Europan at the AHA Forum in Madrid

EUROPAN was present at the AHA Affordable Housing Activation forum organised in Madrid from 18 to 20 May 2022 by the International Union of Architects, which focused on the barriers to be overcome in order to achieve an inclusive housing policy on a global scale.

The issue of the forum was "that affordable, decent and adequate housing must also be sustainable, in good condition and of good quality, guaranteeing basic services and infrastructure. Because rights do not exempt us from commitments."
Representatives of public bodies in charge of housing and associations for the integration of the most disadvantaged, as well as urban planning and architecture professionals from all over the world, were able to exchange their thoughts on their practices and the concrete experiences they are developing in their respective territories.

In the round table entitled "social sustainability", after a presentation by Ben Van Berkel, founder of the UNS agency, Manuel Blanco, president of Europan, explained how Europan has been involved in innovative practices around the issue of affordable housing for more than 30 years, with habitats always located in their cultural and natural environments. And Didier Rebois, Secretary General, presented eight exemplary urban housing projects carried out by Europan, such as a housing and services project for young people in a town, Selb (DE), which is ageing and "shrinking", a district of 1000 dwellings in Wildgarten in Vienna (AT), combining different types of housing, including 1/3 social housing, and a housing project for students in Trondheim in Norway, which is open to the city, at a time when a large part of this population is becoming impoverished Through its different themes, Adaptable Cities, Productive Cities, Living Cities, Europan has always defended a hybridity of uses around housing, but also a social mix, in particular through its current theme of E16 and E17 (launch in March 2023) where the notion of inclusiveness is central.

Learn more about some Europan Project-processes presented here: www.ahamadrid.com