HOUSING

Studying housing Different approaches: Describing and analyzing government policy in reference to housing  legislative and institutional structure of housing Neo-classical economical approach focusing on housing market Geographical approach: spatial distribution of housing Sociological approach: choices and constraints dynamic

Defining Home “Home signifies an emotional attachment. It connotes a relatively permanent place of refuge where people find comfort, a base from where they can safely explore the outer world. It is something to which people like to return” (Van Vliet, 1978) “The home is that spatially localized, temporally defined, significant and autonomous physical frame and conceptual system for the ordering, transformation and interpretation of the physical and abstract aspects of domestic daily life at several simultaneous spatio-temporal scales, normally activated by the connection to a person or a community such as a nuclear family” (Benjamin, 1995)

Does neighbourhood still matter in a globalized world? SCALEFUNCTIONSMECHANISMS Home areaPsycho-social benefits (identity- belonging…) Familiarity, Community LocalityResidential activities, social status, local policies Planning, service provision, housing market Urban district or region Landscape of social and economic opportunities Employment connections, leisure interests, social networks

Neighbourhood characteristics (Galster) Structural characteristics of the residential and non-residential buildings Infrastructural characteristics: roads, sidewalks, utility services, etc. Demographic characteristics of the residential population: income, occupation and educational position Tax/public service package characteristic: the quality of safety forces, public schools, public administration, politics and recreation Environmental characteristics: degree of land, air, water and noise pollution

Proximity characteristics: access to major destinations of employment, entertainment, shopping, etc. Political characteristics: the degree to which local political networks are mobilized, residents' influence in local affairs through spatially rooted channels Social interactive characteristics: local friends, network, degree of inter-household familiarity, type and quality of interpersonal associations, residents' perceive commonality Sentimental characteristics: residents' sense of identification with place, historical significance of such identification, historical significance of buildings and districts

Meanings and functions of housing “A house is to be considered as a cultural and social unit of space created to support a way of life” culture activities lifestyle many standards are not universal and what constitutes good housing varies by culture

Housing exclusion and segregation Spatial segregation can be explained briefly as a process by which disadvantaged ethnic, cultural, and racial minorities become concentrated in one area and this leads to the rupturing of social cohesion and leading to the cracks in social and urban structure that are often reinforced by activities (such as crime) that reinforce special segregation. In these cracks, poverty, lack of urban services, absence of decent housing conditions, low employment levels, and crime increasingly reinforce each other (Castells & Borja, 1997)

Housing and immigration Housing conditions of migrants in Europe:  a persistent ethnic inequality in housing access;  the presence of ethnic minorities in deprived neighborhoods;  the growing tension given by the seemingly increasing ethnic concentrations in  Europeans cities; and  new problems of discrimination regarding the second or the third generation and the  extension of social exclusion