Living in a listed building: Conservation and design of 20th century housing concepts and estates

• Applicants: Professorin Dr. Heike Oevermann; Professorin Dr.-Ing. Barbara Schönig
• Subject Area: Architecture, Building and Construction History, Construction Research, Sustainable Building Technology ; Urbanism, Spatial Planning, Transportation and Infrastructure Planning, Landscape Planning
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 511804015

The research project “Living in a Listed Building” contributes to a fundamental understanding of the (reciprocal) processes of evaluation and appreciation among different actors in relation to listed 20th century residential buildings, ensembles, and settlements and their inherent housing concepts. Residential properties, communities—and their access and participation in use and care, and in conservation and design—are systematically examined from the perspectives of both heritage conservation and housing research on participation and identification. The project investigates the following questions: 1. Which values do residential communities assign to 'their' 20th century housing concept or estate, and how can these (tangible and intangible) values be negotiated and connected with those of institutional conservation and public interest? 2. What concepts, instruments and interventions are used in the preservation, maintenance and alteration of 20th century housing estates, and how do they function in terms of integrating diverse stakeholders and dynamic planning processes? 3. How does participation function regarding access and living heritage, with special consideration of community-building and identification processes? Insights into these research questions will be gained through the empirical study of 16 listed housing estates in German, dating from the turn of the 20th century to the early 1980s, that implemented housing concepts of architectural, urban planning or socio-political significance. The analyses are conducted from the perspectives of heritage conservation and housing research. The findings are contextualised via aspects of the major debates on gentrification, social inequality and sustainability. A methodological contribution will be made and tested in a teaching format. This is intended to further develop heritage conservation instruments with regard to acknowledging value-plural conservation and to strengthen stakeholder-integration in dynamic planning processes.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Austria