Housing Sustainable Housing Development, New Forms of Housing and Floor Ownership

In recent years and particularly in central and well-developed locations, the ongoing demographic development, changing household structures and scarce land resources have led to a disparity between the supply and demand of (affordable) housing. Cities and municipalities therefore increasingly turn to housing promotion schemes. Concurrently, the per capita consumption of floor space and thus the use of settlement space is increasing in conflict with the need for efficient land use and increasing internal development.

The IBR support cities and municipalities address these challenges, for instance by

• analysing the opportunities and limitations of various forms of assistance for the supply of affordable housing;
• by developing steering mechanisms for the densification of settlements, both in terms of structure and utilisation.

Project examples: 

• Creating sufficient housing space geared towards the dwellers' needs
• Structural densification and land use density
• Regional approaches for the promotion of affordable housing
• Dwelling floor plans and floor space consumption
• Relocation monitoring

Points of contact: Katia Delbiaggio, Markus Gmünder

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Dwellers’ changing preferences lead to new forms of housing for specific requirements such as studio living or sustainable habitation in, for instance, 2,000-watt estates. In collaboration with municipalities, regions and foundations and based on analyses of housing requirements, we develop robust and user-centred strategies, for instance for the elderly, for students or for seasonal workers. 

New forms of housing have also emerged as a result of digitalisation and of the fact that today, we can work any time and from anywhere. That is why more and more people are working from home. However, not everybody has their own designated study or the required infrastructure.
Will our new habit of working from home result in an increased need for living space that allows us to set up a suitable workplace? Or will we move towards other solutions such as coworking spaces that are closer to home and come with a shared infrastructure? To what extent will, for instance, cluster apartments enable us to share rarely used studies with other tenants and thus keep our individual consumption of floor space in check? Also, how will remote work influence where people choose to live and how will it affect the appeal of a region as a place of residence? 

Project examples:

• Home4Staff – housing concepts for hospitality workers
• Microliving 2.0 
• 2000-Watt-Site ITC
• Remote work survey
• ITC Coworking Spaces

Points of contact: Christoph Hanisch, Jana Z'Rotz

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To many, floor ownership is an appealing form of home ownership. It has been steadily on the rise in Switzerland since its inception in 1965. However, the combination of common and individual ownership within a building remains a challenge for its long-term management, particularly as relates to renovation and maintenance.

We provide advice and support for questions around floor ownership: by applying, for instance, instruments such as the “Lucerne toolbox” for the development of long-term strategies for floor owners and by offering continuing education programmes such as the “Renovation of properties in floor ownership” seminar. Together with our science and industry partners, we analyse and develop instruments for the planning and financing of renovations for floor owners’ associations. 

• Requirement analysis planning tool for floor ownership
• • “Lucerne tool box” – quality standards for floor ownership
• • Role of real estate managers in the energy renovation of properties in floor ownership

Points of contact: Markus Gmünder, Stefan Bruni

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The Housing Calculator is a analysis and consultancy tool primarily geared towards cities and municipalities. Based on the analysis of register data, it allows for a better understanding of the interdependences between apartments, those who live in them and their effect on the municipal finances. The housing calculator is a versatile tool and ideally suited to facilitate

• strategy development processes—for the municipal planning process, financial and social planning and for the development of a superordinate municipal strategy 
• operational activities including neighbourhood outreach and school space planning
• evaluation processes and control mechanisms. Applied periodically, the housing calculator contributes to the successful creation of a municipal, neighbourhood or social monitoring scheme

Point of contact: Ivo Willimann

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