Housing shortage has been the cause of a lively political and social debate Worldwide. At present, housing scarcity in the Netherlands is so dire that large-scale, nationwide protests are taking place, something unseen since the squatters’ riots of the 1980s.
There is much discussion about the complex interplay of causes of the housing shortage and the sharp rise in prices, and some seem to agree in the solution: 1 million homes need to be built within a period of approximately 10 to 15 years. Such claim is heartily supported by the construction lobby, despite the financial crisis caused by the burst of the housing bubble about a decade ago. Building 1 million new homes might sound therefore as the silver bullet to solve the housing crisis, but in the long run it may become a recipe for disaster.
Critics point to, among other things, the weak substantiation of the figure of 1 million new homes, the enormous financial and infrastructural constraints, the limited interest in the transformation of the existing housing stock or, very importantly, where the new homes will be located: should the new housing be built in new neighborhoods outside the existing cities, or should the new homes be built within the existing urban fabric?
This discussion is still being conducted separately from other major challenges that the Netherlands need to tackle, namely climate change (both adaptation and mitigation), energy transition, and the development of integrated water and landscape management (sustainable agriculture, livestock farming and nature development). Can thousands of homes be built in areas that will no longer be possible to keep dry in 80 to 100 years as a result of sea level rise, peaks in river discharge and subsidence?
This BK Talks aims at involving all agents, from designers to developers, policy makers and citizens, and to shed light on the solutions to the current housing crisis, both in the Netherlands and the rest of the World.
