Abstract
In recent years, urban policies and planning concepts have become more mobile, moving between cities and national contexts. Going beyond ‘orthodox’ understandings of policy transfer, the travelling of urban concepts can be understood as immaterial flows of ideas and their translation into material concreteness. Urban housing policies form a particularly interesting intersection between urbanization’s socio-political dimension – expressed in the immaterial movement of ideas and concepts – and its physical implications – expressed in immovable goods such as buildings and housing infrastructures. Thereby, urban housing projects are often restricted by local and national building policies, regulations, and zoning. That said, external relations, learning, and connectedness of cities can innovate local housing practices. The paper explores dynamic geographies of urban housing policies and their material implications in the city of Freiburg, Germany. While Freiburg is often cited as a forerunner of exporting urban sustainability, this analysis primarily investigates the extent to which Freiburg’s housing projects can be understood as local translations of travelling concepts.
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