New project rethinks housing, clean energy and equality

The PREFIGURE project will show how people are coming up with new and better ways to make housing and energy fairer and eco-friendlier. More specifically it will explore the existing and changing geographies of uneven housing conditions, providing new practices to make housing more affordable.

For many people, home is not just a place to live. It symbolises independence, personal success and a safe haven. However, owning and maintaining a home is becoming an unaffordable luxury for many in Europe.

Indeed, the continent is facing a period of severe shocks, from climate to war, from energy poverty to the housing crisis. These are interconnected crises that must be addressed with international plans and policies.

The project's work will help advance understanding on housing inequality, environmental improvements, and how they affect energy use and fairness in housing. Scientific research will be combined with practical study in local communities to investigate the dynamics and concrete changes taking place in housing and energy transition.

A key aim will be to identify, study, and connect new "prototypes of change" with regard to the housing-energy efficiency/energy poverty nexus. Such prototypes include innovative social, political and economic ideas and methods to make suitable transition of housing cheaper and help those who are most in need.

In this respect, project management officer at ICONS, Ani Asatryan, states: "At ICONS, our role will be to raise the project's profile and engage with stakeholders so that all these endeavours really have the impact needed for a fairer and more eco-friendly society."

PREFIGURE will run until 31 March 2027 with a consortium of 9 interdisciplinary partners from 7 countries.

Contacts

Project coordinator:

Prof. Dr. Michael Janoschka, Coordinator of the project, michael.janoschka@kit.edu

Communication Managers:

Ani Asatryan, Project Management Officer, ani.asatryan @icons.it

Veronica Meneghello, Communication and Dissemination Officer, veronica.meneghello@icons.it

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