Closure of the Research Program
funded by the French National Research Agency (Espace et territoire 2010)
ALTER-PROP "Sharing living spaces: alternative forms of Home ownership"
Alter-Prop website
Access to housing is one of the major issues facing us today. Previously, it was essentially a problem affecting people on low incomes, but today the middle classes are also finding it difficult not just to purchase property but to find comfortable housing. The housing issue is thus at the heart of public policy proposals, partisan or activist rhetoric, and the debate about western democracy in general. Alternative ways of living, in a fairer world with greater solidarity and a revival of representative democracy, is one of the main focuses of current alternative thinking.
Alter-Prop has specifically investigated the crucial question of home ownership. The concept of private property, which was for long seen as a cornerstone of citizenship and democracy, has been challenged by practices such as collective ownership, possession through use, long-term rental, or shared, joint, cooperative ownership, etc. ‘Third sector’ approaches (voluntary, professional, participatory, etc.), even a total rejection of the State, have emerged, challenging the western model of ownership, notably in the name of the social and solidarity economy and sustainable development.
These new debates, which are at the same time political, economic and environmental, have emerged as a reaction against rampant individualism, calling for a revival of sociability, solidarity and community, and opposing legal measures and practices that preserve private ownership and generally block ideas of collective ownership and of sharing living spaces.
The symposium on‘alternative forms of Home ownership’ will examine these social, legal and political issues.
