A working group Hopus is setting itself a very ambitious task: that of tracing a common line of quality standards for housing development in Europe. The intrinsic difficulty lies in the fact that this line is elusive, since housing, more than all other forms of architecture, gathers the specific realities of places and societies,
expressing them in urban structures and buildings: yet this makes the challenge even more fascinating. It is rather the attempt at identifying the foundations of urban and architectural design, at their points of convergence with all other skills and disciplines which are necessary to shape urban space. In order to do this, the vast array of issues regarding contemporary housing  from the very large to the very small scale of planning and design will all have to be considered, understanding how they can become intelligent project guidelines, orienting the process from the outset to the very conclusion.