Learning Network

In October, four AAU researchers (Lene Wiell Nordberg, Rikke Skovgaard Nielsen, Claus Bech-Danielsen and Hans Thor Andersen) visited Potsdam and Berlin to learn about co-housing in Germany.

Two members of the Housing and Building Section of Minga visited the city of Leskovac, in the South of Serbia, where they were received by Ivana Momić of the Public Enterprise for Urbanism and Construction of Leskovac. The Portuguese team members’ goal in visiting the city was to learn more about the participatory planning project implemented in the neighbourhood of Slavko Zlatanov by Zlata Vuksanović-Macura from the Geographical Institute “Jovan Cvijić” SANU, which aims to ensure that excluded communities can genuinely participate in the debate about, and construction of, their urban neighbourhood.

In August 2024, four Minga members undertook a secondment in Serbia. During this time, we engaged in discussions about social inclusion in non-profit housing that were specifically focused on who the vulnerable populations are that are included in Serbia’s social housing. To better understand the various historical, social, economic, and geographical factors affecting vulnerable populations in both countries, we began collecting insights for a potential future study with DASH partners. Comparative analysis can hopefully give us a better understanding of cooperatives’ role in public-private, non-profit partnerships. During our secondment in Serbia, we explored, amongst other topics, the example set by Serbia in explicitly naming those social vulnerabilities that justify public intervention. We will continue exploring this subject, relating it to possible strategies for enabling vulnerable-and non-vulnerable populations to cohabit, which requires us to understand the vulnerabilities that we are dealing with.

On 17th August 2024, during the DASH team secondment in Serbia, the Association for Innovative Forms of Housing and Living (INWOLE) and the Association of Urban Planners of Serbia (SUPA) organized a field trip and tour of Novi Sad, in which all the DASH team members participated. During the field trip, DASH member Petar Atanacković explained the city’s urban history. The day ended with a visit to the youth center CK13.

On August 8, DASH partner Cooperativa Integral Minga met with KO GRADI GRAD at the Geographical Institute “Jovan Cvijić” SANU. The meeting centered on the establishment and operation of housing cooperatives, highlighting our shared commitment to addressing pressing challenges such as housing shortages and community development. The participants explored transformative, community-led solutions rooted in grassroots efforts; discussed recent legislative reforms in Portugal that promise to create a more supportive environment for next-generation housing cooperatives; and identified a common challenge: the lack of financial mechanisms to support community-based housing projects.

In June 2024, DASH members Brankica Jelić and Dejan Žvković visited Tübingen (Germany), to learn more about the dynamics of the rental sector from the perspective of the resident population, with a special focus on beneficiaries from the refugee and immigrant population. Their hosts in Tübingen were DASH members Axel Burkhardt (Commissioner for housing and accessibility) and Julia Hartmann (Commissioner for housing and accessibility), with whom we exchanged practical experiences in the field of affordable housing.

During the spring of 2024, PhD student Rikke Sundstrup went on a secondment to Belgrade, Serbia, where she was hosted by Geographical Institute “Jovan Cvijic” SANU. The insights this provided into affordable housing in Serbia gave her new perspectives on the contextual challenges of, and universal objectives for, affordable housing.