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Reclaim Prague: A Collective Living Network

Part 2 Project 2021
Martin Mráz
University of Liechtenstein | Liechtenstein
Prague is one city of many which is experiencing a housing crisis driven by global financialization of housing. Following the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, an international trend saw financial institutions begin to purchase large swathes of housing as stable investments of accumulated wealth. The result is a decline in affordable housing, the consequent precarious living situation of many individuals, and the disintegration of urban communities. Looking for an alternative, people are rediscovering the benefits of collective living, addressing unaffordability, fostering democratic decision-making, and offering respite from loneliness. The project proposes a solution through Reclaim Prague, an initiative to mobilise vacant municipal property to build communities of collectives for affordable housing. This bottom-up initiative organises housing collectives and the resources needed to refurbish and run otherwise dismissed buildings. Reclaim Prague defines a network model that can be implemented to create a diversified and more robust housing stock, and begin to reclaim the city of Prague for its citizens, to create meaningful change through systematic support of civic activity. Reclaim Prague endeavors to answer the question: “In the context of Prague’s housing crisis, how can the architecture of collective living play its part in creating a desirable, affordable, and robust city?”

Tutor(s)


2021
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