Housing for more people in the existing housing stock in Uppsala - Test bed for sharing and reduced loneliness

Purpose and goal:

The project will test how the existing, already built housing stock can be used better and in what way sharing could have effects for both people (reduced vulnerability, loneliness and homelessness) and for society (develop new tools and methods to address both housing shortages and perceived loneliness ). This includes exploring the conditions for developing the physical environment, sharing and scale up sharing services for residents, as well as studying what effects such sharing can contribute to - including its impact on the economy.

Expected results and effects:

Many cities strive to make greater use of spaces and functions - a desire to increase their sharing potential. Even if there is a willingness to share, there is a lack of experience and practical solutions to turn these ideas into reality. This project is expected to contribute: through increased understanding and knowledge of the social, economic (and to some extent environmental) effects of shared housing.

This leads to the development and scaling up of social values in cities. The project will also study risks and goal conflicts as well as opportunities to bridge them. Approach and implementation:

In a co-creative process based on Uppsala´s special conditions, we investigate whether shared housing can be used as a flexible complement to the permanent housing stock. In a cross-sectoral and practical collaboration with pilot studies, the project will develop new knowledge linked to how the existing housing stock in Uppsala can be shared, adapted and developed to reduce housing shortages and involuntary loneliness.

The project will create a process where different actors learn from each other. The approach means that it will also contribute to the societal calculation.