Affordable and Multigenerational Housing

Abstract

Despite the fact that the right to housing is recognized by the United Nations in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), affordable housing remains a challenge worldwide. While in different countries and regions the specifities of the challenge vary, the difficulty for the vast majority of urban residents to obtain and retain adequate and affordable housing is becoming a global trend. According to UN-HABITAT housing costs have increased also in Europe with significant implications for access to adequate and affordable housing. Confronted with this international challenge the authors scrutinize the case of Flanders. Here the issue of affordable housing is increasingly catching low- and middle-income households. The paper deals with current housing trends and investigates multigenerational housing as one creative answer to the affordability problem. Based on a critical scenario-driven analysis of 66 multigenerational dwelling designs (typology terraced housing) by architecture students, the authors argue that the multigenerational modus of housing is not only more social, but also space-saving and thus more affordable than a typical terraced house on the same land lot.