Within the subject of housing development and management, developments in housing and urban areas are studied from an international perspective. This includes planning, design, production, use and management as well as the relationship between homes and their surroundings, from neighbourhood to city level.

The aim is to understand how the process leads to good quality homes and how sustainable development can be improved, above all for those on low incomes and particularly in developing countries. The subject is interdisciplinary, and research is largely based on field studies using both qualitative and quantitative methods. To understand these processes, collaboration takes place with relevant stakeholders such as users, non-profit organizations, municipalities and various actors in the housing and construction sectors. The subject group has over 30 years of experience in research, capacity building and teaching in developing countries.

Examples of research: sustainable urban housing development related to socio-cultural aspects, collaborative housing to increase integration and health, the relationship between urban design and microclimate, energy use and thermal comfort in buildings, household energy linked to people's lifestyles, development processes in informal settlements, organized self-help housing as a tool for mobilizing resources and community, and user influence in reconstruction after natural disasters.Housing Development and Management's profile in Lund University's Research Portal

Education

Housing Development & Management teaches in several programmes at LTH at both master's and bachelor's levels. The teaching is given both in the five-year programmes Architecture, Civil Engineering and Surveying, and in the three-year Bachelor’s programme Civil Engineering – Architecture at Campus Helsingborg. Several of the subject's courses are electives in the international Master's programmes in Sustainable Urban Design (MSUD) and Architecture (MARK). Housing Development & Management also supervises and examines degree theses within the above-mentioned programmes.