Beyond Affordable Housing: An Interdisciplinary Multinational Approach to Adequate Housing Options

May 5-9, 2014

Study Space is a weeklong intensive workshop in which scholars, government and private sector professionals develop solutions to legal, social, and policy challenges in urban areas.  Study Space is unique because: 

• Participation is limited to a small group of international scholars and professionals selected from a variety of disciplines.
• It promotes active learning and problem-solving through research, site visits, and group discussions with local academics, NGOs and government officials.
• Participants contribute scholarly articles for publication in a journal distributed to an international audience. 

 Using Barcelona as a case study, participants will explore:

• Barriers to affordable housing, such as zoning and land use laws
• Optimal siting of affordable housing, including access to infrastructure and services, and redeveloping low-profitability spaces
• Habitability and creating healthy environments
• Security of tenure
• Housing discrimination
• The right to housing
• Homelessness, including laws and policies that serve as barriers to ending it 

This is a joint project with the University of Barcelona in cooperation with the Payson Center for International Development at Tulane University Law School in New Orleans, Louisiana. 

Click here to view the program brochure.

Proposed Schedule and Workshop Topics

Monday, May 5
Challenges in Land Use and Affordable Housing
Site Visit:  Historic District of Barcelona

Tuesday, May 6
Affordable Housing, Social Mix and Cities
Site Visit:  Comparison of Two Social Housing Units

Wednesday, May 7
Right to Legally Enforceable Housing
Site Visit:  Catalan Ombudsman (Public Institution Charged with Protecting Human Rights)

Thursday, May 8
Evictions and Housing Finance
Site Visit:  Public Institution that Assigns Emergency Social Housing in Barcelona

Friday, May 9
Homelessness and Strategies for Helping Vulnerable Populations
Site Visit:  Homeless Shelter

Participant Expectations and Cost

Cost
The program cost has not yet been set; we expect to post this information in October.

Expectations
One month before Study Space VII begins, participants will receive reading materials and are expected to have studied the materials prior to arrival in Barcelona.

Attendees are expected to participate fully, including daily lectures, field visits, group discussions and dinners.  Participants will be expected to lead at least one structured lecture or group discussion, and are invited to submit topics.

Participants must submit one original article that relates to the Study Space VII theme, Beyond Affordable Housing:  An Interdisciplinary Multinational Approach to Adequate Housing Options.  The papers will be published in a symposium format and distributed worldwide.

Apply to Participate in the Program

The online application is currently under development and is expected to be available in October.  The application deadline will be Friday, Feb. 7, 2014.

If you are interested in applying to this program, please contact Karen Johnston at kjohnston3@gsu.edu.  She will email you the final program details and notify you when the online application is live.

Past Study Space Programs

• Panama's Explosive Urban Growth (La Ciudad de Panama, Panama 2007)
• Property, the Environment, and Cultural Diversity in Colombia (Bogota, Colombia 2008)
• Private and Public Lands in the Post-Colonial North American West (Denver, Colorado 2008)
• The Use and Control of Space and Institutions for Social Transformation:  The Case of Medellin (Medellin, Colombia 2009)
• Inclusive and Sustainable Rio:  Cultural Diversity, Property and the Environment (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 2010)
• Planning for Disaster:  Place, Population, Culture and the Environment (Istanbul, Turkey 2013)