Redevelopment and Densification of Public Housing Megastructures: Cohousing as a transition policies tool

Nowadays, lack of affordable housing in Italy heightens emergency conditions of homelessness more than in the past. First of all, housing supply is very poor in terms of quantity and the present small amount, mainly designed for society of 70s, is inadequate to meet current needs. Secondly, public housing is not able to match today’s requirements of housing demand. The latter is more complex, having added new segments of population to the original users. These people are the new recipients because, in spite of being no longer able to access the real estate market, they are not covered by a supporting policy. Recent laws against soil consumption have prompted an evolution of management systems to make more efficient available housing stock and, consequently, to make more effective governmental policies coping with the homelessness. Among these urban management tools, the cutting-edge initiative in Italian context is the cohousing, simultaneously a design and management strategy. The paucity of existing housing stock and the absence of state financial resources, since 2008, involve new players and new solutions. As a matter of fact, redevelopment and densification are the new design solutions, DIY (Do-It-Yourself) construction projects and participation the new decision-making processes and ethical finance funds and private the new players. The article was firstly focused on available buildable surface (ground floor and roof decks) assessment linked to a specific building type: the megastructure. Moreover, identifying potential building expansion, it was discussed how cohousing practices are associated to the mitigation of housing crisis. The proposed design process starts from the installation of light prefabricated modules arranged for cohousing, funded by ethical finance (6-8% of profit), recognizable and respectful of megastructure modern architecture. The management phase consists of two steps: a transition period of lease, 15-20 years, for cohabitation, which part of areas destined for services to the community, to reduce the chronic lack of them in neighbourhoods, often recalled dormitory; a next period of building stock legacy to the affordable housing institution. Finally, the ranking of access is reinterpreted in a list which requires willingness to cohabit and solvency capacity to make feasible the operation.