A first-of-its-kind European project “The Housing Games” investigated whether the people essential to keep their cities running could still afford to live in them. From nurses and cleaners to teachers, drivers and first responders, they analyzed the cities’ key staff with the help of IDSC Visualization Director Dr. Alberto Cairo.
Key staff who make daily life possible and urban societies work, yet who are increasingly priced out of the very places they serve. The COVID-19 era made it clear that cities cannot function without their labour—and that their jobs cannot be done from behind a screen. It is therefore vital for our physical and social well-being that they find places to stay in the cities they work in. Yet, some of these employees often earn low wages, making it hard to combine work and sleep.
This project compared salaries with rent and property prices across European cities to expose the widening gap between the value of essential work and the cost of a place to call home. Read the full article here: UrbanJournalism.org
The project brought together:
- The first data analysis of housing affordability for essential workers.
- Real stories from essential workers affected by the housing crisis via Urban Journalism’s crowdsourcing tool ParticipAid.
- Highly interactive data visualizations where you can explore your own housing situation—not as an isolated individual, but in direct comparison to essential professions.
Credits
A BIG THANK YOU to Journalismfund Europe and hashtagIJ4EU / International Press Institute (IPI) for supporting the project.
An even BIGGER THANK YOU to Alberto Cairo for his consultations on data analysis and visualization.
And the BIGGEST THANK YOU to this crazily skillful and enduring team behind the project: Gaby Khazalová David Meidinger Benedikt Brandhofer Markus Günther Johan Schuijt Sarah Pilz Jo F. Hendrik Lehmann
More cities and stories coming soon!
