Five million SEK for research into new construction, migration chains and housing inequality
The project manager for the research project New homes, migration chains, and housing inequality is Economist Che-Yuan Liang and he is very happy about the grant from the Research Council Forte.
– The grant gives us the opportunity to investigate the effects of building different types of housing on housing inequality between population groups and areas, says Che-Yuan Liang.
The questions that the researchers want to shed light on is whether it is possible to eliminate the housing shortage for socio-economically vulnerable households by studying how many homes, what type of tenure and in which areas new homes should be built. The researchers also want to investigate how segregation can be counteracted by building new homes to get a better mix of different socio-economic groups within different residential areas.
– These questions have not been possible to investigate before due to a lack of data. Previous research has only studied limited parts, but with our data and methods we can provide a more comprehensive picture of the effects of new housing on individuals, neighborhoods and cities, says Che-Yuan Liang.
The researchers use microdata on the entire Swedish population and the housing stock from 1960 onwards. In the project, they will be able to follow migration chains that start from newly built housing, follow how housing wears out and ages over time, and study neighborhoods with new housing projects over time. In addition, they have geo-coded data on land use, emission levels, gun violence and service provision. The researchers will also make an innovative analysis of how varying building patterns in different cities affect the housing pattern.
– The rapid urbanization has led to growing housing costs, congestion, extensive crime and residential segregation in many cities around the world, including in Sweden. An often debated policy issue is whether housing construction can curb the problems. We want to contribute new knowledge that can guide decision-makers on how much, what and where to build so that everyone will have good living conditions and to counteract geographical inequality, says Che-Yuan Liang.
About the research project
The project New Construction, Moving Chains, and Housing Inequality is conducted within Urban Lab, a multidisciplinary environment for quantitative urban research at Uppsala University, which includes the Institute for Housing and Urban Research (IBF). Researchers from four different social science disciplines are participating in the compilation of the data material. The project also benefits from Urban Lab's platform for collaboration and communication, with well-established channels and numerous points of contact even outside the academic community.