The international conference "Housing under Pressure. Dynamics between Centers and Peripheries" will focus on the topic of housing in growing cities, which will be discussed from different disciplinary and applied perspectives. The merging of diverse knowledge and the discussion of scientific and occupational expertise on the basis of current research results, innovative projects and urban interventions, will serve to discover and develop new perspectives on social housing and sustainable development. An attitude that respects the reality of life and the residents’ future plans "on site" is essential in order to define urgent challenges, identify innovation potentials, and discuss options of management on a societal level.

In the current dramatically tense urban housing markets in European and global metropolises, social tensions between the state, the market and the population are particularly evident under the condition of urban growth: a lack of housing for an increasing and mobile population, enormous price increases for rental and owner-occupied apartments, rapidly rising housing costs for low-income households. The increasing densification in attractive locations, the scarcity of public space, the upgrading of urban centers and the associated displacement effects, as well as the development of new neighborhoods and public infrastructure with limited urban budgets and space capacities, represent major challenges for housing supply in many places. Demographic change, growing environmental pollution and unequal living conditions are simultaneously increasing the pressure on state protagonists and democratic procedures to develop socially inclusive, health-promoting and resource-efficient housing policies.

Rapid urban growth is associated not only with economic prosperity, the development of new fields of knowledge and technological innovation, but also with economic inequality, social polarization and environmental costs. Against this background, complex dynamics are taking place between centers and peripheral urban areas, in which urban functions and urban usage are shifting, new patterns of suburbanization are emerging, and places of living and dwelling are changing rapidly. In the context of this transformation of housing, a multitude of transdisciplinary and applied questions arise in order to secure the accessibility, supply and living conditions of urban populations and to be able to design alternatives for the sustainable development of residential areas.

Background

The INUAS (International Network of Universities of Applied Sciences) was founded in 2011 as an institutional cooperation of three Universities in the DACH region - the Munich University of Applied Sciences (D), the FH Campus Wien University of Applied Sciences (A) and the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (CH).

The INUAS network continues the inter- and transdisciplinary discourse on urban transformations in growing cities and invites to the international conference series "Urban Transformations: Housing / Resources / Public Spaces". The series starts with the international conference "Housing under Pressure", which will take place in Vienna from 4 to 6 November 2019. This will be followed by the conference series "Resources" in Munich (2020) and "Public Spaces" (2021) in Zurich. The aim of the conference series is to promote inter- and transdisciplinary exchange on urban transformations, to discuss existing challenges in growing cities and regions, and to contribute to the sustainable development of urban spaces.

Thematic focus of conference contributions

The conference "Housing under Pressure. Dynamics between Centers and Peripheries" focuses on challenges in eleven thematic tracks. Each track is outlined by two themes that generate tension in the context of housing, open up new perspectives or discursive spaces, and invite exchange. Researchers and stakeholders from the fields of architecture and urban planning, urban studies and housing research, social work, art and culture, economics, social sciences, health sciences, technical sciences and more, are invited to submit scientific contributions and projects from urban practice on the following topics.

• Affordable Housing – Quality of Life 
• Gentrification − Public Space 
• Health − Social Exclusion 
• Densification – Neighbourhoods
• Housing Markets – Zoning Policies
• Mobility − Urban Climate
• Digitalisation − Self Determination
• Urban Development  − Self Organisation
• New Housing Forms − Building Sustainably
• Informal Housing – Micro Living
• Land Use Policies − Local Economies

Submission of conference contributions

The Call for Papers, Projects and Interventions addresses researchers, graduates and students from various disciplines as well as actors and initiatives in applied fields of work who deal with housing in growing regions or cities and wish to contribute their expertise to the analysis and sustainable development of these regions or cities. Within the framework of the conference, selected participants will present their contributions in conference panels, poster sessions and excursions or urban interventions.

All submissions will be peer reviewed by the Scientific Committee and associated experts. The contributions accepted by the jury will be published in the conference’s Book of Abstracts. For selected papers presented at the conference that are particularly worthy of publication, the Scientific Committee will advocate further, relevant and free publication possibilities.

> Academic submissions

Researchers are asked to submit an abstract of 400 to 600 words (a max. of two A4 pages) and assign it to one of the eleven thematic tracks. 

Abstracts for scientific contributions should briefly outline the research question and methodological approach as well as essential results and conclusions. Contributions can be submitted in German or English. Abstracts (including contact details) must be submitted here by 31.01.2019. An interdisciplinary jury will decide on the selection of entries. The speakers will be informed about the results of the selection process at the end of March 2019.

> Project submissions

Project presenters are asked to submit an abstract of 400 to 600 words (a max. of two A4 pages) and to assign it to one of the eleven thematic tracks. 

Abstracts for project contributions should briefly outline the concept, innovative aspects, methods of implementation, sustainable effects of the project as well as findings and challenges. Contributions can be submitted in German or English. Abstracts (including contact details) must be submitted here by 31.01.2019. An interdisciplinary jury will decide on the selection of entries. The presenters will be informed about the results of the selection process at the end of March 2019.

> Excursions/ Interventions 

Projects and initiatives also have the opportunity to present innovative projects in the form of excursions or urban interventions in Vienna. Interested parties are asked to submit an abstract of 400 to 600 words (a max. of two A4 pages) and to assign it to one of the eleven thematic tracks. 

Abstracts for excursions/urban interventions should briefly outline the concept, innovative aspects, methods of implementation, sustainable effects of the project as well as findings and challenges. Contributions can be submitted in German or English. Abstracts (including contact details) must be submitted here by 31.01.2019. An interdisciplinary jury will decide on the selection of entries. The contributors will be informed about the results of the selection process at the end of March 2019.

Language and costs

Presentations and contributions to a discussion can be given in English or German. The conference language in plenum is English.