Just Housing in Europe Network

• Applicant: Dr. Marco Meyer
• Subject Area: Practical Philosophy ; Empirical Social Research ; Human Geography ; Political Science ; Urbanism, Spatial Planning, Transportation and Infrastructure Planning, Landscape Planning ; Economic Policy, Applied Economics
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 546703007

Housing stands as a fundamental human necessity, indispensable in any comprehensive understanding of a just society. The choices people make about their living arrangements, shaped by a web of regulations and policies, have profound impacts on urban and rural landscapes. Housing, whether through ownership or renting, constitutes one of the largest expense categories for most households. Its centrality in economic structures was starkly highlighted by the role of subprime mortgages in the 2008/9 global financial crisis, which brought the global economy to a standstill. The Covid-19 pandemic underscored the critical role of housing in ensuring a safe living environment, while simultaneously casting a spotlight on the challenging circumstances faced by those without adequate housing. To fully understand these complex aspects of housing justice, we need an interdisciplinary approach. This approach should include researchers in philosophy, economics, human geography, urban planning, law, social and political science, and other relevant fields. The primary objective of the proposed network is to facilitate collaborative, interdisciplinary research on housing justice. In our view, advancing research on housing justice as one of the pressing social challenges of the 21st century requires an approach that integrates philosophy, economics, and other social sciences. Philosophy provides the critical, normative, and conceptual frameworks necessary for understanding the ethical dimensions of housing justice. Economics brings in the analysis of markets, incentives, and resource distribution. Other social science such as human geography and politics contribute an understanding of power dynamics, governance structures, and policy implications. We build on the foundations laid by the interdisciplinary conference "Just Housing in Europe" organized in November 2023 by the applicant. The event brought together a diverse array of experts on housing justice from different disciplines, including most of the proposed network members. Key research areas within this network include homelessness and the inherent value of a home, gentrification and its social consequences, the dynamics of housing supply and its regulatory frameworks, the complexities of property ownership and rights, and the critical role of taxation, monetary policy, and housing finance in shaping housing markets. We tackle questions such as: What makes a housing market "just"?; what, if anything, makes gentrification wrong?; and which policy measures would improve justice in housing? We plan to produce a series of co-authored journal articles, a special issue of an academic journal, and several applications for third-party funding to sustain research activity beyond the duration of the network.

• DFG Programme: Scientific Networks