TransHerit

In recent decades, both public authorities and private actors, both nationally and internationally, have made significant investments in urban heritage. These relate to new projects, the preservation of certain urban perimeters (e.g. Unesco) or individual properties (e.g. buildings) and the refurbishment of housing. The rise of new players such as real estate funds and real estate service companies, which is referred to as financialisation, is accompanied by an internationalisation of markets and a homogenisation of real estate, which is becoming comparable, standardised goods, particularly in the residential sector. In Vienna and Budapest, this phenomenon can be observed in the area of Gründerzeit housing estates, which are under strong pressure from private developers, leading to rising rents, remodelling, destruction, commodification and social transformation of the neighbourhood. The Gründerzeit housing stock refers to the period of industrialisation in Austria-Hungary, which began in 1840 and ended in 1918. 

These architectural buildings are particularly prevalent in Vienna and Budapest and form part of their urban identity. In the context of heritage issues, the emergence and acceleration of the financialisation of housing raises new questions regarding the selection of properties, demolition, preservation and practices. 
This research project aims to find out how financialisation and housing regulations affect the tangible and intangible dimensions of the preservation of Gründerzeit housing and its social dimension by examining two cities, Budapest and Vienna, with similar GHS, strong housing market pressures, but different urban development trajectories. 
The hypothesis is that the different socio-economic changes in the two cities lead to different impacts on the social dimensions that constitute heritage and challenge social inclusion and cohesion. Studying the two cities with their different development trajectories, although embedded in a similar globalisation, will allow us to advance theory development and knowledge on housing regulation and heritage processes. 

The project explores how change in housing influences practices and processes that shape human experience and representation both globally and locally. Drawing on urban geography, planning, heritage studies and communication studies, the project uses a transnational, comparative approach that includes in-depth expert interviews, quantitative analyses, media analyses, non-intrusive observation and spatial analyses, and collaborative research with the implementation of living labs.