Workshop shares insights on engaging residents in innovation at #ISHF2025

Exploring resident engagement, energy Innovation, and inclusive design: Insights from the DEDALUS workshop at ISHF 2025 on how co-creation, reflexive governance, and empowerment can reshape social housing across Europe.

As part of the International Social Housing Festival (ISHF) 2025, held in Dublin from 4 to 6 June, the DEDALUS project hosted the workshop "Innovating Communities: Exploring drivers and barriers of public engagement in social housing", moderated by Claudia Crippa—Head of Business Innovation at Fondazione ICONS.

At this workshop, practitioners, researchers and housing professionals discussed the transformative potential of involving residents in the design, roll-out and evaluation of social housing projects. Drawing from diverse European experiences, they underscored the critical role of co-creation, inclusive governance, and community empowerment in making housing policies more equitable and resilient.

Methodological foundations and participatory approaches

Chiara Fonio, Head of Social Innovation at ICONS, opened the session by setting a solid conceptual foundation, illustrating how the intersection of social innovation, public engagement, and housing policy can generate structural change. She introduced a framework based on three key pillars: co-creation, reflexive governance, and empowerment.

Co-creation, she explained, entails the direct involvement of residents and stakeholders from the very beginning of the design process—especially when dealing with socio-technical solutions such as energy retrofits or digital platforms. Reflexive governance, a central tenet of DEDALUS, was described not as a theoretical abstraction but as a practical, iterative mode of action, in which strategies are continuously revised based on lived feedback, contextual conditions, and emerging challenges.

Empowerment, finally, is not limited to consultation or awareness-raising. It involves enabling residents to influence decisions at all levels—including, where feasible, shared management of housing resources. Fonio also stressed that effective engagement must be structured and systematic, supported by methodological tools that allow for assessment and accountability throughout the project cycle.

Dimitra Xidous, from the Trinity College of Dublin, brought the audience into the world of age-friendly housing design, grounded in extensive fieldwork and participatory methods. Working with older people across Ireland, her approach is both empathetic and methodologically rigorous. She illustrated how vulnerability is not an intrinsic feature of ageing, but often the product of inaccessible or poorly designed environments.

Her team employs tools such as design personas, daily clocks, and walkability audits to reconstruct and interpret the lived experiences of older residents. These methods help capture how time and space are used in everyday life—informing decisions about layout, mobility, accessibility and spatial comfort. She described how these tools are embedded within a four-stage participatory cycle aligned with standard architectural workflows (e.g., pre-design, construction, post-occupancy), ensuring that residents are involved meaningfully at every phase.

She emphasised that engagement is not a one-off exercise, but a long-term commitment that must be continuously adjusted and validated. Reflexivity, she argued, is essential: every interaction—whether a focus group or a hospital visit—can become an opportunity for dialogue, feedback, and design learning.

Case studies on resident engagement and innovation in social housing

Panos Skaloumpakas, from NTUA and DEDALUS pilots coordinator, presented an in-depth analysis of two pilot cases focused on introducing demand response technologies in social housing environments. His presentation vividly illustrated the complexities of implementing energy innovations in real-life residential settings.

In the first case, located at the Italian pilot, residents had limited or no prior knowledge of basic energy concepts, let alone the specifics of demand response systems. Initial reactions included strong resistance, driven by fear of losing comfort, concerns over data privacy, and frustration with technological complexity. Many were reluctant to adopt solutions they did not understand, particularly when perceived as disruptive or intrusive.

The second case, located at the Danish pilot, involved recently renovated apartments, yet challenges persisted. Despite improved infrastructure, low levels of digital literacy among tenants posed significant barriers. Even basic smart devices, such as heating thermostats, proved difficult to operate for many. To respond, the DEDALUS team moved beyond generic engagement strategies, holding one-on-one support sessions, simplifying interfaces and messages, and even reconsidering the role of automation to reduce perceived burdens on users.

Crucially, Panos Skaloumpakas emphasised that nudging techniques and app-based interventions alone were insufficient. Residents demanded clarity, control, and real human contact. He concluded that energy innovation must be rooted in social sensitivity: without deep contextual understanding, even the best-designed tools may fail.

Cosmo Murray, from Mazì Housing in Athens, offered a moving reflection on the role of trust, reciprocity and community building in shared housing projects for young refugees. Mazì Housing was set up to fill a critical gap in Greek housing provision—specifically for unaccompanied minors who "age out" of the shelter system and are left without safe accommodation upon turning 18.

Rejecting the traditional humanitarian model of "provider–recipient," Mazì Housing adopts a person-centred approach, where each resident is treated as the expert of their own life. Casework is tailored to individual needs, from legal support to language access and education.

Murray underscored that inclusion is built through everyday micro-moments: informal conversations, shared meals, apartment tours led by fellow residents. These interactions are not incidental but form the relational infrastructure of the project. Residents co-develop house rules, participate in decision-making processes, and provide continuous feedback that shapes how services change. Even safeguarding policies are reviewed in quarterly meetings and discussed collectively—turning abstract governance into shared responsibility.

Finally, Paola Zerilli, from the University of York and coordinator of the SUPERSHINE project, presented a comparative study on energy efficiency investments in social housing across Denmark, Italy and Latvia. Her work focused on bridging the gap between financial feasibility and social equity.

In many cases, funding from national governments was partial or delayed—posing significant barriers for housing providers. To overcome this, Zerilli's team proposed hybrid financing models, combining public subsidies, energy service companies (ESCOs) and even crowdfunding mechanisms. These models are designed to distribute risk more evenly and, importantly, to ensure that energy savings benefit tenants, not just investors.

The study revealed that involving tenants in the early stages of project design improved both acceptance and feasibility of interventions. Specific attention was paid to scenarios in which full-scale renovations were not viable—whether due to budget limitations or social disruption—and alternative, phased strategies were assessed.

Zerilli concluded that energy transition in social housing must be both environmentally ambitious and socially grounded, with a strong emphasis on resident participation and communication.

A European platform for shared challenges

The International Social Housing Festival provided an ideal backdrop for this workshop, offering a space to anchor local case studies within broader European debates. The DEDALUS session benefited greatly from the festival's interdisciplinary and transnational scope—reinforcing the idea that resident participation is not a procedural requirement, but a cornerstone of social sustainability.

By sharing practical tools, methodological frameworks, and on-the-ground experiences, the workshop contributed to a deeper understanding of the cultural, social, and technical dimensions of engagement in social housing. It also helped strengthen connections among projects and practitioners committed to shaping a fairer, more inclusive urban future.

Contacts

Coordinator:

Diego Arnone, Engineering S.p.A, diego.arnone@eng.it
Communication:

Ilaria Orfino, ICONS, ilaria.orfino@icons.it

Project website: DEDALUS HORIZON
LinkedIn: DEDALUS
YouTube: DEDALUS-EU
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/dedalus-eu.bsky.social
Mastodon: https://mastodon.energy/@DEDALUS

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