Title: Housing Policies in Europe: Territorial Challenges, Governance Responses, and Pathways for Changing Cities
Chair:
Assoc. Prof. Dimelli Despina
School of Architecture
Technical University of Crete, Greece
Abstract/Description:
Housing has become a central concern for European cities and regions, as rising costs, limited availability, social inequalities, and environmental pressures increasingly shape urban and territorial change. Housing systems across Europe are characterized by significant diversity, reflecting different welfare regimes, market structures, planning traditions, and governance arrangements. At the same time, many housing challenges—such as affordability, demographic change, energy efficiency, and social exclusion—are shared across contexts, albeit with uneven territorial impacts.
This special session aims to provide a platform for critical discussion on how housing policies in Europe are responding to rapid urban and societal change, and how they can be reoriented to better address territorial inequalities, social needs, and sustainability objectives.
The session invites contributions that link housing policy analysis with broader debates on changing cities, including urban transformation, governance innovation, and inclusive development.
To frame the theme proposed in the special session, potential topics include:
- Territorial variations in housing affordability, accessibility, and quality across cities, metropolitan areas, small towns, and rural regions.
- Spatial patterns and inequalities in housing across different European contexts.
- The influence of ageing, migration, changing household structures, and youth precarity on housing demand.
- Policy approaches targeting vulnerable and underrepresented groups.
- Intersections between housing policies, climate action, energy transition, and urban regeneration.
- Tensions between affordability, densification, and environmental objectives.
- Emerging housing policy instruments and governance models across European cities.
- The use of comparative evidence to support adaptive, place-based, and context-sensitive housing policy design.