The regeneration of large-scale Social Housing estates: Spatial, territorial, institutional and planning dimensions

The purpose of this report is to investigate the contexts of large-scale social estates in Brussels, Milan and Paris. It does this by providing an overview of the architecture and planning history of social housing within the 3 city regions and by positioning the production of large-scale social estates within this framework. Special attention is given to the last 15 years and the different measures developed for tenant participation and housing regeneration, be it informed by institutional policies, inhabitants initiatives or third sector promoted interventions. Indeed, we try to consider all types of social and spatial interventions that impact on these sites and its inhabitants. By zooming in on several sites within the three cities, these regeneration practices are discussed and critically evaluated in terms of social-spatial quality. Being an ongoing LivingLab experience, in the case of Milan, the main focus is on the site under study, while the analyses of the city regions of Brussels and Paris, in which new LivingLabs are set up, are informed by regeneration practices in similar estates.
This report is the result of the first investigation (T2.1) of the SoHoLab research. It is written by the university partners and based on desktop research; interviews with administrators and community workers; architecture, design and planning theory; journal extracts; and local, regional and national housing policy documents. Although potentially of interest for the academic community studying one of the 3 contexts, it is especially meant to inform practitioners and policy makers working in the field of (social) housing (regeneration).