CRUSH: Critical Urban Sustainability Hub
Research project in Human Geography
Project's title: CRUSH: Critical Urban Sustainability Hub
Project's duration: 2014-2018
Contact person: Guy Baeten
Researchers in the project:
Overview
CRUSH brings together the five largest research environments for urban and housing research in Sweden and is a research platform that engages critically with urban sustainability in general and Sweden?s acute housing crisis in particular. CRUSH acknowledges that sustainable outcomes can never be of universal benefit to all, that they will have different meanings for different social groups, and that these meanings can be in conflict with each other. The triad of social, economic and ecological sustainability was originally designed not as a potential equilibrium but as an illustration of conflicts between opposing interests. Definitions and concepts of sustainability are embedded in processes of empowerment and disempowerment. Sustainability therefore always presupposes an understanding of the notions of justice and injustice. If not, sustainability becomes an empty signifier that may hide specific interests. Within this perspective, CRUSH will investigate to what extent the housing market is assuming a dysfunctional state, and what measures can be taken to prevent this. Housing is at the core of new ecological and climate smart development, social justice and well-being, the pivot of urban economic development, and plays a key role in the quality of everyday life. The project aims to investigate the institutional conditions and policy options for housing governance in relation to stakeholders, social movements and citizens in a collaborative manner.