International Cooperation

In 1998 the first steps were taken towards fleshing out the cooperation agreements between the OTB Research Institute for the Built Environment, the Institute for Housing Research (Gävle, University of Uppsala, Zweden) and the Centre for Housing Research and Urban Studies (University of Glasgow, Great Britain). Within the framework of the European Network for Housing Research (ENHR) we plan to move towards closer cooperation in the area of joint research projects, exchange of researchers, organizing public housing seminars and the joint setting up of a new international journal and the European Housing Yearbook. More recently we have entered into cooperation with MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), USA. For quite some time, OTB Research Institute has been working with the Centre for Housing Management and Development at Cardiff University. In addition, there have been numerous instances of incidental cooperation, including OTB’s collaboration with Cranfield University, De Montfort University Leicester, the London School of Economics, University College London, the University of Dortmund, the University of Leuven, and Tsing Hua University in Beijing (China).

OTB Research Institute is active in the European Network for Housing Research (ENHR). Dr Peter Boelhouwer is a member of the Coordination Committee. In addition, OTB Research Institute for the Built Environment is affiliated with the Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP) and is a member of the European Urban Research Association (EURA). The institute also takes part in the International Association for People Environment Studies (IAPS), Conseil International du Bâtiment (CIB), and Open House International. Several members of the OTB’s staff participate in the Network for European Communications and Transport Activities Research (NECTAR), which is a European network of researchers in the field of transport.

In August 2009 the Research Institute OTB and the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) have signed a joint venture agreementeen research. The first project about rent protection in several countries is about to start. AHURI is a non-profit research organisation operating in the field of dwelling and urban questions and advices government, industries and onther parties in Australia. Specialists of eleven Australian Universities work together in AHURI.