Session organiser(s)

Cian O'Callaghan: [log in to unmask]
Cesare Di Feliciantonio: [log in to unmask]
Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

The central role of housing in the current dynamics of capitalistic accumulation has shown its violence in the aftermath of the global financial crisis (GFC), leaving dozens of thousands of people evicted, foreclosed and homeless across the Global North. Despite the dramatic consequences of the crisis generated by the financialization of housing and the progressive dismantle of the welfare state, these processes seem to be continued through economic and urban policy responses while austerity programmes leave welfare provision in a situation of “permanent strain” (Pavolini et al, 2015). However such a process does not remain uncontested; in fact the rising inequalities manifested in the housing sector, with an increasing number of people unable to find an affordable and decent housing solution while vacant housing rates increase and speculation-driven urbanism is repeated, appear to have offered new opportunities for contentious social movements, especially in urban areas (Gonick, 2016). In Spain the Plataforma de los Afectados por la Hipoteca (PAH) has experienced large scale mobilizations while obtaining important legal results and spreading alternative housing projects based on the re-appropriation by people in need of vacant housing stock owned by banks and financial institutions. This session aims to interrogate the current dynamics and the future perspectives of the housing sector in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.  Furthermore, the session aims to interrogate the regional dimension of the housing question by emphasising the “path-dependent” (Brenner and Theodore, 2002) nature of both housing models and social movements. 

We welcome theoretical and empirical papers that discuss and analyse:

• neoliberal housing policies and the dismantle of the welfare state;
• the increasing financialization of housing at different scales;
• the long-term impact of the housing crisis on cities, neighbourhoods and households;
• the uneven impact of the housing crisis on individuals on the basis of class, race, age, gender, sexual orientation, territorial provenience;
• social movements and contestations around housing;
• socially innovative housing policies and practices to contrast the housing crisis and promote access to housing;
• classed, gendered and racialized actors involved in alternative housing projects.

Submission guidelines

Please submit proposals for papers in the form of a 250 word abstract (text only) through the Regional Studies Association conference portal by Friday 24th February 2017. Proposals will be considered by the Conference Programme Committee against the criteria of originality, interest and subject balance.
https://members.regionalstudies.org/lounge/Meetings/Meeting?ID=149