Currently, the dwellers, housing companies and NGO’s have to deal with inflexible and outdated practices within the cities when trying something new in housing, living and working in the city. Not to mention the emerging needs of marginalized societal groups excluded in the conventional arrangements. The members of the consortium have recognized the limitations of standardized solutions that are often applied in urban planning and housing (e.g. Leino et al. 2015, Wessberg et al 2015, Hedman 2012).

The current needs for change are summarized as three hypotheses for our research project:

1. The dwellers want to use and live in the city in manners and ways, which the cities cannotcurrently fully meet, especially with respect to different modes of housing and living.

2. The motivations, knowledge and activities of the dwellers are central in co-creatingsustainable diverse cities.

3. New, experimental practices with and by the dwellers and other actors help us to transformthe traditional urban planning practice and tackle the changing needs of the city infrastructure.

DAC-project has an international scientific advisory board which complements andstrengthens the expertise of the DAC-consortium. The board has expertise in developing the understanding of the trends of urbanization, migration/social policy, experimental approach for co-creation, democratic participation practices and urban experiments in a global scale.The DAC-project is able to test and discuss both the scientific results and also the practical issues raised by the key stakeholders of the project. Being external to the concrete cases, the board is able to provide unbiased insights and ideas.AIT is part of the scientific advisory board which complements and strengthens the expertise of the DAC-consortium.

Key Words:  dwellers, agile cities, trends of urbanization

Start: 10/2016

Duration: 32 months

Client/ Funder: VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland LTD

Website: www.agilecities.fi/en/

Contact: Gudrun Haindlmair