For many people in North Rhine-Westphalia, the dream of owning their own home or an affordable rental apartment is in danger of being dashed. Rising rents and interest rates, insecure energy costs and a lack of housing – living is becoming increasingly expensive.

Anna Planken and Daniel Aßmann are traveling across NRW with a Tiny House on wheels and want to find out how people live here, what solutions there are for affordable housing and whether building can also be more environmentally friendly. In Dortmund, they are experiencing what happens when a real estate company goes underground, leaving more than 400 apartments empty for six years. In Münster, they are asking why the city is banning the construction of new single-family homes.

In addition, “How does NRW live?” takes a look at the future of housing: two brothers in Heek have succeeded in recycling the climate killer concrete and thus building sustainably – a first in Europe. Düsseldorf students have built a climate-friendly and sustainable house.

Click here for the show in the WDR MEDIA LIBRARY.

Rising rents and purchase prices, skyrocketing energy costs, plus a lack of housing in the metropolitan areas – can we still afford to live at all and what ideas and alternatives for affordable and sustainable living are there? Anna Planken and Daniel Aßmann travel through North Rhine-Westphalia, look for solutions and show how people live here. Live in a high-rise or in the first Tiny House settlement? Rather live on the water or move into a bunker?

In North Rhine-Westphalia, Anna and Daniel visit the first Tiny House settlement in the district of Gütersloh They test whether it is possible to live well in just a few square meters. In Herne, they show an old bunker that is being turned into a modern, sustainable housing project.