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European Network for Housing ResearchEuropean Network for Housing Research

1988 2013

NewsletterAugust 2013


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European Network for Housing Research

3 / ENHR Newsletter no. 3 August 2013

EDITORIAL

CROSSING THE BRIDGE BETWEEN HOUSING RESEARCH AND THEREAL WORLD

Montserrat Pareja-Eastaway, University of Barcelona, Spain

I think many of us would agree about the uniqueness of the 25th

ENHR conference inTarragona. There are many reasons for this feeling, some of them are clearly related to theexcellent quality of the contents of the plenary sessions and the papers presented at theworkshops, some others are attached to the great location, efficient organisation, attractivesocial programme and fascinating field trips. Besides, the 25

thanniversary of the Network

contributed to confirm the strength of our research community built upon a solid past and arenewed eagerness to face the challenges of the future.

Writing this editorial is a wonderful opportunity to provide my own insight into what I thinkwere the most important achievements of the conference. I would summarise them in thetitle of this editorial: crossing the bridge between housing research and the real world. Ibelieve that we, as housing researchers, are used to writing research proposals and highquality scientific papers; to discussing carefully in international workshops and conferencesand probably, to building up our careers in research centres and universities looking at thewindow of life trying to find new topics to explore and understand. Today we are struck bythe sudden popularity of our research topic, and most remarkably, by the expectationscreated upon our work. Nowadays the landscape has considerably changed: the true storiesare knocking on our door asking for urgent solutions to evident emergencies and serious

problems concerning a human right: shelter. The ENHR conference in Tarragona means aturning point in housing research to me: politicians, stake-holders and practitioners arecertainly listening to us and we should offer our knowledge to jointly find out the bestapproach to solving and improving peoples residential choices. Our Network is more thanever a social (science) oriented network.

More than 480 papers were presented in Tarragona under the topic Overcoming the crisis:integrating the built environment. The conference attracted people from all over the world,40 countries were represented from South Korea to Australia, USA, Canada or Japan.European participants were the largest group, standing in the Spanish case for around 21%of the contributions. 27 workshops were organised, some of them related to existing ENHRworking groups like Housing Economics, Metropolitan Housing Dynamics, ResidentialContext of Health or Housing and Urban Sustainability; some others were created ad hoc

for the conference like Common Interest Developments and Gated Communities: IntegratingPrivate Residential Environments into Cities or The Housing Crisis in Spain (conducted inSpanish). Previous to the main conference, a New Housing Researchers Colloquium(NHRC) was organised. As one of the mentors, I have to say that I am really thankful to the16 new housing researchers that presented in this forum because of their energy, theirwillingness to learn and the high quality of their papers. The consolidation of the NHRC overtime provides good expectations of the future of housing research in Europe.

What I am certain was common to all of them was the need to connect existing housingissues in neighbourhoods and cities with different housing research perspectives.Comparative and multidisciplinary research was again, as in many other ENHR conferences,key aspects in the approaches of the majority of the contributions presented in workshops.Plenaries exhibited a combination of policy-making discourses and research-oriented

speeches: difficulties in understanding each otherwhilst looking for new pathways of mutualcomprehension was, in my opinion, a praiseworthy effort.


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With the aim of taking out the most intriguing and particular aspects considered during theTarragona conference and despite not being exhaustive, I would stress the followingperspectives:

On the housing crisis: Identifying what has been the catalyst of the housing crisis andestablishing a clear link between causes and effects of the functioning of housing marketsrepresents a broad field of current housing research. Not all countries have been affectedin similar ways by the housing crisis: for those countries with a balanced housing marketin terms of tenure and a significant social housing stock, dealing with the consequencesof the housing crisis has been easier. The social consequences of the housing crisishave hit many households in Europe tremendously hard. From a research perspective,traditional housing research focused on poverty, vulnerable households and deprivationis increasingly gaining more relevance in the current context of market failure andausterity. The usual complexity of housing associated, among others, with affordability,accessibility and safety becomes even more entangled in periods of crisis, publiccutbacks and household difficulties.

On the (new?) role of housing policies during and after the crisis : In an era ofausterity, the role of housing policies is being revisited and questioned from a researchperspective: to what extent are existing housing policies able to unravel the socialconsequences of the maze of housing markets? What is the role (if any) of civil society inproviding alternatives to housing policies? Can we identify emerging hybrid alliancesbetween public bodies and private organisations? Besides, independent from thetypology of solution/policy adopted, it definitely has to be sustainable. As we say inSpanish, housing policy cannot function as a fireman, throwing water at emergencies;European citizens deserve a sustainable roadmap for their housing policies. The legalrepertoire concerning the provision of measures to intervene might ensure we build up aconsistent approach to all housing dilemmas. In addition, the integration of the builtenvironment suggested by the title of the conference unquestionably requires all-embracing renewal policies, where social as well as physical approaches would be taken

into account.

On the connection between housing and other urban aspects : Integrated urbanapproaches where housing emerges as a major pillar are more and more frequent; forinstance, transport and mobility, health and environment, ageing societies and innovativearchitecture and urbanism are strongly linked with the essence of housing research incities and neighbourhoods. Our workshops are increasingly making room for integralresearch where housing is considered as one of the fields of study but not the only one.

On distinctive current issues: If housing is related to the quality of life of humankind,technology and the digitalisation of part of our private and social lives represents atsunami that also affects our way of living and our relationship to our home and to theenvironment. This aspect is certainly reflected in some of the papers presented as a

transversal issue. The increasing relevance of comparative research became evidentwith a good number of non-Europeans participating in the conference. The possibilitiesof learning from each other in similar housing/urban processes and experiences reinforcethe transferability of policies from one region to another.

After 25 years of existence (and hopefully many more to come!), we can say that the ENHR,through the exchange of ideas, approaches and solutions, has provided the right tool toenhance housing research in Europe. Maybe today more than ever the key values of theENHR are being tested, not only by the academic community, but by society. My opinion isthat researchers are becoming more conscious of the need to provide reflections based onhigh quality research which can then be used by those responsible for solving diverse andcomplex housing problems. Crossing the bridge has definitely to be done from bothdirections. And let me finish by congratulating all of us as members of a healthy and reliable

network of housing research! A lot has been done but complacence is not a good friend.Lets discover which challenges lie ahead in housing research.


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5 / ENHR Newsletter no. 3 August 2013

HIGHLIGHTS ENHR CONFERENCE19 22 June, Tarragona, Spain

editorial enhr2013 tgn nl13 3

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