Central Fuenlabrada faces deteriorating and vacant housing, dying businesses and a high ageing rate. SHARE’s solution is a housing system based on intergenerational solidarity and repurposed spaces. This provides autonomy-maximising housing for elderly people in a repurposed school. And for young people, rehabilitated housing that was no longer meeting elderly owners’ needs. Linking participants to local resources, SHARE gathers municipal services for housing, welfare, elderly and youth, urban designers, and other diverse partners. Their goal: revive community life in an inclusive, transdisciplinary, sustainable, beautiful and efficient way.
About
SHARE is a comprehensive community revitalisation solution to improve life in central Fuenlabrada. The area has been grappling with a range of challenges in recent decades, from deteriorated and vacant housing, to disused facilities, closed businesses and an ageing rate well above the city average.
While most housing solutions imply construction, new land consumption or just sharing homes, SHARE’s solution focuses on creating accessible, high quality living environments for seniors and young people affected by the area’s degradation. The project is based on three principles: 1) Reuse, rehabilitation and activation of community resources for sustainable local development; 2) Affordable, quality housing suitable for people of different ages; 3) Protective environments for early prevention of dependency.
These actions promote intergenerational solidarity and the repurposing of spaces, offering elderly residents an autonomy-maximising housing complex, in a former school. Meanwhile, young people gain access to the best space for an independent life in the highly demanded centre, in flats provided by elderly owners whose homes no longer correspond with their needs. SHARE also offers a personalised accompaniment service to connect young and old people with a network of relevant local resources.
To address this multidimensional challenge, SHARE is creating an
intersectoral community care unit, bringing together municipal services (housing, welfare, elderly, youth), partners (urban designers, new gerontological models) and other multilevel, transdisciplinary stakeholders.
The project’s new model is doubling the municipal youth rental offer, refurbishing 20 flats for up to 60 young tenants, while creating the city’s first programme for the early protection of non-dependent seniors’ autonomy for 20-40 elderly home-owners. The aim is to reactivate community life in a way that is inclusive, transdisciplinary, sustainable, beautiful and efficient.
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About this resource
The European Urban Initiative is an essential tool of the urban dimension of Cohesion Policy for the 2021-2027 programming period. The initiative established by the European Union supports cities of all sizes, to build their capacity and knowledge, to support innovation and develop transferable and scalable innovative solutions to urban challenges of EU relevance.
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