Living 2060

"Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food, clothing and housing …"
(Universal Declaration of Human Rights / Article 25.1)

Given the rapid social changes and climate change taking place globally, most traditional housing models seem outmoded. Until the 20th century, most housing models primarily assumed inhabitants who, structured in families, would often live and work in one and the same place for an entire lifetime. Yet current upheavals in the demographic structure (birth rates, life expectancy, migration etc.), in the working world (restructuring of working conditions etc.), in the family unit (single parents, one-person households, patchwork families etc.), and in social relations (changing gender roles etc.) create – in Europe as much as in Southeast Asia – new living models, which create new housing needs and therefore require new forms and typologies of housing. While these transformations and their consequences are frequent subjects of discussion, satisfactory solutions remain rare. Furthermore, the debate around what future housing models should and could look like in a globalised 21st century – in their concrete material manifestations as well as their impact on the structure of urban conglomerations – has only just begun.

How can architecture and design contribute to future and humane housing?

This core question is the point of departure for the planned interdisciplinary project LIVING 2060 (architecture, interior design, town planning, etc.), which seeks to provide first answers to and visions for this global challenge through transcultural analysis and reflection on European and Southeast Asian living styles. Deliberately, therefore, experts and artists from Europe as well as Southeast Asia (which is culturally and socio-economically equally heterogeneous) are earmarked for the project. In particular, the significant parameters of the subject matter today have global relevance: Poverty can (albeit on a different level) also be found in (Eastern) Europe, and suburbanisation has become an issue also in Southeast Asia.