Green Design; A Necessity for Future of Social Housing

Social housing, public housing, protected rent and etc. are all different expressions of the same subject. In every European state, cities bear the responsibility to provide affordable houses with acceptable quality for the part of their population whom cannot afford houses on the private market. Social housing constitutes 35 million homes across Europe, which is 17 percent of the overall stock. Green design of social houses is a multi-factor matter; there are naturally technical and financial aspects along side with legal, social, cultural and organizational ones. This article discusses social, economical and environmental benefits of this subject. With an overview on the Italian social housing situation, with more than one million social housing units, studied in this article, it is shown that moving through a more green and energy efficient design and refurbishment can be considered a good start for the essential transformation of building sector in Italy as well as Europe for the future.