Citizen survey planned for early 2022
Ludwigshafen is still a young and, above all, rapidly growing city. Within the last seven years, the population has risen by 10,000 from around 167,000 to around 177,000. More inhabitants also means that more living space is needed.
For this reason, the city of Ludwigshafen has commissioned the Ludwigshafen University of Applied Sciences to conduct a comprehensive study of housing needs in Ludwigshafen. In this way, it will be possible to find out what the housing situation of various population groups is currently like and how satisfied these population groups (for example, families, single parents, single people, students, older people, people with a migration background) are with their current housing situation, but also which aspects should definitely be taken into account when planning new housing and residential areas. The housing needs analysis is therefore not only about the quantitative aspect of how many apartments are currently lacking in Ludwigshafen and should still be built in the coming years, but also about qualitative aspects of urban planning and housing construction.
The concept and the procedure for the study were explained by Social Welfare Officer Beate Steeg, Prof. Dr. Ellen Bareis, Vice President of HWG LU and Head of the Social Work Research Unit, Philipp Tachkov and Jan Sichau from HWG LU, as well as Dr. Volker Spangenberger-Kerle, Head of Urban Development, and Werner Appel from the Urban Development Department at a press briefing on Friday, September 10, 2021.
"The now planned housing needs study serves to obtain a differentiated overview for different population groups on the roughly summarized topics of housing satisfaction and relocation intentions of the Ludwigshafen population. The results of the study on these qualitative aspects of the housing market are intended to supplement the existing data on quantitative housing needs for the housing policy discussion," explains social affairs officer Beate Steeg. "I am also very pleased that we were able to gain a strong partner in this important topic with our university."
These and similar questions are to be clarified by the study: How does the current housing situation and housing satisfaction present itself, broken down by defined population groups? What ideas do defined population groups have about the nature and location of desirable and affordable housing? In the case of plans to move, what are the most important reasons for the decision to move? How might housing demand develop in relation to defined population groups in Ludwigshafen as a whole by 2030?
In order to find answers to these questions, the concept of the study provides for the following steps: In a first step, the current state of knowledge is reviewed based on data from the city administration, relevant projects and scientific literature. This is followed by interviews with relevant actors (from the city administration, the housing industry, civil society, social counseling centers and socio-spatial institutions) on the questions posed by the study. The next step is a qualitative survey of representatives of various sociodemographically defined target groups of the population in order to get to know their views and requirements on the topic of housing in Ludwigshafen in detail. Finally, the core of the study is a citizens' survey, which is intended to obtain the opinions of the residents of Ludwigshafen by means of a written (and online) questionnaire and to enable findings on a broad data basis. This will be supplemented by specific participation formats for those residents who are difficult to reach through conventional surveys.
Prof. Dr. Ellen Bareis, sociologist and vice president of the university, emphasized: "Housing is one of the most urgent issues of the future, in which interdisciplinary research and social innovation must be combined. Addressing this issue for Ludwigshafen together with the city is a great opportunity."
The results of the study will lead to concrete recommendations for action for local politics. It is also planned to incorporate the results into ongoing land use planning and future development plan procedures.
The city of Ludwigshafen is receiving funding for the study from the "Experimental Housing and Urban Development" (ExWoSt) program. This program subsidizes innovative planning and measures on important urban development and housing policy topics with a grant amount of 90 percent of the eligible costs. The objectives are the further development of urban development and housing policy as well as knowledge transfer.
Since January 2019, there is the new ExWoSt funding program of the Ministry of Finance Rhineland-Palatinate "Grant funding for investment-preparatory measures by municipalities to strengthen social rental housing". This funding framework also allows for basic research into general knowledge of the housing market that is not directly related to specific construction projects.
Information on the topic is available on the Internet at www.ludwigshafen.de.
