Alternatieven voor eigenaarschap
Alternatieven voor eigenaarschap (Alternatives to Ownership) is a debate evening organised by Amateur Cities.
Thursday, March 28, 19:30 - 21:00
On March 28th, we hosted the third public debate “Alternatives to Ownership” as part of the series “Anders werken aan wonen” (Working Differently on Housing) organised by Amateur Cities. Together with Federico Savini, Thieme Hennis and Marieke Kums, the evening explored what other possibilities beyond dominant forms of homeownership are possible. We discussed degrowth, the Community Land Trust model and cooperative living.
About Alternatieven voor eigenaarschap
The debate Alternatives to ownership was the last of three public events on the theme Anders werken aan wonen (Working Differently on Housing) organized by Amateur Cities, as part of the program under the same title of the Creative Industries Fund NL. Research projects developed within this program offer innovative design approaches to housing. During the events, prominent speakers from the field, the research teams, and the public discussed one of the biggest spatial issues in the Netherlands: the housing crisis and how to tackle it.
We discussed subjects that emerge from projects Chances for the Community Land Trust model in the Netherlands by And The People, The housing cooperative: Learning from… Germany by Marieke Kums, Designing Solidarity by Lukas Engelhart and The soft map of Oostenburg by Urhahn Urban Design. We explored what other possibilities exist beyond the dominant forms of home ownership. We addressed old and new ways to organize housing around sharing or the commons, including housing cooperatives, co-housing, co-living, Community Land Trusts, squatting, but also how to create and maintain a sense of ownership in the living environment.
We took a closer look at two examples from the field, accompanied by a contextual perspective. Researcher Thieme Hennis shared his vision for the development of Community Land Trusts in the Netherlands and architect Marieke Kums sketched various hybrid forms of cooperative housing. They both explored how these forms of ownership can grow from being an ideal to a lived reality, by addressing aspects of financing, legislation, and systems of organization. Federico Savini, Associate Professor at the University of Amsterdam, reflected on the future of housing from the perspective of de-growth in spatial planning.
In a closing conversation moderated by Chris Luth, the speakers and the audience reflected on what can be done now to broaden the available spectrum of different forms of home ownership.
You can read more about the series of Anders werken aan wonen on the website of Amateur Cities.
About Amateur Cities
Amateur Cities is a Rotterdam-based cultural organization developing multidisciplinary forms of research and publishing on the politics of urban space and technology. It brings together insights from different fields, stimulates imagination, and creates engaging publication formats. At Amateur Cities we set research into action and make ideas public through online and offline publishing, cultural programs, exhibitions and more. We provide services to governmental organizations, educational institutes, media, and cultural organizations. Founded in 2014, Amateur Cities is led by Ania Molenda and Cristina Ampatzidou — researchers, editors, and curators. We have collaborated with institutions across Europe, such as Future Architecture Platform, Institute of Network Cultures, Creative Coding Utrecht, Strelka Institute, Museum of Contemporary Art Warsaw, and New Generations.
About Anders werken aan wonen
To address the housing crisis, the Netherlands aims to build one million houses by 2030. To foster debate on this complex challenge, Amateur Cities organizes a series of three public events, starting in the fall of 2023.
The series is developed as a part of the program Anders Werken aan Wonen (Working Differently on Housing) by the Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie (Creative Industries Fund). Within this four-year program, 15 ‘research by design’ projects will be developed, exploring how housing in the Netherlands can be developed in a sustainable and inclusive way, taking into account both current and future housing needs.
About Thieme Hennis
Researcher and partner at social innovation enterprise And The People. He has a background in systems science and a PhD in self-organization as a pedagogical approach. He works on realizing regenerative living environments and making the Community Land Trust model prevalent in the Netherlands.
About Marieke Kums
Founder of STUDIO MAKS, an architecture studio where she works primarily on public buildings and housing. She studied at MIT and TU Delft, where she graduated cum laude. Since 2021, she has been a professor at the Faculty of Architecture at Leibniz University Hannover, where she conducts research on affordable housing.
About Federico Savini
Associate professor in environmental planning, institutions and politics. His main theme of research is degrowth and urbanization. He studies the relation between institutions, urban commons and the metabolism of cities. He is founder and coordinator of the Postgrowth Cities Coalition.
About Chris Luth
Leads conversations: he facilitates processes related to vision, strategy and organizational development; he is a leadership trainer and coach; and he teaches at several architecture schools, including TU Delft. He was also an architect and curator for international projects at the former Netherlands Architecture Institute.
