A new publication on participatory housing in Europe presents research by experts from FA BUT
Jan Malý Blažek and Tomáš Hoření Samec, experts from the
Faculty of Architecture at BUT, have published
another piece of work focusing on housing issues. Together with Petr Kodenko
Kubala and Václav Orcígr, they have contributed a chapter to a new
international publication, Grassroots Housing Models in Europe: Translocal
Networks, Innovations, Community, published by Manchester University Press.
In the chapter ‘Collaborative Housing in the Czech Republic:
Focusing on the Layers of Obduracy’, the authors summarise the findings of
research into the development of participatory housing in the Czech Republic.
In doing so, they build on their previous work published in specialist books
and journals and further develop the concept of the so-called ‘obduracy’ of the
housing regime, which they first introduced in 2023 in an article published in the
journal Critical Housing Analysis.
The research, carried out between 2021 and 2023 in six Czech
cities, showed that the development of alternative forms of housing can come up
against deeply entrenched notions, institutions and practices that support the
prevailing housing models. The authors point out that, despite rising housing
costs, the introduction of new forms, typologies or ownership models is often
slow. This is due, amongst other things, to a lack of the necessary knowledge,
financial or legislative infrastructure.
The publication also examines how this ‘resistance’
manifests itself in the individual attitudes of residents, local authority
representatives and other institutions. If alternatives to commercial housing
have long been absent in a given area, residents may find it difficult to place
their trust in new models such as baugruppen, co-operatives, tenants’
associations or council-owned rental housing.
This interdisciplinary research, carried out by architects
and social scientists, utilised a combination of traditional and participatory
methods, including questionnaire surveys, round-table discussions and workshops
with residents, experts and city representatives. The cities of Opava, Jihlava,
Pardubice, Liberec, Hrádek nad Nisou and Psáry took part in the research.
The book Grassroots Housing Models in Europe presents
theoretical and empirical contributions focusing on various forms of housing in
which the residents themselves play an active role in their creation and
management. The publication is available in print and can also be downloaded
free of charge via open access on the Manchester University Press website.
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