Bringing Digitalization Home: How Can Technology Address Housing Challenges?
Digitalization—the use of automated digital technologies to collect, process, analyze, distribute, use, and sell information—is spurring fundamental change in the way housing is produced, marketed, sold, financed, managed, and lived in.
This symposium featured leading scholars and experts from academia, industry, government, and advocacy groups. Participants examined the nature and extent of technologically-driven changes and whether these changes are likely to further (or hamper) efforts to address economic, social, and environmental challenges, such as housing affordability, discrimination, and climate change. Speakers also suggested strategies that the public, private, and non-profit sectors can use to produce more equitable and environmentally sustainable housing.
Symposium Agenda (PDF)
PANEL VIDEOS:
Keynote Address
Molly Wright Steenson, Carnegie Mellon University
Welcome & Overview
David Luberoff, Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies
Christopher Herbert, Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies
Paper:
Digitalization and Housing: Framing Paper for “Bringing Digitalization Home: How Can Technology Address Housing Challenges?” by David Luberoff and Chris Herbert
PANEL 1: How Is Digitalization Changing How Housing Is Designed & Built?
José Luis García del Castillo y López, Harvard Graduate School of Design
Ivan Rupnik, Northeastern University
Elizabeth Christoforetti, Harvard Graduate School of Design
Roger Krulak, Full Stack Modular, LLC
Papers:
Artificial Intelligence for All: Perspectives and Outlooks on the Role of Machine Learning in Architectural Design by Jose L. García del Castillo y López
Modularization Precedes Digitalization in Offsite Housing Delivery by Ivan Rupnik, Ryan E. Smith, and Tyler Schmetterer
How Housing Digitalization May Change the Ways the Built Environment Is Designed and Built by Elizabeth Christoforetti
PANEL 2: How Is Digitalization Changing Investments in Housing?
Desiree Fields, University of California, Berkeley
Mike DelPrete, University of Colorado Boulder
Roberto Charvel, MatterScale Ventures and Vander Capital Partners
Robert Goodspeed, University of Michigan
Papers:
Big Capital, Precision Technologies, and Structural Power in the US Housing Market by Desiree Fields
Emerging Models in Residential Real Estate or "How to Lose a Billion Dollars in Real Estate Tech” by Mike DelPrete
The Digital Entrepreneur’s Future Impact on the Housing Cycle by Roberto Charvel
Digitalization and the Incomplete Disruption of the US Housing Industry by Robert Goodspeed
PANEL 3: How Is Digitalization Transforming How People Find & Finance Housing?
Geoff Boeing, USC Price School of Public Policy
Vanessa Perry, The GW School of Business
Laurie Goodman, Urban Institute
Lauren Rhue, University of Maryland
Papers:
Digitalization of the Housing Search: Homeseekers, Gatekeepers, and Market Legibility by Geoff Boeing, Julia Harten, and Rocio Sanchez-Moyano
Algorithms for All: Has Digitalization in the Mortgage Market Expanded Access to Homeownership? by Vanessa Perry and Kirsten Martin
Comments: How Is Digitalization Changing the Ways that People Find and Finance Housing? by Laurie Goodman
PANEL 4: How Is Digitalization Transforming How Housing is Used?
Carlos Martín, Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies
Jennifer Molinsky, Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies
Ann Forsyth, Harvard Graduate School of Design
Therese Peffer, University of California, Berkeley
Papers:
Empowering Up, Powering Down: The Evolution, Effects, and Efforts to Digitize Energy Controls and Digitalize Energy Information in US Homes by Carlos Martín
Centering the Home in Conversations about Digital Technology to Support Older Adults Aging in Place by Jennifer Molinsky, Samara Scheckler, and Bailey Hu
Placing the Home in Context: Scale, Audience, Levels, Time, and Equity by Ann Forsyth
Facing Digitalization at Home: Commentary on Digitalization Technologies for Energy and Aging in Place by Therese Peffer
PANEL 5: How Is Digitalization Changing How Housing Is Planned, Reviewed, and Regulated?
Nestor Davidson, Fordham University
Paul Waddell, University of California, Berkeley
Sarah Williams, MIT School of Architecture and Planning
Sara Bronin, Cornell University
Papers:
Innovations in Digitalization and the Future of Fair Housing by Nestor Davidson
Data-Driven Multi-Scale Planning for Housing Affordability by Paul Waddell and Arezoo Besharati
Creating Action with Data: Using Data to Increase Equity in Urban Development by Justin Kollar, Niko McGlashan, and Sarah Williams
An Invitation to Collaborate on a National Zoning Atlas by Sara Bronin
PANEL 6: Assessing the Landscape
Shaun Donovan, Former HUD Secretary
Carol Galante, University of California, Berkeley
Seeta Peña Gangadharan, London School of Economics
Vanessa Perry, The GW School of Business
We are grateful to Qualcomm for providing the support that enabled us to host this symposium.