Metropolitan Research Institute

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Metropolitan Research Institute at the Europe Housing Forum 2021

Four members of the Metropolitan Research Institute gave presentations in different sessions of the Europe Housing Forum 2021 that was organised by Habitat for Humanity between 16-19 of November 2021.

József Hegedüs in contributing to the session on “Diverse approaches and common challenges to housing” emphasized that the most important determinants of housing outcomes and thus of the affordability problem are economic potential of the urban environment and the national/local welfare system. Different housing interventions have different outcomes in economically strong cities where housing affordability is the most crucial issue, and in shrinking areas where quality of the stock and large share of empty and abandoned housing creates the impediments.

Éva Gerőházi, participating in one of the side events of the conference  (REELIH Regional Conference II.) called the attention of the audience that the energy efficient renovation of multi-family buildings in countries like Armenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina or North-Macedonia requires first to establish the legal and organisational foundations of the renovation (e.g. legislation on Home Owners Associations, metering consumption, development of financial products) before energy poor households can be the specific targets of interventions.

Nóra Teller Nóra spoke in the outbreak session “Is housing the solution to homelessness in CEE?” chaired by Ruth Owen, deputy director of FEANTSA on the opportunities of tackling homelessness through housing solutions in the CEE region, along with colleagues from Chechia – Jan Milota (Platform for Social Housing), Slovakia – Tomáš Dobrovič (Nota Bene, Slovakia) and Poland – Jakub Wilczek (President of the Polish Federation for Resolving the Problem of Homelessness, vice-president and representative of Poland in FEANTSA). The speakers reviewed ongoing and past initiatives, like housing first and housing led interventions, in their respective countries, lessons learned from these programs, and the barriers and obstacles that hinder scaling up service delivery which is based on providing housing for the most vulnerable groups. Whilst the most progressive approach and strategic mainstreaming of Housing First is present in Czechia, local small pilots in Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary seem to be important but are technically very marginal compared to the national shelter-based homeless provision systems. The speakers also concluded that EU funds have been an important lever in paving the way for more progressive solutions to tackling homelessness, but systemic changes are needed to handle affordability and tenure security issues.

 

TExTOUR (2021-2024) Social Innovation and TEchnologies for sustainable growth through participative cultural TOURism.

Cultural tourism is about managing cultural heritage and tourism in an integrated way. It’s about working with local communities to create benefits for everyone involved. This helps preserve tangible and intangible cultural heritage while developing tourism. TExTOUR is an EU-funded project which co-designs pioneering and sustainable cultural tourism strategies and policies. The ultimate goal is to improve deprived areas in Europe and beyond. To do this, it sets up Cultural Tourism Labs at eight pilots located within the EU and outside it. Various societal players and stakeholders in the Cultural Tourism sector will be involved in the Cultural Tourism Labs. The selected pilots have diverse and complementary characteristics, which enables the project’s experts to develop a wide range of scenarios for inland and coastal areas, rural and urban, deprived remote or peripheral areas, facing multiple social, economic and environmental challenges. Are you a policy maker, practitioner or part of a local community? Via the TExTOUR open access platform, we will share with you our knowledge gained as the project unfolds so that you can benefit directly.

For more information visit the website or social media channels of the project:

Webiste: https://textour-project.eu/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/textour.project

ComAct (2020-2022) Community Tailored Actions for Energy Poverty Mitigation

The countries in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region and in the former Soviet Union republics (CIS region) have the most energy-poor people in Europe.  This is mainly due to high energy prices and poor energy efficiency of the buildings, heating systems and household appliances.

In this region, the housing stock is predominantly privately-owned and characterised by a large percentage of multi-family apartment blocks (MFAB). This is the result of its mass privatization in the 1990s, along with the deconstruction of the social safety net: without subsidies, utility and energy costs of the flats soared, burdening the family budgets. In parallel, the socialist-era collective maintenance mechanisms were abandoned, and the decay of homeowners’ associations has not been addressed effectively.

Against this backdrop, undertaking renovation works in multi-family buildings requires coordinated action among the apartment owners. To address the complex roots of energy poverty, there is a need to develop a new approach to make interventions affordable, substantially influence energy costs and consequently reduce the high energy poverty level in the CEE and CIS region.

For more information visit the website or social media channels of the project:

Website: https://comact-project.eu/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ComActProject

UPLIFT (2020 – 2022) Young People’s voice at the centre of Youth Policy

The past decade has been a period of polarisation and fragmentation in Europe with the financial crisis and rapid technological change widening socio-economic inequalities.  Intergenerational inheritance of (dis)advantage has become increasingly predictive of an individual’s opportunity, and young people in particular have become the demographic age group most at risk of experiencing poverty in Europe. In urban settings these disparities are particularly prevalent.

Policies attempting to mitigate the effects of urban inequality, often disregard affected citizens’ experiences, and thus fail to affect maximum impact. By incorporating these perspectives into the policy design process, UPLIFT aims to find innovative interventions in a bottom-up approach.

Source: https://www.uplift-youth.eu/

Iván Tosics was one of the key note speakers in METREX yearly conference

METREX, the Network of European Metropolitan Regions and Areas, organized its yearly conference in Riga/online on 30 September and 1 October 2021, with the title „Metropolitan area formation aspects in transforming countries”. The first keynote presenter was Iván Tosics, followed by Paul Gerretsen and Charles Landry. Ivan’s concluding remarks were as follows.

There is no unified Central European Approach on Planning Metropolitan Regions existing. After 45 years of socialist development the fragmentation of the local governments and market processes prevailed. Planning has weakened and metropolitan cooperation was not at all on the agenda in the Central and East European countries.

Although since 2004 the countries are again under a joint socioeconomic framework, the EU initiatives towards metropolitan development were not strong enough.

Planning remained subordinated to national policy making in the post-socialist Central and East European countries. EU messages are diverted according to national political interests: some countries support metropolitan development while others forbid metropolitan authorities, being afraid of the expansion of urban governments.

UPLIFT presents at the European Week of Cities and Regions

Metropolitan Research Institute is happy to announce that the UPLIFT project, coordinated by MRI, which deals with social inequalities among urban young people, will be present in the European Week of Cities and Regions on the 12th of October at 11.30 to 13.00 (CET). The session will give an insight into policy co-creation processes that involve young adults directly. Besides having plenary discussions and quizzes the participants will be split into four groups to talk about four interesting examples in housing, education, environment and strategic development domains. Please check the detailed agenda and register for our session at  https://eu.app.swapcard.com/event/eu-regions-week/planning/UGxhbm5pbmdfNjMxMDYz .

Schedule for the event:

  • Key facts and drivers of inequalities among young people: introduction & setting the scene
  • Examples of policy co-creation processes with youth: sharing & learning
  • Participants will be divided into 4 smaller groups in which they will discuss 4 interesting cases of collaborative policy-making together with young people. Each group will be facilitated by a practitioner deeply involved in the policy co-creation process with the support of young people and city representatives. The group work will be kicked-off by the short storytelling session to zoom in on each individual case. This will be followed by conversation with participants.
  • Drawing on participants knowledge and experience: final inspirations & next steps

The rooms will discuss the following topics::

  • Room 1: Co-creation of housing policy in Amsterdam
  • Room 2: Co-creation of an educational programme in Sfantu Gheorghe
  • Room 3: Co-creation of a Youth Strategy in Budapest
  • Room 4: Empowering young climate activists

The European Week of Regions and Cities include other amazing sessions on various topics. Look at what is in your interest and choose your sessions at https://europa.eu/regions-and-cities/
But first of all check the UPLIFT website and social media channels for additional interesting contents!

twitter: @uplift_youth
facebook: @upliftyouthEU
instagram: @uplift_youth

New study on energy poverty is published by MRI and BPIE

Metropolitan Research Institute and  Buildings Performance Institute Europe has published a new paper titled Overview report on the energy poverty concept – Energy poverty in the privately-owned, multi-family environment as a part of the Horizon 2020 ComAct project.
The study reviews the various approaches towards energy poverty and the current energy poverty situation in Europe. The analysis highlighted Central-Eastern European and South-East European regions with a special focus on the five pilot countries of ComAct: Bulgaria, Hungary, Lithuania, North Macedonia, and Ukraine. The paper points out that one indicator cannot capture all relevant aspects of energy poverty, and target groups are different depending on the indicator. Therefore, we suggest that multiple indicators are combined, considering the political nature of defining energy poverty as well. One of the conclusions of the analysis on the post-socialist and post-soviet region is that the privatization and liberalization of the energy sector, the low wages, and the high homeownership rate leads to specific problems regarding the fight against energy poverty. The study also highlights that few subsidy schemes support deep renovation programs, which we consider the most sustainable solution to energy poverty and energy inefficiency at the same time. According to our analysis, policy instruments effectively combatting energy poverty include financial support for structural building renovation as well as auditing, and information and awareness-raising measures targeted at the household.

THE HUNGARIAN GOVERNMENT PROPOSES THE COMPULSORY PRIVATISATION OF MUNICIPAL HOUSING UNITS – STATEMENT BY THE METROPOLITAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Since 2010, housing policy in Hungary has been characterized by  a one-sided focus on the promotion of home ownership and subsidizing the middle class. The government had no answer to the unfolding housing crisis; since 2015 the growth of housing prices and rents vastly outpaced the increase in incomes.  This lack of policy response has left not just the poorest in society, but also workers in key sectors and young people lacking familial support struggling to meet their housing needs. These issues have affected urban households even more severely, which has also prompted even some government stakeholders to voice their critique.

As in other European countries, the most effective tool to address the housing crisis would be the enlargement of the public housing sector – as it was also recognized in the National Strategy for Social Inclusion. Today, the public housing sector consists solely of municipally-owned rental units, which makes up about 3-5% of urban housing units.

This new amendment of the Housing Law proposes the eradication of the EUR 3bn municipal housing stock, which would lead to the deepening of the current urban housing crisis. The proposed changes in the Law will

  • hand over properties to the poorest dwellers that they will likely be unable to maintain (around 80% of the current municipal stock requires refurbishment), increasing the housing precarity and the threat of homelessness;
  • create new opportunities for the housing mafia and encourages speculation;
  • unfairly advantage tenants occupying newly-built and recently refurbished public units, many of whom came by these units through political favors in the first place;
  • punish municipalities that have gone out of their way to address the housing crisis in the past; the municipalities that have invested in bettering and increasing their affordable housing stock;
  • eradicate the already limited opportunities for those in dire need to attain housing through the redistribution of empty municipal units;
  • rob municipalities of their current tools to manage household arrears and aid families threatened or affected by homelessness;
  • worsen spatial segregation through the dissolution of subsidized housing stock, pushing low-income residents out of the city.

Through all these effects, the compulsory privatization of municipal housing units to sitting tenants will worsen the housing crisis and increase inequalities.  These politically motivated and deeply unfair changes in Housing Law, which go against European trends in housing legislation must be prevented.

13 May, 2021

Metropolitan Research Institute, Budapest

ESPON MISTA – Metropolitan Industrial Spatial Strategies & Economic Sprawl (2019 – 2020)

ESPON MISTA – Metropolitan Industrial Spatial Strategies & Economic Sprawl

Duration: October 2019-December 2020

Contracting party: ESPON EGTC

MRI, in cooperation with Politecnico Milano, WIFO – Austrian Institute of Economic Research and Latitude carried out a series of studies on the metropolitan dimensions of urban manufacturing (ESPON MISTA).

The study was organised around the role of manufacturing in urban areas of Europe with special attention to the forseen challenges of the 4th industrial revolution and the specific sectors of manufacturing in different urban areas that ensure the satisfacton of local needs but keeps the competitive position of cities at the same time. In order to reach these goals the research concentrated on finding the proper coordination mechanisms on metropolitan scale in the framework of fragmented governance systems.

The study evaluated the general trends in the manufacturing sector (decreasing labour force but increasing added value) in and around urban centres and analyses the spatial dynamics of different segments of manufacturing moving out from urban cores. The study also aimed to identify the possibilities for cooperation through which a more optimal division of manufacturing capacities can be achieved on a metropolitan scale based on the cases of Berlin, Oslo, Riga, Stuttgart, Turin, Vienna and Warsaw.

The study concluded that to a certain extent the division of roles in manufacturing between the city cores and their agglomeration is natural: having high added value activities inside cores where land prices are high, while locating manufacturing activities with high land use and transportation needs outside cities. However, this natural phenomenon tends to be harmful in cases where it generates additional transportation flows of goods and people, emptying out the city cores of basic manufacturing activities which provided jobs and sustained services. Thus, stronger interventions by public actors are needed not only on the level of the city but rather across whole urban functional areas to influence locational decisions of individual companies.

Besides analysing the general trends in manufacturing and evaluating the local situation in seven metropolitan areas the project developed a detailed description of inspirational cases that are providing guidelines for a more efficient local manufacturing policy.

All the final outcome of the project can be found at https://www.espon.eu/mista

New study: on the metropolitan dimensions of urban manufacturing (ESPON MISTA) co-authored by MRI

A recent study co-authored by MRI on the metropolitan dimensions of urban manufacturing (ESPON MISTA) has just been launched on the ESPON website. The study was carried out by Politechnico Milano, WIFO – Austrian Institute of Economic Research, Latitude and Metropolitan Research Institute.

The study is organised around the role of manufacturing in urban areas of Europe with special attention to the forseen challenges of the 4th industrial revolution and the specific sectors of manufacturing in different urban areas that ensure the satisfacton of local needs but keeps the competitive position of cities at the same time. In order to reach these goals the research concentrates on finding the proper coordination mechanisms on metropolitan scale in the framework of fragmented governance systems.

The study evaluates the general trends in the manufacturing sector (decreasing labour force but increasing added value) in and around urban centres and analyses the spatial dynamics of different segments of manufacturing moving out from urban cores. The study also aims to identify possibilities for cooperation through which a more optimal division of manufacturing capacities can be achieved on a metropolitan scale based on the cases of Berlin, Oslo, Riga, Stuttgart, Turin, Vienna and Warsaw.

The study concludes that to a certain extent the division of roles in manufacturing between the city cores and their agglomeration is natural: having high added value activities inside cores where land prices are high, while locating manufacturing activities with high land use and transportation needs outside cities. However, this natural phenomenon tends to be harmful in cases where it generates additional transportation flows of goods and people, emptying out the city cores of basic manufacturing activities which provided jobs and sustained services. Thus, stronger interventions by public actors are needed not only on the level of the city but rather across whole urban functional areas to influence locational decisions of individual companies.

You can find the study with all its attachments at https://www.espon.eu/mista

József Hegedüs keynote presentation at UNECE Regional workshop ‘Housing governance to support housing affordability’

József Hegedüs one of the managing directors of MRI held a keynote speech at the UNECE ‘Housing governance to support housing affordability – Focusing on housing affordability challenges in the South-Eastern Europe’ Regional workshop which was organized on the 23-24th of February 2021.

In his presentation ‘Limits and Options for Affordable Housing Policies’, József touched upon the two main paradigms (Enable Housing Market and Housing for All) laying behind the given policy solutions to the housing affordability problem. József drew attention to the diversity of housing crisis (based on the size of inequalities, nature of the local housing market and the institution) moreover, spatial differences can be detected between stagnating and developing places even within countries. József emphasized at the end of his presentation that in prior to integrating lessons learnt from good practices into local housing policies and programs that are addressing housing affordability problems, good practices must be critically evaluated.

The recording of the Regional workshop is available on Youtube. Please find the video embedded here. József’s presentation starts at 18:35.

Find the Power Point presentation in English here.

special issue of the European Journal of Homelessness is online

The special issue of the European Journal of Homelessness with papers of members of the COST Action CA15218 “Measuring Homelessness in Europe” is online. Nóra Teller, senior expert of MRI is among the co-authors of the article “Measuring Homelessness by City Counts –Experiences from European Cities”. Read papers on migration and homelessness, hidden homelessness, making use of administrative data, and national and city counts in here.