This research project focuses on subsidised housing – social, public, and affordable housing supported by direct or indirect subsidy, rented or sold below market rates, and allocated based on social, economic or political criteria. Subsidised housing is typically built at scale and low cost, often relying on standardised and repeatable design solutions.

The project studies the design, quality, regulation, and lived experiences of subsidised housing in six countries and cities: England (London), Chile (Santiago), China (Shenzhen), the Netherlands (Amsterdam), Spain (Barcelona), and Switzerland (Zurich), which represent a variety of housing provision systems and standards.

These six countries have distinct subsidised housing provision systems that determine not only how housing is supplied, managed, and accessed but also the quantity, type, affordability, and quality of housing. Housing systems can be defined by housing providers, tenures, target groups, and financing (subsidies). 

These systems are context-specific, shaped by historical contingencies, regulatory practices, and housing supply and costs, and reflect socio-political agendas, such as welfare, social mobility, economic growth, and urban development.