Comparative housing research in the new millenium: Methodological and theoretical contributions from the first decade

Comparative housing research encompasses a broad range of strategies and foci, which has promoted the exchange of information, catalysed policy development and encouraged theoretical debate. This presentation briefly outlines the different purpose (policy description, evaluation, strategic understanding and theoretical explanation), logical strategy (hypothesis testing, interpretation, model building and revision), multiple field of focus (locality, tenure, institution, household, individual, social relations, financial arrangements, organisations, welfare regimes, state’s role and neo-liberalism) and diverse contribution to theoretical debates made by comparative housing research in the 2000s. It summarizes recent progress, emerging from a range of social science disciplines, which has contributed towards key debates concerning shifts in housing institutions and governance, divergent housing regimes and welfare systems, unitary, integrated and dualist rental markets, social exclusion and neighbourhood decline, forms of housing tenure and their rise and fall, organisational behaviour and networks, local responses to globalisation, the nature of home and socially constructed housing experiences. This presentation encourages researchers to reflect on these differences and developments and contribute towards progress in the coming decade of comparative housing research.OTB Research Institut