If you've been following the public discourse on housing over the last year you've probably got used to hearing about The Vienna Model and the idea that Vienna is a global leader in housing policy. Vienna celebrates 100 years of its community housing model this year and it's keen to export the ideas and thinking which it believes has made it a fair and equal city. Vienna is a city that provides secure and affordable rental accommodation.
Read MoreDublin 'It's the only place where my bones will lie still' writes the poet Kerrie O'Brien about her native city. Dublin is this mix of history and desire, centuries of buried past and a city with its seams bursting out again with life. It's growing out - literally - sprawling into its neighbouring counties, and home now to the glittering towers of a supposed Silicon Docks around the mouth of the River Liffey.
Read MoreMark Gilbert, Austria-based architect and Dr Daithí Downey, head of Housing Policy and Research with Dublin City Council discuss the benefits of Vienna's successful housing policy.
Read MoreThe Icelandic word for stupid is heimskur ; the one who has never left home. In Ireland many of our social problems, like housing or health, can seem entrenched, bogged down in layers of history and process, unique to ourselves. We look within to blame and our actions are often reactions to failures. And we, once again, get snared in the nets of short term fixes that, once again, create new crises.
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