9:43 min, 2012
Project Info:
http://sdg21.eu/db/frauen-wohn-und-baugenossenschaft
http://sdg21.eu/db/muenchen-riem
"Nearly two million affordable homes are lacking. The situation is likely to get worse. Social housing must be promoted more strongly."
There is a shortage of 1.9 million affordable flats in major German cities. Low-income earners in particular often cannot find a rental flat they can afford. The situation for households at risk of poverty is particularly tense in Munich, the Rhine-Main region and Cologne-Bonn. But affordable housing is also scarce in cities with many low-income earners such as Berlin, Leipzig or Dresden. This is the conclusion reached by Henrik Lebuhn, Andrej Holm, Stephan Junker and Kevin Neitzel in a study funded by the Hans Böckler Foundation. The urban sociologists from Humboldt University Berlin and Goethe University Frankfurt investigated which flats people can afford and how this fits in with the supply on the respective rental market.
https://www.boeckler.de/113665_113670.htm
Download the HBS study:
Henrik Lebuhn, Andrej Holm, Stephan Junker and Kevin Neitzel: How many and which flats are lacking in major German cities? (pdf) The social coverage gap by income and housing size, Hans Böckler Foundation Research Funding Working Paper No. 63, April 2018.
Keywords:
DE-News, New books and studies, Housing policy
Berlin, 08 August 2017 - The expansion of renewable energies is an important concern for an overwhelming majority of Germans. This is shown by a recent representative survey conducted by Kantar Emnid on behalf of the German Renewable Energy Agency (AEE). 95 percent of those surveyed rated the expansion of renewables as important to extremely important..
"The result of the survey proves how broad the social consensus is that supports the energy transition in Germany," says Nils Boenigk, Deputy Managing Director of AEE. "95 percent is a clear vote for the upcoming federal government to resolutely push ahead with the expansion of renewable energies," says Boenigk with a view to the federal elections in September.
The citizens are very willing to accept renewable energy plants in their neighbourhood. 65 percent of the survey participants are generally positive about plants within a radius of five kilometres from their homes. The approval rate is significantly higher when people already have experience with such plants. While, for example, 72 percent of all respondents approve of solar parks in the vicinity of their homes, the approval rating rises to 94 percent if there is actually a plant in the vicinity of the survey participants. The approval ratings for coal-fired power plants, on the other hand, are far off in the single-digit percentage range.
The most important advantages of renewable energies for people in Germany are future security and climate protection. Thus, 75 percent of the participants agree with the statement that renewables contribute to a secure future for our children and grandchildren. 72 percent affirm the statement that energy from the sun, wind, biomass & co. protects the climate. "The people in Germany know that the expansion must continue so that we can fulfil our obligations to climate protection and to future generations," emphasises Boenigk.
In order to finance the expansion of renewables, the majority of respondents are willing to make their contribution via the EEG levy through the electricity price. Thus, 48 percent rated the current monthly contribution of 20 euros per 3-person household (3,500 kilowatt hours annual consumption) as appropriate, while 8 percent are even willing to pay more for the expansion of renewables. Only 37 percent consider the contribution to be too high.
You can find further infographics on the survey in the AEE Media Library.
Keywords:
100% EEs, DE-News, Renewable, Climate protection, Tenant electricity, PV, PlusEnergy house/settlement, Solar thermal, Environmental policy, Ecology
The Rhineland-Palatinate Timber Construction Award 2018 was presented on 12 June at the Centre for Building Culture in Mainz. There were four equal prizes as well as four recognitions. In addition, an honorable mention was given. Function, (construction) technology, aesthetics and climate protection were the selection criteria for the Rhineland-Palatinate Timber Construction Prize, now awarded for the eighth time:
Pdf-Download (at the information service wood):
https://informationsdienst-holz.de/fileadmin/Publikationen/5_Holzbaupreise_Wettbewerbe/Holzbaupreise_der_Laender/Holzbaupreis_Rheinland-Pfalz_2018.pdf
Keywords:
Awards, Wood construction, News Blog RLP, Contests & Prizes, Ecology
Whether it's financial incentives for moving to smaller flats, mandatory bicycle parking spaces or public tenders based on social and environmental criteria - there are a variety of ways to reduce the consumption of space, energy and materials in municipalities. This is shown in a study by the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy entitled "Kommunale Suffizienzpolitik. Strategic perspectives for cities, federal states and the federal government" commissioned by the Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND). Using concrete examples, the study presents the instruments available to municipalities and federal and state governments to create incentives for resource-conserving living. Measures are recommended for the areas of housing, mobility and public tenders.
Christine Wenzl, BUND sustainability expert: "Every year, an area the size of Frankfurt is lost in Germany for new residential, commercial and transport buildings. For years, the number of cars, their performance and the distance travelled by car have been increasing. Cities are growing into the surrounding countryside, biodiversity is dwindling and the high energy demand is destroying climate protection efforts. The study proves: There is enormous potential to turn things around at the municipal level and significantly reduce resource consumption."
In terms of housing, municipalities could, for example, take advantage of the sometimes considerable vacancy of offices and support their conversion into flats. Promoting cooperative housing with shared living, working and communal spaces would also contribute to resource conservation, as examples in the study showed. In order to strengthen cycling as well as public transport, state governments could - as happened in Lower Saxony - among other things change the building code so that car parking spaces are no longer required in new buildings. Instead, the federal states could make parking spaces for bicycles mandatory.
Often, the competition among municipalities for purchasing power, inhabitants and commercial revenues stands in the way of resource-saving development. "Even in regions with stagnating or even shrinking populations, new commercial and residential areas and transport routes continue to be built. This is where the federal government can take countermeasures, for example by imposing a moratorium on land consumption," said study author Michael Kopatz of the Wuppertal Institute. A nationwide restriction on new construction would enable municipalities to turn to existing alternatives without having to fear competitive disadvantages.
More information
Study "Municipal Sufficiency Policy. Strategic perspectives for cities, federal states and the federal government". download (PDF, 1 MB)
Further information on the study as well as graphics for download can be found at www.bund.net/stadtlandglueck
Keywords:
Stakeholders, Soil & land consumption, DE-News, Communities, Media, New books and studies, News Blog Lower Saxony, Quarters, SDG 2030, Settlements, Social / Culture, Sufficiency, Environmental policy, Housing policy, Ecology
