Gentrification in big cities

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Gentrification is a phenomenon expressing in replacement or expulsion of the poor class from the urban center. It is a consequence of speculative strategies in the real estate sector and growing demands of classes with higher purchasing power. The development of gentrification can be explained by lack of public policies to control housing prices and insufficient regulation in this area, originating from the measures to ensure diversity in the cities and make them affordable to a wide group of population in general.

RODRÍGUEZ, Maridalia,   “Gentrificación en grandes ciudades” (Diari de Tarragona, 03/12/2018)

The taxation of real estate transactions

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Dr. Estela Rivas has taught the course on “The taxation of real estate transactions” on 15, 22 and 29 November 2018 in Barcelona. The course was organised by the Provincial Council of Barcelona so as to train professionals from local administrations who are working on the provision of local housing services.

The Generalitat de Catalunya, through the Council for the Disability of Catalonia (CODISCAT), initiates the process of legislative adaptation to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

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On November 16th, the opening session of the technical table was held at the headquarters of the Department of Labor, Social Affairs and Families to achieve the adaptation of the Catalan legal system to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability approved by the Organization of the United Nations, on December 13, 2006, ratified by Spain and the European Union.

One of the researchers of the Housing Chair, Andrés Labella, has joined the work team, proposed at the request of the entities Cocemfe Catalunya and Dincat, with the aim of focusing on private law, especially on issues related to the right to independent life and in the community included in article 19 of the Convention and on all aspects related to housing and protection measures, both personal and physical.

In this sense, the main goal will be to offer proposals so that the new ordinance suppresses the outdated terminology and modifies the articles that cause discrimination. As regards the material content of the right to independent life, the implementation into the new civil legislation of the basic elements for the configuration of community environments as a support network so as to fight against social isolation and to boost balance of family life and work, from a gender perspective and sustainability of cities and communities, will be proposed.

New academic partner of the European Federation for Living (EFL)

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The UNESCO Housing Chair has been accepted as a new associated academic partner of the European Federation for Living (EFL), thus becoming the first Spanish member. The EFL has currently 60 members, which represent 14 European countries and more than 1.2 million housing in Europe. This network has a unique combination ofsocial housing providers, private stakeholders and universities and other research networks.

Thanks to its composition, the EFL is an active and dynamic network. Projects are developed in order to give options and solutions to the needs identified by the stakeholders of the sector (e.g. Circular Housing Asset and Renovation Management, Housing Association strategic alliances and mergers and post-merger Integration and IT Solutions for independent living). It also has different Topic Groups that meet periodically to share expertise and best practices about certain topics, for example, onsocial domain, energy efficient buildings, digitalisation, accessible and intergenerational living and financing and investments. Furthermore, conferences, seminars and workshops are organised throughout the year, where ideas, needs, knowledge, expertise and research outputs are shared.

Therefore, the UNESCO Housing Chair will be able to enrich its work at the same time that it contributes to the EFL with its knowledge and research outputs on a variety of fields within housing studies. Moreover, the combination of housing providers, private companies and academia enables the implementation of two of the Housing Chair cornerstones: knowledge transfer and social impact.

More information about the European Federation for Living in https://www.ef-l.eu

 

 

Presentations on evictions and homelessness in the IV Seminar of housing of the Consell Insular de Menorca

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Drs. Sergio Nasarre and Jan Gonzalo and Mr. Isidre Monreal participated on November 9th in the IV Seminar of Housing of the Consell Insular de Menorca, presenting the reality of housing in Spain today, as well as a preview of the documentary “El Umbral “and of the simulation experience “The Threshold”. The Seminar showed the special difficult situation in which there is access to housing on the island and, in general, in the Balearic Islands, as well as the reality of evictions, especially rental.

 

 

The Chair participates in the event “Southern Catalonia 2040”

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The director of the Chair, Dr. Sergio Nasarre, was invited to participate in the event “Catalunya Sud 2040” organized on 8 November by the Chair of the Region of Knowledge of the URV where strategies were discussed with other agents of the territory on the future of our region.

 

 

The UNESCO Housing Chair of University Rovira i Virgili takes part in the drafting of the Urban Agenda of Catalonia.

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The Urban Assembly of Catalonia was set up on November 5th, formed by the Generalitat of Catalonia, civil society actors, local governments and observers. Its purpose is to draft a New Urban Agenda following the guidelines of the UN Habitat III, approved in Quito in 2016, that is to say, it aims to promote the environmental and economic sustainability of urban habitats, to guarantee healthy urban areas and the well-being of people, to foster economic prosperity and to accentuate the territorial dimension.

Visiting the Dublin’s Science Gallery

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The Director of the UNESCO Chair of Housing has been visiting, together with Region of Knowledge, the Science Gallery of Dublin to develop at the local level a knowledge transfer project from the Rovira i Virgili University and the Research Institutes. Prof. Nasarre and Mr. Ferrer have had the opportunity to meet with several persons in charge of this service of Trinity College where they have verified the type of organization and the success of this innovative system of explanation of science to the citizens.

“El Umbral (The Threshold)”, the role-playing game to raise public awareness about homelessness

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The UNESCO Housing Chair has produced an entertaining material to raise public awareness about the causes of homelessness and the role of social entities. The role-playing game took place at the Institut Vidal i Barraquer on 17 September 2018, which allowed high school students to put themselves in the place of people at risk.

The activity is based on the Report “Promoting protection of the right to housing – Homelessness prevention in the context of evictions”, the main researcher of which is Dr. Padraic Kenna (NUI) and that researchers of the Chair co-coordinated

The authors are Jan Gonzalo Iglesia, Jordi De Andrés Cardona and Javier Coca Sánchez; and the illustration, the graphic design and the layout have been done by Neus Sabaté  Barrieras.

https://housing.urv.cat/en/experiencia-el-llindar/