Prospective de l'habiter

Prospective of Housing
This text by François Ascher is the conclusion of the book Logement et habitat, l’état des savoirs and has two merits. One is methodological: the author demonstrates how it is possible to draw long term conclusions from observable trends. The other merit is to define the four main criteria to be taken into consideration when thinking about the future of housing, city and mobility. He first stresses the phenomenon of metropolisation and the growing necessity to redesign local policies on development and housing within this framework. He then shows how the relationship between employment and housing stretches and what could be the consequences. Last, he explores 1) the impact of the phenomenon of individuation (increasing autonomy of each member of the family) can have on housing and 2) the acceleration of speed which, the time of transport remaining the same, partly abolishes distances, to put in its place accessibility which in turns creates new spacial segmentation.