New Economic Thinking - Enabling a just transition of the built environment in Europe

Overview of the Initiative

The report “New Economic Thinking – Enabling a just transition of the built environment in Europe” is produced by Dark Matter Labs (DML) in partnership with Laudes Foundation. Lead author Emily Harris and the DML project team (Vlad Afanasiev, Aleksander Nowak, Indy Johar, Ivana Stancic, Mihai Chereji) compiled research, actor mapping and interviews to explore how new economic ideas can support an equitable decarbonisation of Europe’s housing and infrastructure.

Scope and Objectives

The study aims to (1) identify deep trends and systemic constraints shaping Europe’s built environment, and (2) propose lucid response strategies that align climate mitigation with social inclusion. It is intended for policymakers, funders, civil‑society organisations and industry actors seeking just‑transition pathways.

Key Data on Constraints

Four bottlenecks dominate the transition landscape: labour shortages, energy price spikes, material scarcity (e.g., copper and aluminium supply risks), and ecological limits such as biodiversity loss. The European Commission estimates a need for €275 billion of annual investment to retrofit the building stock by 2030. Energy consumption in the sector has risen five‑fold faster than electricity decarbonisation, while material extraction would need to compress 6 000 years of mining into 22 years for copper alone.

Collaborative Housing Models

The report maps core organisations driving new economic thinking, highlighting collaborative‑housing pilots such as Home Silk Road (Lyon), Sostre Civic (Spain), MOBA (Central/Eastern Europe) and the Mietshäuser Syndikat network. These models use cooperative ownership, “right‑to‑use” tenure and community land trusts to secure permanent affordability and reduce speculative pressures. Examples include CLT Ghent (Belgium) and Co‑Haty (Ukraine) that repurpose vacant buildings for refugees and low‑income households.

Policy and Financing Insights

Positive Money Europe campaigns to unlock green renovation loans from the ECB and EIB, while the Laudes Foundation provides financial backing for material‑reuse initiatives (e.g., Brda in Poland, Mobius in France). The report stresses the need for supportive legislation, planning tools and financing mechanisms that align commercial capital with inclusive outcomes. It also calls for anti‑speculation policies, such as land‑price decoupling through community land trusts.

Sustainable Design Strategies

Suggested design responses include low‑tech dematerialisation, retrofitting existing stock, adaptive reuse of vacant properties (16 % of homes are unoccupied), and nature‑based solutions like green roofs to mitigate heat stress. The authors advocate a “Use‑Justice Economy” that re‑frames housing as a human right rather than an asset, promoting spatial justice and resource‑constrained living.

Coordination and Network Building

The authors propose three strategic themes for scaling impact: (1) building a pan‑European cultural logic that values shared resources, (2) establishing interdisciplinary knowledge networks linking core innovators with adjacent actors (e.g., GRI standards, Civic engagement platforms), and (3) creating agile, multi‑stakeholder institutions—city land trusts, public‑city banks and carbon‑material guardians—to orchestrate systemic change.

Conclusions for Sustainable Housing Stakeholders

The research concludes that a just transition requires simultaneous action on labour, energy, material and ecological fronts, underpinned by collaborative governance and inclusive financing. By strengthening cooperative housing models, fostering material circularity, and embedding new economic narratives into policy, Europe can move toward a regenerative built environment that delivers affordable, low‑carbon homes for all.