FRAUENGERECHTER WOHNBAU IN ÖSTERREICH

Housing is a central social infrastructure and, at the same time, a political field of action in which gender relations and care work remain unequally anchored to this day. Women-friendly housing emerged from feminist planning debates, highlights structural exclusion and questions supposedly neutral standards in planning. By equally involving women as clients, planners and users, and considering everyday practices, diverse household forms and communal spaces, it formulates a fundamental demand for transformation in public housing.

This book is the first to focus on women-friendly model housing projects developed in the context of women’s politics in Austrian subsidised housing. A qualitative empirical case study traces their development, implementation and long-term effects. The analysis reveals how, in Vienna in particular, innovative ideas have been permanently integrated into funding instruments and planning processes – with international appeal. The book shows how the approaches developed in women-friendly model projects contribute significantly to the gender-sensitive, socially just and sustainable further development of housing construction.