Agency for Better Living: Rome and Vienna Housing
Exploring the housing crisis through the Agency for Better Living exhibition in Venice, comparing models from Vienna and Rome by three curators.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- Agency for Better Living was showcased at the 2025 Biennale of Architecture in Venice.
- The exhibition compares housing models between Rome and Vienna to address urban issues.
- Vienna successfully provides affordable living solutions to roughly 60% of residents.
- The Spin Time Labs case in Rome highlights deep struggles with urban housing access.
Conversations between curators Lorenzo Romito, Sabine Pollak, and Michael Obrist offer a fresh perspective on the future of urban living worldwide. The roots of the Agency for Better Living exhibition at The Austrian Pavilion during The 19th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice stemmed from an ongoing dialogue contrasting two starkly different urban landscapes.
Sabine Pollak and Lorenzo Romito initially recounted discussions surrounding Spin Time Labs, an occupied space in Rome that provided shelter for over 400 individuals before being disbanded. This forced former inhabitants to sleep on the streets amid Europe's severe heat waves, highlighting the pressing vulnerabilities faced by city dwellers today.
Michael Obrist points out that securing affordable leases or property ownership has grown increasingly difficult not just in Europe or America, but for urban populations globally, particularly since the financial crisis of 2008 made city access a widespread problem.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
In contrast, the three curators highlight Vienna's decades of success in offering remarkably affordable living solutions through social housing and government-subsidized homes, benefiting roughly 60% of the city's population. By overlaying these two distinct systems, the installation sparked critical conversations regarding the global housing crisis.
"Not having access to the city is becoming a problem for everybody since the 2008 financial crisis."
Sabine Pollak
The urban housing crisis remains a defining global challenge as soaring living costs outpace wage growth, turning affordable shelter into a scarce resource. Comparing Rome and Vienna underscores the stark difference robust government intervention and social housing policies can make in stabilizing urban communities, contrasted with the vulnerabilities exposed during forced evictions.
In the year following the installation's run in Venice, Romito notes that active protests and ongoing negotiations between Spin Time, property owners, and the city of Rome represent a continuing dialogue sparked by the exhibition. This interview is part of designboom's MODES OF HABITATION chapter, exploring how shared domestic spaces shape our collective futures.
Source: designboom
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