Design for Everyday Encounters or Parallel Living in Tenure-Mixed Areas

Abstract

The ideal of the socially mixed city influences the current debate on urban development in Denmark and is reflected through tenure-mixed developments across the country. This is evident in tenure mix policies focussing on the transformation of disadvantaged neighbourhoods as well as in the development of new housing areas. In disadvantaged housing areas tenure mix is secured so as to transform existing patterns of segregation, and in new developments tenure mix is secured so as to ensure that everybody, regardless of income, has equal access to attractive neighbourhoods. Tenure-mix policies that has a substantially focus on the percentage distribution of different tenure types. While this approach might ensure the development of a tenure mix, it leaves significant decisions regarding how tenure mix is spatially realized to architects, planners, and developers. This article explores how various spatial configurations shape everyday encounters, or reinforce parallel lives, among residents in tenure-mixed housing areas in Denmark. Based on a case study of four housing areas, it examines how tenure mix is put into practice through architectural analysis, on-site observations, in-depth interviews, and mappings of residents everyday use of their housing area. By comparing how tenure mix is implemented differently across the four cases, the article highlights how specific design choices can either enable or hinder everyday encounters across tenure groups.