Large Housing Areas Stabilisation Action
Throughout the CADSES area, large housing areas, often located at the periphery of major cities, are of great importance for the future quality of life in urban areas. In Eastern and Central Europe, prefabricated housing slabs that give a home to about 30 million inhabitants are dominant. East German prefabricated housing areas show today problems of increasing vacancy and fluctuation - baring the dangers of social decline and leading indirectly to urban sprawl as many inhabitants move out into peripheral "green" towns. The problems in the new member states are similar in the long-term but different at present. Still presenting the dominant form of residence in many cities, ownership, shortages of living space and physical decay of the buildings are the main concerns today. LHASA will address both categories of problems. Building on the experiences of the City of Venice and the East German cities of Marzahn- Hellersdorf (Berlin) and Leipzig, which have experienced the transition process much faster than their counterparts in Central and Eastern Europe, the project will provide solutions for the further development of those areas in the contexts of urban planning, housing development, local economy and quality of life. LHASA aims to contribute to the stabilisation of large housing areas by integrated planning efforts (zoning plans), new initiatives for the reconstruction of the housing estate and possibilities to reuse vacant buildings, and through pilot measures to improve employment and social inclusion.