8. Vacancy Conference
Anyone home?
Ideas for half-empty single-family homes
September 21-23, 2022 | Spinnerei, Kolbermoor, Bavaria/Germany
A think tank for issues and strategies in dealing with vacancies
Who doesn’t know them, the large-scale residential areas with predominantly single-family homes in our communities and cities. For many, this form of construction is still the absolute dream for a happy life, for others it is the pure nightmare of urban sprawl, soil sealing and social segregation. Away from this debate, one phenomenon of this form of housing is often overlooked: The invisible vacancy and its incredible future potential! Built for families with children, these houses are often too large after their offspring have moved out and stand half-empty. The older the owner:inside, the larger the non-inhabitable area becomes – not to mention the maintenance of the garden.
In metropolitan areas in particular, the pressure to live is enormous. There free and affordable properties are genuine scarce commodity and at the same time many single-family houses stand half-empty – tendency strongly rising. Those responsible in politics and administration are often at a loss as to how they can counteract this problem. The vacancy conference “Someone at home?” would like to bring together house owners and vacancy owners with idea givers, initiators and project implementers and think about possible solutions. How can half-empty houses be turned into active living space again? What do models of swapping and sharing look like? How can we redensify in a meaningful way? How do we want to live and work in the future? And what new housing and living concepts could be a real alternative?
The goal of the event is to capture the problems of underused buildings and to make the potentials for future living visible. Experts from different fields will be brought together.
Why is this important?
The vacancy rate of buildings is constantly increasing, especially in rural areas. Many villages and communities in Austria and Germany are almost dying out because residents are migrating to the cities. The communities are often at a loss as to how to counteract this problem. The Vacancy Conference helps to bring together idea providers, initiators and project implementers, to activate them and to think about possible solutions.
Who participates?
Vacancy is not a one-dimensional, isolated issue. Neither is it triggered by one person or one expertise, nor will someone single-handedly develop a solution. Accordingly, the Vacancy Conference brings together experts from different sectors such as politics, administration, business and architecture. The focus is on an intensive exchange between the various players in order to be able to gain completely new insights.
