Catalonia’s housing revolution: where affordability meets sustainability
17 December 2025
Catalonia is rethinking housing at a time when pressures around affordability, climate and social inequality are colliding. Public authorities, civil society, cooperatives, developers, and energy companies are working together to shape an alternative, more sustainable housing model.
In this episode of Voices, IHRB’s Haley St Dennis and Ainara Fernandez discuss an emerging housing model in Catalonia, which is aligning decarbonisation efforts with solutions to address issues like affordability and extreme temperatures. Can Catalonia’s housing model be a blueprint for just transitions in other housing markets around the world?
Catalonia's housing story is the latest to feature in IHRB’s JUST Stories project - a global search for stories of the most promising just transitions we can find, unpacking the people, perspectives, and relationships behind what makes them work. This episode of Voices also includes the audio version of the full story (voiced by AI).
Related: Learn more about IHRB’s Built Environment Just Transitions Accelerator, our multi-stakeholder initiative placing workers' rights and housing rights at the heart of decarbonisation in Denmark, Spain, and the UK.
Producer & Editor: Helen Brown
Additional Contributors: Sam Simmons, IHRB's Head of Communications
