Munich: Living and Housing Policy in Munich. Urban Ethics in the Context of Civic Engagement and Urban Governance (2015 - 2018)
In the early 21st century, housing has become a major topic of discussion in cities around the world. With globalization, the local market has gained momentum, which particularly in economically prosperous cities gives rise to problems. This has also become clearly visible in Munich in recent years, as the pressure on urban areas –in respect of economic and demographic growth – steadily increases. Sky-rocketing rents and exploding house prices exploding bring new urgency to negotiation processes and political conflicts which deal with "housing and housing policy in the city."
On the topic of housing, various actors are developing both ideas and models of practice to improve their lives. Activists demand a seat at the discussion table, city politicians speak in construction and planning projects of "participation of the citizenry", because participation is now used as a tool of government. But how do residents become 'ethical' subjects – be it through the articulation of their own objectives or perspectives from outside – and what is the role of moral economies deployed for homes and neighborhoods that are inextricably linked to urban lifestyles and their social structures? This project pursues these questions. In operationalizing this pursuit, discourse analysis and the classical methods of ethnographic cultural analysis and qualitative content analysis, participant observation and performing qualitative interviews are used.