Tag: affordable housing

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Economy Society

Weimar Estates: What 1920s Germany Teaches Us About The Eternal Housing Crisis

Weimar Estates: What 1920s Germany Teaches Us About The Eternal Housing Crisis
Uncle's Tom Cabin in Zehlendorf in 1938. Wikimedia

How the housing shortage was tackled in the Weimar Republic – and what we can learn from it today.

Categories
Economy

The Vacant Apartments Of Shaoguan, Symbol Of China’s Real Estate Crisis

Photo of a woman walking near tall empty skyscrapers in Shaoguan.
Buildings under construction in Shaoguan. Raphaël Balenieri

China’s real estate crisis is hitting small, unattractive cities like Shaoguan hard. This city of 3.3 million residents in the far south of the country has a stock of empty apartments that could take 10 years to sell.

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Future Green

Lisbon Postcard: Parking Spaces And The Dilemma Of Modern Mobility

​A group of cars parked on a side road in Lisbon, Portugal.
A group of cars parked on a side road in Lisbon, Portugal. David Xeli/Unsplash

The construction of parking spaces is an obligation in new urban building projects. But increasing the supply of parking in the city center doesn’t necessarily improve mobility. It may be just the opposite.

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Society

Converting Convents? A Sacred Response To Lisbon’s Housing Crisis

So eager to modernize, the 19th century’s rulers did not properly weigh up the potential effects of their disentailment policies, leaving a vast pool of church property unprotected. In the case of the Convent of Beato António, what the 1755 earthquake did not destroy, the expulsion of the friars did, and whatever was not later harnessed for industrial uses was left to languish until the late 20th century, when the decision was made to restore former monastic sites as convention centers.
Convent of Beato António, which the 1755 earthquake did not destroy, was left to languish until the late 20th century. The decision was made to restore former monastic sites as housing and convention centers. Carolina Delgado/Convento do Beato Event Center in Lisbon

Throughout the ages, convents have been adapted and transformed to fulfil the needs of growing cities such as Portugal’s capital city Lisbon. Now more than ever, with an ongoing housing crisis, researchers, politicians and developers are looking at convents to be transformed into housing solutions.

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