechanisms, in particular, the new Energy Efficiency Fund; and challenges in the value chain of energy efficient building. Presentations are available online, together with presentations from the previous three conferences in the series.

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European buildings under the microscope: A country-by-country review of the energy performance of European buildings

Posted on: 26 October 2011
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This project carried out by the Buildings Performance Institute Europe, screens European buildings, building codes and other regulatory measures across all 27 Member States as well as Switzerland and Norway. The collected data provides a picture of the European building stock and its energy and CO2 saving potential. The data was used to model a variety of scenarios for the systematic renovation of the European building stock. The report of the study is in three parts:

Part 1 surveys 27 Member States, together with Norway and Switzerland, examining the floor space area of residential and non-residential buildings, building typologies, characteristics and energy performance of current stock. The information is drawn from the statistical offices of national administrations and is presented in a form that permits European comparisons and analysis.

Part 2 provides detailed information and analysis relating to current barriers, the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive implementation, the European building codes and major programmes that are designed to improve energy performance in buildings.

In Part 3 the available data were used to develop and assess the energy performance scenarios for the buildings sector in Europe with the aim of illustrating potential energy savings and CO2 reduction pathways, reflecting the EU’s 20% energy saving target for 2020, as well as the EU’s long term 80-95% GHG emission reduction target for 2050. The scenarios describe the impact of building retrofit strategies to achieve the 2020 and 2050 targets. The scenarios are built on different renovation rates and depths and illustrate the impact of different ambition levels regarding the European environment and economy.

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BLOSSOM – Bridging long-term scenario and strategy analysis: organisation and methods

Posted on: 21 October 2011
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A new report from the European Environment Agency summarises the results of a three-year project that examined to what extend foresight studies underpinned environmental policies in 12 EU Member States. It shows several successful examples of how European countries are giving increasing attention to using long term approaches, such as scenario building, when formulating environmental policies.

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