CESCAME has proposed the Session #15: “Rethinking the Urban Home: Self-Help Housing Re/constructions and Contemporary Challenges” at the RC21 Vienna 2026 conference (session chairs: Slavomíra Ferenčuhová, Terezie Lokšová). We warmly invite researchers to submit their abstracts.

The call for abstracts for RC21 Vienna 2026 “Inequalities and the City. Old Issues, New Challenges.” is now open.

Deadline for abstract submissions: December 29th, 2025.

More information and submission details can be found on the conference website: RC21 Vienna 2026.

Session description:

This session invites contributions to discuss self-help housing constructions and reconstructions and do-it-yourself (DIY) housing renovations as practices and strategies with significant societal relevance. Drawing on previous scholarship (e.g., Grubbauer, 2015), we approach home reconstructions undertaken by non-experts as more than isolated household projects; we view them as forms of intervention into urban space and life. Specifically, we aim to contextualize DIY construction and reconstruction within pressing contemporary challenges, including housing unaffordability, climate change impacts, and energy insecurity. The session will address critical questions such as: Do self-help housing re/constructions represent viable responses to such challenges in cities worldwide, how successful are they, and how are these practices performed, negotiated, and interpreted by those who undertake them?

We welcome submissions that offer empirical insights from diverse geographical and historical contexts, encompassing cities and peri-urban areas, alongside theoretical discussions and conceptual debates. The session is open to a variety of perspectives with no specific methodological or theoretical preferences, reflecting our observation that self-help housing re/constructions are significantly understudied in urban scholarship despite their promising potential for critical insights. The session welcomes comparative discussions, whether across multiple papers or within individual contributions.

The sub-themes of the session include, but are not limited to, exploring interconnections between self-help housing re/constructions and:

• Climate change adaptation and mitigation

• Environmental aspects and sustainability

• Energy consumption and energy in/security

• Domestic politics and household relationships

• Housing un/affordability, economic aspects, and inequality

• Consumption, maintenance, and repair economies

• Materiality of the house and building practices

• Everyday practices of home-making and dwelling

• History of self-help housing reconstructions

• Cultural meanings and interpretation of DIY housing

We encourage researchers interested in these topics to submit an abstract. We look forward to your contributions.

References:

Grubbauer, M. (2015). Not everything is new in DIY: Home remodelling by amateurs as urban practice. Ephemera: theory & politics in organization, 15(1): 141-162.