Existential Sustainability: An investigation of Loneliness and Belonging in Relation to Sustainable Housing

The strive to create sustainable societies is often addressed through the lens of social, economic-, or environmental sustainability. However, this division fails to acknowledge existential dimensions of sustainability, i.e., the fundamental concern to sustain a good and meaningful life. This paper expands the notion of Existential Sustainability in relation to socio-material dimensions and built environments. The paper responds to a double crisis in Sweden with growing loneliness and a severe housing crisis. 40% of Sweden’s households are single households and the production of new homes is characterized by small apartments. At the same time mental health problems among young adults have
increased, as well as the experienced loneliness among elderly. This paper explores the rich relation between housing and existential sustainability through earlier research, statistics, and data from an ongoing project with Uppsala municipality. By doing so this paper aim to further expand and deepen the discussion on existential dimensions of housing in relation to UN’s SDG.