Céline Zimmer

Céline Zimmer is a PhD candidate at the University of Luxembourg. She studied Architecture in Trier (Hochschule Trier) and Hamburg (HafenCity Universität). After her graduation in 2019 she started working at Studio Hertweck. During her master studies in Hamburg, interdisciplinary work with urban designers, urbanists and civil engineers was part of her study program. Her work as PhD student includes working on the Pré-IBA-Atelier, established with the aim to develop a transboundary IBA (Internationale Bauaustellung) and working on the proposal for Luxembourg in Transition , an international call for tender launched by the Department of Spatial Planning of the Ministry of Energy and Spatial Planning. In her research she explores the agency of alternatives from the third housing sector to open up spaces of opportunity for affordable housing within the real estate market. Her dissertation aims to examine the possible alternatives to the highly commodified, privately-owned, and space-inefficient housing stock by analysing non-profit housing projects from abroad and translating them into the specific Luxembourgish context. Furthermore, her work aims to clarify whether the implementation of these alternatives could counteract the increasing real estate prices and the high per capita living surface in Luxembourg and thereby alleviate its housing crisis. Subsequently, the dissertation will question whether the lack of housing alternatives (forms of living and financing) can be explained by the offer side (real estate developers, political will, …) or the demand side (citizens’ mentality).

celine.zimmer@uni.lu