2 Phd Positions Reconceptualizing Individual and Collective Housing Preferences

**2 PhD Positions Reconceptualizing Individual and Collective Housing Preferences**:
**_Are you passionate about housing, sustainability, and social change?_**_ Join an international, interdisciplinary research team at TU Delft and explore how shared and collaborative living could redefine the future of housing. Through a groundbreaking mix of quantitative, qualitative, and design-led methods, your research will contribute to shaping housing models that respond to the social and environmental challenges of the 21st century._

**Project Overview**
The two PhD positions are part of the research project _InCommon - Reconceptualizing Individual and Collective Housing Preferences_. This project investigates the potential for housing models based on sharing and collectivity—such as cooperatives, cohousing, and ecovillages—to gain broader appeal and adoption across society. These collaborative housing models aim to decommodify housing, reduce environmental footprints, and strengthen social cohesion by encouraging shared living arrangements and communal practices.

The key questions guiding this project are:

- Is collaborative housing the preference of a niche group, or could it appeal to a wider public?
- What motivates people from different backgrounds to live collaboratively, and under what conditions?

By combining innovative mixed methods—including surveys, interviews, mapping, co-design workshops and the production of a documentary—_InCommon_ will develop new ways to define and measure housing preferences, ultimately contributing to a deeper understanding of how housing systems can better reflect evolving societal values.

You will be supervised by Dr. Darinka Czischke (principal investigator), Dr. Joris Hoekstra, and Dr. Harry Boumeester, and work closely with each other in a collaborative team environment. You will also be affiliated with the Co-Lab Research group and the Comparative Housing Research Expertise Centre at TU Delft. Together with the team, you will organize two key project activities:

- **The Theory Building Lab**: A forum for engaging with leading housing researchers across Europe in the discussion of InCommon’s findings.
- **The User Engagement Lab**: A platform for collaboration with stakeholders from the Dutch housing sector.

**Position 1: PhD Researcher -**_“Understanding collaborative living: values, motivations and demographic factors”_**
**Key Responsibilities**
- Investigate the **effective demand** for collaborative housing (i.e., among people already living in such forms or currently seeking them).
- Characterize existing collaborative housing supply using data from the Co-Lab Mapping database.
- Identify and analyse demand and preferences through resident interviews and surveys to develop ‘inhabitant profiles’.
- Contribute to the production of a **documentary** showcasing the project’s process and findings.

**Requirements**:

- Background in social sciences, geography, economics, or urban planning, with affinity for housing studies.
- Strong methodological skills (quantitative and qualitative):
- Data collection and organization
- Survey design, deployment, and analysis
- Interview design and qualitative analysis
- Proficiency in Excel, SPSS, and other statistical tools
- Full fluency in English; Dutch proficiency highly desirable
- Ability to communicate complex findings to diverse audiences
- Excellent organizational and collaborative skills

**Position 2: PhD Researcher -**_“Identifying the potential demand for collaborative living: changing housing preferences and architectural typologies”_**
**Key Responsibilities**
- Investigate the **latent demand** for collaborative housing (i.e., among those not currently living in such forms).
- Develop and use a novel, mixed methodology combining the **Means-End-Chain** method with **design-led action research**.
- Conduct interviews, surveys, site visits, and co-design workshops with a sample of households.
- Collaborate with TU Delft Architecture students to create conceptual plans and models for new collaborative housing typologies.
- Develop theoretical interpretations of findings and contribute to the formulation of future housing models.
- Contribute to the production of a **documentary** showcasing the project’s process and findings.

**Requirements**:

- Background in Architecture (design skills essential) with interest in housing research.
- Strong methodological skills (quantitative and qualitative):
- Survey and interview methods.
- Focus groups and workshop facilitation.
- Experience with qualitative analysis software (e.g., Atlas.ti, NVivo).
- Full fluency in English; Dutch proficiency highly desirable.
- Ability to communicate findings to academic and non-academic audiences.
- Strong organizational and teamwork skills.

**TU Delft (Delft University of Technology)**
Delft University of Technology is built on strong foundations. As creators of the world-famous Dutch waterworks and pioneers in biotech, TU Delft is a top i