HERA PuSH - Public Space in European Social Housing
The European research project PuSH (Public Space in European Social Housing) focuses on living realities in large housing estates from the 1950s to the 1970s in Norway, Denmark, Switzerland and Italy. In Switzerland, the Telli in Aarau as well as the Tscharnergut in Bern are examined in the context of case studies. The focus is on collective and public spaces as well as meeting places ("sites of publicness") in this building stock.
The aim is to better understand how and where encounters take place, how living together in the very heterogeneous neighborhoods is shaped, and how inclusion is lived or could be promoted. The research is guided by the concept of publicness, which is examined in the project along four analytical categories - cultural heritage, democratic processes, forms of informality, and policies/practices - and is always considered in relation to the dynamic relations between people and spaces on the ground.
PuSH is carried out by academics and non-academic partners from Denmark, Switzerland, Norway and Italy. The project is funded by the European Commission's HERA research program on integration and will run until the end of 2022.
More detailed information can be found on the international project website external pagehttps://www.pushousing.eu/.
Exhibitions as a research tool
The PuSH project has worked with the format of exhibitions. Their contents have also served the international team as a basis for collaboration and discussion for joint workshops. In the course of the project, four exhibitions were created. These were dedicated to the public spaces ("sites of publicness") in the large housing estates studied in connection with questions of (architectural) cultural heritage, democratic processes, forms of informality, and policies/practices.
The catalog of the research exhibition with all contents can be downloaded external pagehere
Final Conference Copenhagen, April 21-22, 2022.
During the PuSH conference in Copenhagen, all four research teams and guests came together to discuss the research results, the methods used, and the potentials of the "publicness" concept for the study of public spaces in large housing estates as well as social housing in Europe. The details of the event can be found on the international project website external pagehere.
Exhibition «Leben im Tscharni»
Photographs of life in the Tscharnergut high-rise housing development in Bern were on display from 1th July until 30th September 2021 in Café Tscharni until the end of September 2021. Developed from a photo competition, the exhibition showed places and spaces of special significance from the perspective of residents. The photographic essays offered multifaceted insights and took a look at the interior and exterior spaces of the residential estate.
The Event was organised by Quartierzentrum Tscharnergut and ETH Wohnforum - ETH CASE as part of the external pagePuSH Public Space in European Social Housing project.
Film project "Tscharni - Me and my neighborhood"
From January 2021 - April 2021, children of the Tscharnergut School have intensively dealt with their neighborhood. Together with the Schlachthaustheater Bern and the film production studio COUPDOEIL, the ETH Wohnforum co-initiated and accompanied the project. The result is a short film that gives us an understanding of the children's perspectives on life in the large housing estate and from which we can also learn a lot with regard to dealing with diversity in living together. To see the film click external pagehere.
- Professor Ellen Braae, University of Copenhagen (Project Leader and PI, Denmark)
- Professor Inger-Lise Saglie, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Oslo (PI, Norway)
- Dr. Marie Antoinette Glaser, director ETH CASE, ETH Zürich (PI, Switzerland)
- Dr. Eveline Althaus, ETH CASE, ETH Zürich (PI since 2021, Switzerland)
- Professor Laura Lieto, Federico II University, Naples (PI, Italy)
- Sorcha Edwards, Secretary General, Housing Europe, European Federation for Public, Cooperative and Social Housing, Brussels, Belgium
- Dr Morten Mortensen, museum curator, Furesø Museum, Denmark
- Natalia Rogaczewska, Head of European and Public Affairs, Danmarks Almene Boliger/Danish Social Housing Sector, Denmark
- Katrine Emme Thielke, digital advisor, Denmark
- Margot Telnes/Øyvind Johnsen, Regional Director/Senior Advisor Husbanken, Norway
- Lene Basma, Head of Planning Department, Drammen Municipality, Norway
- Lillian Sandbackken Eilertsen, Head of Fjell 2020, Drammen Municipality, Norway
- Urs Hauser, Director, Wohnbaugenossenschaften Schweiz, Verband der gemeinnützigen Wohnbauträger/Swiss Association of Housing Cooperatives, Switzerland
- Dr Antonio Scarponi, exhibition architect and graphic designer, Conceptual Devices, Switzerland
- Luigi di Magistris/Francesca Pignataro, planner and GIS expert/Executive, Naples Municipality, SIT, Direzione Centrale Pianificazione e Gestione del Territorio, Italy
- Elena de Filippo, President, Dedalus Cooperativa Sociale, Italy
- Cristina Ferraiuolo, photographer/curator, Italy
- "Zwei Forscherinnen gestalten den öffentlichen Raum neu"
- "Europa blickt auf die Telli"
- external page2022, CIDADES: "Community centres in increasingly diverse neighbourhoods"
- external pageApril, 2022: "Final Research Exhibition"
- external pageMay, 2022: "Eine Nachbarschaft mit Geschichte"
- external pageAugust, 2022: "Vom Zusammenleben vor der Wohnungstür"