The core questions and objectives by the project tackle the complex issue how the existing living space in large housing estates can be secured for the future and for further developed in a sustainable manner. Looking at the large housing estates built in the 1960s and 1970s as an important housing resource we will examine, if the estates, based on their standardisation, serial production, and rationalisation also play an exemplary role for new, future residential construction projects.The aim of the project is to work out guidelines for the further development of the existing housing stock in a selected large housing estate in Tbilisi/ Georgia. To do so, we will map the spatial qualities and deficits of this housing estates – in terms of both the living space and the residential environment – and develop recommendations for action on this basis. It is necessary to specify living qualities that go beyond the mere (quantitative) provision of living space and are able to create a sense of home.

The declared purpose of this project is to promote an on-going dialogue between theory and praxis, between the project partners and the local actors. The aim of this project is not only to conduct a scholarly examination of housing forms and strategies, but also to enter into a discussion with the general public on the topic of the further development of the housing estates, and to discuss and reflect on the expectations and the possibilities for shaping local planning. The compiled expert knowledge, evaluative assessments, and planning approaches shall be communicated to the citizens while, at the same time, the knowledge of local residents will be collected for further research. Individual procedural steps, such as creating urban planning analyses or developing concepts for action, shall be reflected on, and discussed with the local actors on an on-going basis.

A living lab will be set up in in a large housing estate in Tbilisi, where the academic research will be accompanied by an on-going dialogue with the different stakeholders ‘on site’. By working from a cross-disciplinary perspective, the qualities and potentials of the housing will be assessed, also strategies for the renovation, continued building, and new construction of housing in the large estates will be defined. As such, an experimental laboratory situation that expands the conventional methodological spectrum will be established on site for a period of 3 months.