Contemporary Challenges and Future Strategies to Mitigate Social Inequality in Urban Housing: An Austrian Perspective

Abstract

Urban housing in Europe is increasingly challenged by decreasing affordability and availability for an economically and demographically diversified population. Furthermore, residents become more dependent on housing policies that primarily satisfy (global) market demands instead of social needs. This chapter addresses these challenges by focusing on the economic (commodification), spatial (territorialization) and political (centralization) domains of housing. Based on a critical discussion of these domains, the chapter then presents strategies that are supposed to help mitigate social inequality in housing markets. While adaptations of the legal framework contribute to strengthening the social functions of housing, applying relational geography help release the municipals’ highly competitive hunting for residents within a containerized imagination of local planning. The promotion of commoning practices considers the need for neighborhood engagement to articulate concerns of the local communities. Communalism is vital, and the chapter proposes strategies to achieve this political state in neighborhood communities. This plea is illustrated by taking an Austrian perspective on housing policy.