[Originally published in Kuroishi, Izumi, ed. Post-War Public Housing and Well-Being: Modernity, Economic Recovery, and Social Change. New York: Routledge, 2025]
ABSTRACT:
Considered a necessity for human survival, shelter is fundamental to our personal and familial well-being. It also impacts our collective well-being, however, as housing is the most pervasive use of buildings the world over, and the construction and use of the built environment is responsible for over a third of all greenhouse gas emissions. The well-being of the planet is being compromised in no small part by the well-being that the average western household enjoys, which is why many scientists believe that our global fossil fuel-based economy must degrow, and sacrifices must be made to the western quality of life if our planet is to remain habitable for future generations. Historically, housing agencies have prioritised household well-being over planetary well-being, but in the last decades, this has begun to turn around. A leading example is IBAVI, the Instituto Balear de la Vivienda (Balearic Housing Institute), a Spanish regional governmental housing agency whose low-carbon, bioclimatic design policy seeks to strike a balance between household and planetary well-being. This text discusses IBAVI’s design principles in the context of historical urban and architectural housing movements as well as individual and planetary notions of ‘well-being.’
[Full-length text available through Tayor & Francis]
Criticalista 