Analysis of Triple Transition and Creativity. Potentials in the EU Housing Sector

Housing is central to people’s lives and a domain where digital, green and social transitions converge. Yet the EU faces a structural housing crisis: affordability, supply and workforce shortages, ageing building stock, and widening inequalities. While existing literature has examined these transitions separately, this working paper explores an integrated approach across the triple transition, identifying the professional competencies needed to creatively deploy AI in ways that address housing challenges holistically.

Based on a desk research of policy documents, academic literature, sectoral reports and statistical data from 2020 to 2025, the paper maps the structure and dynamics of the EU housing sector and analyses the digital, green and social transitions shaping it, exploring how AI-enhanced creativity could support them.

The analysis shows that the digital and green transitions offer significant potential for efficiency, sustainability and decarbonisation, but their impact is constrained by uneven adoption, governance gaps, and ethical concerns. The social transition reveals a deepening crisis driven by financialisation, rising prices, limited social housing, and housing insecurity, including energy poverty and homelessness.

The paper also explores how AI-enhanced creativity can support these transitions, especially when including human and local knowledge in the loop. It identifies five competency clusters: digital and AI literacy (including ethical auditing under the AI Act); decarbonisation (integrating efficiency with affordability and social justice); socio-economic analysis (addressing financialisation and market dynamics); governance (multi-stakeholder coordination); and integrated triple-transition problem-solving. The paper concludes with policy recommendations and a curriculum benchmarking framework, contributing to education and training strategies for a sustainable and inclusive triple transition in housing.