This exhibition studies subsidised housing design, quality, regulation, and lived experiences in six countries and cities: England (London), Chile (Santiago), China (Shenzhen), the Netherlands (Amsterdam), Spain (Barcelona), and Switzerland (Zurich). These countries represent typical design controls used in regulatory, housing markets, and subsidised housing systems. In subsidised housing, which includes social, public, and affordable housing, safeguarding minimum standards is important, as economic pressures often make these standards the maximum target.

Each country has a distinct subsidised housing provision system defined by housing providers, tenures, target groups, and financing (subsidies). These systems reflect socio-political agendas, such as welfare, social mobility, economic growth, and urban development, and are shaped by historical contingencies, regulatory practices, and housing supply and costs.

Each country also has a different approach to design governance, which determines the type and quality of new housing. Design governance is shaped by a mix of mandatory and voluntary policies, regulations, standards, codes, and guidelines, as well as the regulatory cultures, regimes, and instruments adopted by the government and the housing sector.