Reframing social mix in affordable housing initiatives in Italy and in the Netherlands. Closing the gap between discourses and practices?

Abstract

A B S T R A C TEuropean countries are facing rising demand for affordable housing by a widespread and differentiated audience. Both in Italy and in the Netherlands policy-makers and practitioners address this emerging need by implementing new social housing projects targeting diverse social groups -such as students, young households, welfare dependents, and refugees -which results in a fine-grained social mix. This paper discusses the development of these initiatives within wider trends in housing policies and in relation to the domestic debate on social mix in the two countries. Drawing on Magic Mix and Housing Sociale projects as case studies, respectively in the Netherlands and in Italy, we aim to explore and unfold the contemporary meanings and the practices attached to the idea of social mix. In so doing, this paper paves the way for a new conceptualization of social mix in the current post-crisis and hyper-diversified European scenario. We discuss traces of continuity and discontinuity between these forms of social mix and the mainstream idea of tenure mix, which has been a cornerstone of area-based urban renewal policy in many European countries. This paper contributes to the existing literature by offering insights into new practices of social mix in housing sphere.

‘Thou shalt be a (more) responsible tenant’: exploring innovative management strategies in changing social housing contexts

“…status holders, people with mental disorders or less invalidating problems, homeless people) and other 'resourceful' groups, mainly young households or students who also need affordable housing. The principle of social mix underlies many Magic Mix projects, whereby 'vulnerable' and 'resourceful' groups are brought to live next to each other with the idea that the latter will have a positive influence, in terms of facilitating social inclusion and self-reliance, on the former through collective involvement in community building activities (Costarelli et al 2019).…”

“…Recent research in the Dutch and Italian social housing contexts highlighted peculiar forms of affordable housing provision for mixed groups featured by specific housing management strategies. One example is self-management, which assigns tenants wider responsibilities in relation to community building and social integration of most vulnerable tenants, such as status-holders (Costarelli et al 2019;Czischke and Huisman 2018).…”

Sociaal werk in stadswijken waar problemen zich opstapelen

“…Het gaat om kleinschalige vormen van samenwonen van arme maar sociaal vaardige huurders, zoals studenten en arme, minder kansrijke huurders zoals statushouders of mensen afkomstig uit de maatschappelijke opvang. Door onderling contact en door principes van wederkerigheid moet er een proces van rolmodel-leren op gang komen (Costarelli, Kleinhans & Mugnano, 2019). Voor sociaal werkers betekent dit een heropleving van de rol als procesbegeleider en stimulator van bewonersparticipatie bij woondifferentiatie.…”

Formation of the actual typology of urban multi-apartment dwelling based on the principles of minimalism and autonomy of residential complexes

“…Studies are dedicated to the analysis of modern urban dwelling consider the current situation in the housing market and existing problems, but do not fully consider the formation of a new typology as a way to solve them [2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. Within the framework of this study, works related to housing intended for young urban residents are interested in [9][10][11][12][13].…”