Paper short abstract:

The paper presents an experimental method for anticipating the housing conditions of minorities (sex, gender, race, etc.) in the Brussels region. Whereas feminist perspectives are in the minority in foresight methods it develops exploratory scenarios that take account of the issues of inequality.

Paper long abstract:

The paper presents an experimental method for anticipating the housing conditions of minorities (sex, gender, race, disability) in the Brussels region.

The Brussels region is facing a housing crisis (decrease in new construction, scarcity of land, increase in demand for social housing, increase in single-parent families, increase in energy prices, dilapidation) that is affecting the most vulnerable people (gender and racial minorities, people with disabilities, the elderly). In 2020, the health crisis has exacerbated existing inequalities. During the period of confinement, housing became a whole, at once a place to live and work, to convalesce, to isolate, to care for or to suffer violence (Tillous, 2022 ; Bernard and Salembier, 2020).

By combining care studies and future studies, the CTRL+H research proposes several exploratory scenarios for the housing conditions of minorities in Brussels in 2050. These scenarios are based on a mixed qualitative survey (interviews, inhabited plans, lived neughborhood map, observation, focus groups) carried out with residents and field workers in 7 collective housing complexes.

How does the production of exploratory scenarios designed using a feminist approach renew studies on well-being and housing?

This method is original in several ways. It approaches housing through the prism of care and well-being. It draws on the combined expertise of residents and institutional players (caretakers, mediators, social workers, neighbourhood workers). Where feminist perspectives are in the minority in foresight methods (Milojević and Inayatullah, 1998), it uses an empirical survey to develop exploratory scenarios that take account of the issues of power and inequality.