Two Students’ Theses at STL on Densification, Housing, and Ur-ban Social Sustainability
Chiara Personeni and Laura Périat, two master students in architecture from the de-partment D-ARCH, successfully submitted their theses in the Spatial Transformation Laboratories STL group. Both theses underline that the topics of urban densifica-tion, social sustainability, and housing gain in relevance – also from a young archi-tects’ perspective.
Two master students, Chiara Personeni and Laura Périat from the Department of Architecture successfully submitted their «Vertiefungsarbeit». Both theses focus on the topics of densification, housing, and urban social sustainability in the Swiss context. The theses were supervised by Dr. Gabriela Debrunner under the main re-sponsibility of PD Dr. Joris Van Wezemael.
Pension Funds’ Investments Strategies for Socially-Sustainable Urban Densifi-cation in Zurich: A Comparative Study between the Strategies of two Pension Funds in Zurich City (Chiara Personeni)
The constantly growing concentration of population in urban areas and the need to
accommodate it represent a great challenge for cities. Meeting the goal of sustainable
urban development requires an integrated view of the world, but the social aspect is the most neglected because it is harder to measure and develop and because there is not specific mandate for its promotion. Indeed, if densification has gained support in the past years for allowing population growth more sustainably by reducing the use of resources, it also causes social exclusion and gentrification through redevelopment and increase in rental prices.
This research thesis wishes to answer the question “which strategies do institutional investors apply in their decision-making process in real estate investments in order to provide a socially-sustainable housing development?” by performing a comparative study. Firstly, through a literature review, people-oriented social sustainability is de-fined, and its indicators of social equity and sustainability of the community are identi-fied, the latter mainly being negatively impacted by densification.
Secondly, the city of Zurich is selected as a case study due to its attractive housing
market for institutional investors as well as its densification policies directly causing
gentrification, social segregation and social polarization. Thirdly, expert interviews are performed with the two pension funds with the most significant growth in real estate properties in the city in the past years to find their strategies targeted to the sustaina-bility of the community. Finally, an analysis of the strategies of the two institutions al-lows the identification of an active approach, more attentive towards social issues and where case-specific solutions for the improvement of the sustainability of the commu-nity are implemented, and a passive, standardized approach, lacking strategies for it.
«It was a great opportunity for me to write my focus work at STL. I had the freedom to select the topic to focus on and to define the research ques-tion and goal. The expert guidance from my supervisors and the valuable feedback I received during the process from the entire team helped me to get from my research proposal to the submitted research. It’s been a chal-lenging but very interesting semester during which I learned a lot» (Chiara Personeni, thesis author, November, 13th, 2022).
Social Housing in Swiss cities: comparative study between social housing in Geneva and in Zurich, which city is more efficient in terms of accessibility to so-cial housing? (Laura Périat)
Switzerland has seen over the past years a decrease in vacancy rates, especially in
cities. The impact it has caused on the price of properties has been very important, with finding affordable housing being difficult for many people. This problematic is found in the cities of Zurich and Geneva, the two most expensive Swiss cities to live in, with high property prices. Social housing, hence affordable housing provided by the municipality or non-profit housing cooperatives, is found in both cities, but doesn’t function the same way, as there are no federal rules that apply to the social housing system. Instead, they are based on cantonal laws.
«What I found interesting were the reasons for the different decisions taken by the municipalities. The city of Zurich base their decisions on giv-ing everyone equal chance, whereas the city of Geneva aim to help the most in need first. Both systems have their advantages and disad-vantages, but we can see that a lot of thought has been put into each sys-tem, which are constantly changing to help as best as they can those in need» (Laura Périat, thesis author, November, 11th, 2022).
Through a comparative study between the two cities, this research looks into what the affordable housing offer provided through social housing is in both cities, and how the system to get access to these works. Understanding the different actors involved and their role in the social housing system is a way of finding ways it can be improved, and how. It can also give an insight into the question of having a unified system that would be more efficient for the people in need, but also for the actors involved in the process.
«I really enjoyed writing a thesis at STL. The freedom given to choose the subject based on our interests made the work enjoyable. The inputs throughout the semester from STL were very helpful and interesting» (Laura Périat, thesis author, November 11th, 2022).
Any questions related to Chiara’s or Laur’s theses? Please contact the STL group (Dr. Gabriela Debrunner, ).