[Back]

G. Gutheil-Knopp-Kirchwald:
"Keeping families in the city - a common issue for public, non-profit and private sector engagement?";
Talk: 55th IFHP World Congress Tallinn 2011, Estland; 2011-09-11 - 2011-09-13; in: "55th IFHP World Congress Tallinn 2011", (2011), 10 pages.

Families with children, often being an under-represented household type in European core cities, receive growing attention as target groups of urban development policy, since the "familyfriendliness"
of a city is seen as an advantage in regional competition. Studying the conurbations of Vienna and Munich, the paper examines the questions how the housing situation of families is influenced by housing market and policy, and how inner-city locations
could compete with suburban settlements as residential locations for families. Most important quality criteria for family-oriented housing in cities are the suitability for everyday life, adequate
space for children and the possibility of self-organisation and social interaction. The analysis shows that, in spite of a generally high housing standard in the two regions, larger family
households face specific restrictions concerning living space, housing affordability as well as the choice of location and tenure status. As a conclusion, three policy recommendations are
sketched: (1) improving the housing supply for the needs of families by providing a sufficient number of large flats and by quality management, (2) broadening the structure of housing
supply by encouraging community-oriented housing developments and (3) facilitating affordability of urban housing by flexible financing models and property right schemes.

Urban housing, family policy, Vienna, Munich, co-housing, affordability