Collaborative housing models in Vienna through the lens of social innovation

Abstract

Collaborative housing models suggest alternative and radical approaches to both financing affordable housing in the city and increasing the diversity of urban living. This chapter focuses on the following collaborative models in the local housing spectrum of Vienna: Baugruppen, the Syndicate model and large-scale participatory social housing projects. It presents the theoretical framework which is based on a social innovation and a housing systems approach. The chapter provides an analysis of the institutional context of housing in Vienna. It also presents the case studies of particular collaborative housing models. The chapter also provides complement developments on the level of housing policy in Vienna with short case studies of collaborative housing models relevant to the same local context. For the case studies, additional expert interviews and semi-structured, qualitative interviews with initiators and members of selected collaborative housing initiatives were carried out between 2014 and 2016, complemented by field observations of housing sites.