A demand-oriented decision-making tool for stakeholders in the housing sector

Societal changes lead to new requirements on the housing market. Single parents, people living in different places (multi-locality), double income or single households, as well as new flat sharing communities have specific residential needs and expectations. Beyond this, general trends like the aging of society and changes in the work environment are to emphasised. As a consequence the demand on regional housing markets is becoming more diversified and housing concepts that target integration, care of the elderly within their home environment, and neighborhood assistance gain importance. In certain cities and regions demographic change is related to a decrease in housing demand. Hence, stakeholders in the housing sector are basically forced to act more target-group orientedly.

Against this backdrop the project was building upon the previous findings of the study Residential decision-making in polycentric regions Aim of this follow-up project was to provide a decision-making aid enabling stakeholders of the housing sector to evaluate the influence of medium- and long-term social trends on the development of urban districts and residential locations. The project was built on the collaboration between the three research institutes and four stakeholders of the housing sector. Bringing together the expertise of three housing corporations and one big municipality which is very active in housing policies, tools for a procedure were developed in order to adjust the requirements of consumers with the provider’s course of action. The four application partners’ formart GmbH & Co KG and Leipziger Stadtbau AG as private real estate developer, the UNITAS eG Leipzig as residential cooperative, and the City of Dortmund as big and strategically engaged municipality cover a broad expertise in the field of the housing sector.

Results/Publications

The IfL worked in close cooperation with the UNITAs eG Leipzig. Here the focus was on the question to what extent the housing supply of a residential cooperative is corresponding to emerging new housing needs and housing preferences. The following work steps were conducted within the frame of the common project:

• Identification of crucial location characteristics from the perspective of consumers including soft location factors like images and atmospheres, as well as accessibility and the supply of goods and services.
• Evaluation of the characteristics of different stock districts and development areas.
• Scenarios of the medium- and long-term development of residential neighborhoods with regard to societal trends.

For each of these aspects, a tool was developed that can be used by different stakeholders in the housing sector in order to evaluate the local consumer structure as well as the qualities of a specific neighborhood. The tools can be found under the name of “QuartiersAnalyse” (neighborhood analysis) on www.quartierentwickeln.de (German only).

Montanari, Giulia / Wiest, Karin (2014): Kommunale und genossenschaftliche Wohnbestände in Deutschland. In: Nationalatlas aktuell 2014, 3, aktuell.nationalatlas.de/wohnen-3_03-2014-0-html/

Wiest, Karin / Wörmer, Sven (2014): Raumbezogene Vorstellungsbilder und die Wahrnehmung von Stadträumen im Kontext der Wohnungssuche – Köln-Sülz im Fokus. In: Danielzyk, D. / Lentz, S. / Wiegandt, C.-C. (Hrsg.): Wohnst Du schon oder suchst Du noch?, Münster, 71-90

Montanari, Giulia / Wiest, Karin und Sven Wörmer (2013): Die Entgrenzung von Arbeit und die Transformation raumbezogener Orientierungen – Eine Annäherung in der Region Halle/Leipzig. Geographica Helvetica, 68, S. 105–116 Abstract available online at: http://www.geogr-helv.net/68/105/2013/gh-68-105-2013.html

Montanari, Giulia / Terbeck,Fabian (2013): Wohngenossenschaften in Leipzig – Standorte und Leerstände. In: Statistischer Quartalsbericht III/2013, S. 30-33

Montanari, Giulia / Wiest, Karin (2013): Genossenschaftliche Wohnkonzepte: das Beispiel UNITAS eG in Leipzig. In: Planerin, (August 2013) 4, S. 21-23