This session aims to understand the role of the State in what could be called “indirect” promotion of Middle-Class Mass Housing. We are interested in papers that deal with public-private joint-ventures and not housing directly built and managed by the public powers. The preferred time frame is from the 1960s onwards, and papers should highlight the shift to the private sector of the housing responsibilities traditionally associated with the public sector, at least since the post-war period. That is, the gradual substitution, by the public powers, of the direct development, construction and management of housing for the low and middle classes, with a more indirect support.

Papers should examine why these public-private were formed (in the broader socio-economic context), and how were its characteristics, including in terms of regulations, tax exemptions or cuts, cost-control, advantages in land acquisition, types of tenure, controlled rent or sales, relationships between the various agents (State and local powers, construction companies, architects and other professionals), speculation prevention, risk minimization, etc.

In sum, it is intended to perceive the eventual differences between the large housing estates for the middle-class that were totally public endeavours, and the ones that were the result of this strategy shift. To this end, it is also essential to trace the evolution of these estates in the last decades, presenting case studies, for example. Papers that deal with this kind of public policies are welcome. The aim is to outline a first draft of these public-private ventures across the world, and to assess if they met the housing demand, when comparing them with the exclusively public ones.