Inconspicuous Transfromations
Inconspicuous Transformations: The Socio-Spatial Reconfiguration of ‘Formal’ Housing in Europe is a research project carried out at HafenCity University Hamburg, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) for the period 2025–2027, in collaboration with the School of Geography and Planning, Cardiff University, Cardiff, and the commonspace research team in Athens.
The project explores how subtle, often overlooked housing transformations emerge and quietly reshape urban landscapes, examining everyday practices of residents alongside the actions of public authorities and housing market pressures. It traces where formality and informality, legality and illegality, and regulation and creativity intersect, while analysing how different housing frameworks shape hidden strategies across European contexts to inform more inclusive policies.
New publication: Thomidou, A., Galuszka, J., & Dyussembekova, D. (2026). Incremental densification: Impacts of deregulated planning on residential and urban morphologies in London, UK. Journal of Urban Design DOI: 10.1080/13574809.2026.2654417 (CC BY 4.0)
New Project: Starting in January 2026 the project team will participate in exchanges with colleagues from the Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sydney as part of the DAAD-funded project "Housing affordability crisis, approaches and outcomes: Comparative Analysis of German and Australian Urban Contexts".
This site is a catalogue of housing practices and strategies. It presents stories and visual documentation of the transformation of housing in the cities studied in the project, making research findings visible and accessible. It also collects related material from outside the project to create an archive of how ordinary people are shaping the housing system.
