1. Introduction

1. Introduction

In 1923, in his book Towards a New Architecture, Le Corbusier, the great modernist architect and theorist declares, “The primordial instinct of every human being is to assure himself of a shelter” (Corbusier,1927, p.14). A few years later in 1948, the United Nations General Assembly ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which recognises that the basic needs of humans should be fundamental human rights (United Nations, n.d). It is considered one of the most important document in the history of human rights and it was translated into 500 languages (United Nations, n.d). It promotes the idea of human dignity as a legal concept and establishes that each person has the right to an adequate life standard for him and his family (United Nations, n.d). This includes the access to housing, food, healthcare, clothes, social services as well as security in case of unemployment, ill health, old age, or any other circumstances that are over the individual capacity to control (United Nations, n.d). The 2015 Eurostat housing report shows that Romania's housing situation is in a crisis especially when it comes to a certain group of the population, namely, young adults between 18 and 35 (Housing Europe, 2015). The 2013 Eurostat statistics also suggests this idea and reveal that 60% of young adults live with their parents in overcrowded conditions. (Eurostat, 2013)

Considering these aspects, the aim of the dissertation is to research the issue of affordable housing related to young adults in Ploiesti, Romania. The dissertation first briefly introduces the broader context for affordable housing and the situation in Romania. It then examines secondary and primary data to understand more specifically the issues of affordable housing for young adults in Ploiesti. The first chapter is a literature review. The first section of it focuses on understanding how the concept of affordable housing is perceived around the world and how it compares to the concept in Romania, which narrows the scope of the research. The second section describes the historical context of the housing crisis in Romania, from the communist regime to democracy; to understand any connection with the present housing situation, which is detailed in the third section. This literature review establishes the state of existing knowledge related