Traditional literature on socio-ethnic segregation tends to associate social residential exclusio... more Traditional literature on socio-ethnic segregation tends to associate social residential exclusion with spatial concentration. Although some authors have discussed the advantages and disadvantages of spatial concentration (Kempen and Ozkueren, 1998; Kesteloot, 2000; Body-Gendrot and Martinello, 2000), the latter seems to prevail over the first, implying that processes of spatial desegregation or population dispersal, often mentioned in the urban political discourses, lead to processes of housing inclusion and upwarding housing career (Marcuse, 2002). However, the reading of the contemporary evolution of social conditions and housing patterns of immigrants in Southern Europe seems to challenge the aforementioned assumptions. On the one hand the specific welfare and housing systems (Arbaci, forthcoming) have limited processes such as large scale and homogenised housing production, the offer of public housing and the effectiveness of the urban plan mechanisms. On the other hand, recent housing and socio-urban changes have triggered additional processes of socio-residential exclusion associated with peripheralization, de-segregation in the context of urban renewal and gentrification. Finally, the momentum when the major waves of immigrants occurred (90s and early 21st century) as well as its specific composition has also contributed to different and specific patterns of settlement. With the use of a few concrete examples of Southern European cities (e.g. Lisbon, Barcelona, Turin), will we try to discuss the orthodox association between de-segregation and social inclusion and to illustrate some processes of marginalisation by dispersal. Despite the spatial data limitations and the fact of these examples may not be representative of all South European metropolises; we believe they still contribute to open more accurate lines of interpretation of the contemporary socio-urban dynamics associated to the presence of Non-EU immigrants.
The extent of residential alienation and urban inequalities made visible in the aftermath of the ... more The extent of residential alienation and urban inequalities made visible in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis shed light on processes of politico-economic transformations that altered the role of housing within society since the late 1970s. The focus on (re-)commodification and financialization has become central in the debate and opened up rich interdisciplinary strands of research on the impacts that these processes have on housing. Building on such a fertile academic body of work, it is paramount to contribute to the setting of the public agenda, putting housing issues at the heart of the political debate and policy actions. Introducing this special issue, the paper is firstly asserting the political dimension of housing. Secondly the issue of urban rent extraction is discussed as crucial, especially in the face of the disruptive effects of extensive processes of re-commodification and financialization of housing and land markets in a context of neoliberal urban policies...
Across some Southern European cities, urban renewal programmes are seen as the primary means of a... more Across some Southern European cities, urban renewal programmes are seen as the primary means of alleviating concentrations of poverty and social inequality by improving local living conditions. Over the long-term delivery phase, such area-based interventions are often confronted with unforeseen macro-scale urban dynamics related to mobility of people and capital. Since the mid-1980s, Barcelona’s municipality has introduced a series of urban renewal programmes – PERIs (Special Plans of Interior Reform) – to deal with deprived neighbourhoods of the city centre suffering from poor housing conditions, inadequate services and infrastructure, and decreasing population. Selective demolition (or esponjamiento) was a key mechanism to create new open spaces in the crowded city centre whilst building new housing stock to relocate families. Urban interventions ranged from large-scale demolition of entire blocks in the Raval neighbourhood to micro-scale demolitions in the Santa Caterina & Sant P...
Las ciudades europeas deben su configuración urbana a complejos procesos de cambio social con tra... more Las ciudades europeas deben su configuración urbana a complejos procesos de cambio social con transformaciones dinámicas, simultáneas y concurrentes en el espacio. Todas estas complejas estrategias de asentamiento y mobilidad residencial se materializan en el territorio, reflejando dinámicas de concentración y desagregación socio espacial cambiantes. Desde mediados de los años 80, el municipio de Barcelona introdujo una serie de programas de renovación urbana, los Proyectos Especiales de Reforma Interior (en adelante, PERI), con el objetivo de intervenir en los barrios más deprimidos del centro de la ciudad afectados por un descenso progresivo de la población, un fuerte deterioro de las condiciones de la vivienda, servicios inexistentes o inadecuados e infraestructura obsoleta. La demolición selectiva (o esponjamiento) fue un mecanismo clave para crear nuevos espacios abiertos en un centro urbano altamente densificado y deteriorado, mientras las familias afectadas por los derribos e...
Traditional literature on socio-ethnic segregation tends to associate social residential exclusio... more Traditional literature on socio-ethnic segregation tends to associate social residential exclusion with spatial concentration. Although some authors have discussed the advantages and disadvantages of spatial concentration (Kempen and Ozkueren, 1998; Kesteloot, 2000; Body-Gendrot and Martinello, 2000), the latter seems to prevail over the first, implying that processes of spatial desegregation or population dispersal, often mentioned in the urban political discourses, lead to processes of housing inclusion and upwarding housing career (Marcuse, 2002). However, the reading of the contemporary evolution of social conditions and housing patterns of immigrants in Southern Europe seems to challenge the aforementioned assumptions. On the one hand the specific welfare and housing systems (Arbaci, forthcoming) have limited processes such as large scale and homogenised housing production, the offer of public housing and the effectiveness of the urban plan mechanisms. On the other hand, recent...
Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 2020
Rental housing has been regarded as the new ‘frontier for financialisation’ since the 2007 financ... more Rental housing has been regarded as the new ‘frontier for financialisation’ since the 2007 financial crisis. But research examining financialisation of de-commodified rental housing is limited and is primarily focused on stock acquisitions by financial investors and the enabling role of either national or local governments. This critically overlooks the emergence of the financialised production of social rented housing, the interplay between levels of government (particularly with the regional level), and the leading role of the state in these processes. By combining a political sociology approach to policy instruments with a housing system studies perspective, the paper investigates how Italy, through the interplay between national, regional (Lombardy) and local (Milan) governments, led the financialisation of its social rented housing production. Through analyses of six decades of financial-legislative changes in the housing system regarding production/provision, finance and land ...
... the political and urban agenda as a strategic device for supporting social (and ethnic) inclu... more ... the political and urban agenda as a strategic device for supporting social (and ethnic) inclusion and improving existing living standards. Apparently disregarding such a fertile arena, the SouthernEuropean countries are reproducing their distinctive dualist housing regimes and ...
Traditional literature on socio-ethnic segregation tends to associate social residential exclusio... more Traditional literature on socio-ethnic segregation tends to associate social residential exclusion with spatial concentration. Although some authors have discussed the advantages and disadvantages of spatial concentration (Kempen and Ozkueren, 1998; Kesteloot, 2000; Body-Gendrot and Martinello, 2000), the latter seems to prevail over the first, implying that processes of spatial desegregation or population dispersal, often mentioned in the urban political discourses, lead to processes of housing inclusion and upwarding housing career (Marcuse, 2002). However, the reading of the contemporary evolution of social conditions and housing patterns of immigrants in Southern Europe seems to challenge the aforementioned assumptions. On the one hand the specific welfare and housing systems (Arbaci, forthcoming) have limited processes such as large scale and homogenised housing production, the offer of public housing and the effectiveness of the urban plan mechanisms. On the other hand, recent housing and socio-urban changes have triggered additional processes of socio-residential exclusion associated with peripheralization, de-segregation in the context of urban renewal and gentrification. Finally, the momentum when the major waves of immigrants occurred (90s and early 21st century) as well as its specific composition has also contributed to different and specific patterns of settlement. With the use of a few concrete examples of Southern European cities (e.g. Lisbon, Barcelona, Turin), will we try to discuss the orthodox association between de-segregation and social inclusion and to illustrate some processes of marginalisation by dispersal. Despite the spatial data limitations and the fact of these examples may not be representative of all South European metropolises; we believe they still contribute to open more accurate lines of interpretation of the contemporary socio-urban dynamics associated to the presence of Non-EU immigrants.
The extent of residential alienation and urban inequalities made visible in the aftermath of the ... more The extent of residential alienation and urban inequalities made visible in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis shed light on processes of politico-economic transformations that altered the role of housing within society since the late 1970s. The focus on (re-)commodification and financialization has become central in the debate and opened up rich interdisciplinary strands of research on the impacts that these processes have on housing. Building on such a fertile academic body of work, it is paramount to contribute to the setting of the public agenda, putting housing issues at the heart of the political debate and policy actions. Introducing this special issue, the paper is firstly asserting the political dimension of housing. Secondly the issue of urban rent extraction is discussed as crucial, especially in the face of the disruptive effects of extensive processes of re-commodification and financialization of housing and land markets in a context of neoliberal urban policies...
Across some Southern European cities, urban renewal programmes are seen as the primary means of a... more Across some Southern European cities, urban renewal programmes are seen as the primary means of alleviating concentrations of poverty and social inequality by improving local living conditions. Over the long-term delivery phase, such area-based interventions are often confronted with unforeseen macro-scale urban dynamics related to mobility of people and capital. Since the mid-1980s, Barcelona’s municipality has introduced a series of urban renewal programmes – PERIs (Special Plans of Interior Reform) – to deal with deprived neighbourhoods of the city centre suffering from poor housing conditions, inadequate services and infrastructure, and decreasing population. Selective demolition (or esponjamiento) was a key mechanism to create new open spaces in the crowded city centre whilst building new housing stock to relocate families. Urban interventions ranged from large-scale demolition of entire blocks in the Raval neighbourhood to micro-scale demolitions in the Santa Caterina & Sant P...
Las ciudades europeas deben su configuración urbana a complejos procesos de cambio social con tra... more Las ciudades europeas deben su configuración urbana a complejos procesos de cambio social con transformaciones dinámicas, simultáneas y concurrentes en el espacio. Todas estas complejas estrategias de asentamiento y mobilidad residencial se materializan en el territorio, reflejando dinámicas de concentración y desagregación socio espacial cambiantes. Desde mediados de los años 80, el municipio de Barcelona introdujo una serie de programas de renovación urbana, los Proyectos Especiales de Reforma Interior (en adelante, PERI), con el objetivo de intervenir en los barrios más deprimidos del centro de la ciudad afectados por un descenso progresivo de la población, un fuerte deterioro de las condiciones de la vivienda, servicios inexistentes o inadecuados e infraestructura obsoleta. La demolición selectiva (o esponjamiento) fue un mecanismo clave para crear nuevos espacios abiertos en un centro urbano altamente densificado y deteriorado, mientras las familias afectadas por los derribos e...
Traditional literature on socio-ethnic segregation tends to associate social residential exclusio... more Traditional literature on socio-ethnic segregation tends to associate social residential exclusion with spatial concentration. Although some authors have discussed the advantages and disadvantages of spatial concentration (Kempen and Ozkueren, 1998; Kesteloot, 2000; Body-Gendrot and Martinello, 2000), the latter seems to prevail over the first, implying that processes of spatial desegregation or population dispersal, often mentioned in the urban political discourses, lead to processes of housing inclusion and upwarding housing career (Marcuse, 2002). However, the reading of the contemporary evolution of social conditions and housing patterns of immigrants in Southern Europe seems to challenge the aforementioned assumptions. On the one hand the specific welfare and housing systems (Arbaci, forthcoming) have limited processes such as large scale and homogenised housing production, the offer of public housing and the effectiveness of the urban plan mechanisms. On the other hand, recent...
Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 2020
Rental housing has been regarded as the new ‘frontier for financialisation’ since the 2007 financ... more Rental housing has been regarded as the new ‘frontier for financialisation’ since the 2007 financial crisis. But research examining financialisation of de-commodified rental housing is limited and is primarily focused on stock acquisitions by financial investors and the enabling role of either national or local governments. This critically overlooks the emergence of the financialised production of social rented housing, the interplay between levels of government (particularly with the regional level), and the leading role of the state in these processes. By combining a political sociology approach to policy instruments with a housing system studies perspective, the paper investigates how Italy, through the interplay between national, regional (Lombardy) and local (Milan) governments, led the financialisation of its social rented housing production. Through analyses of six decades of financial-legislative changes in the housing system regarding production/provision, finance and land ...
... the political and urban agenda as a strategic device for supporting social (and ethnic) inclu... more ... the political and urban agenda as a strategic device for supporting social (and ethnic) inclusion and improving existing living standards. Apparently disregarding such a fertile arena, the SouthernEuropean countries are reproducing their distinctive dualist housing regimes and ...
Rental housing has been regarded as the new 'frontier for financialisation' since the 2007 financ... more Rental housing has been regarded as the new 'frontier for financialisation' since the 2007 financial crisis. But research examining financialisation of de-commodified rental housing is limited and is primarily focused on stock acquisitions by financial investors and the enabling role of either national or local governments. This critically overlooks the emergence of the financialised production of social rented housing, the interplay between levels of government (particularly with the regional level), and the leading role of the state in these processes. By combining a political sociology approach to policy instruments with a housing system studies perspective, the paper investigates how Italy, through the interplay between national, regional (Lombardy) and local (Milan) governments, led the financialisation of its social rented housing production. Through analyses of six decades of financial-legislative changes in the housing system regarding production/ provision, finance and land supply, it identifies a three-stage journey towards financialisation: (1) the rise and fall of publicly-owned rental social housing (1950s to 1990s); (2) the regionalisation and marketisation of the sector up to the late 2000s; and (3) the upward transfer from the first local-scale experiment with the real estate mutual investment fund in Milan to the creation of a national-scale System of Funds for the production of social rented housing. The study shows that the re-commodification of housing and land initiated in the 1980s were intertwined and a conditio-sine-qua-non for financialisation; that the state played a crafting-rather than solely enabling-role in this process; and that trans-scalar legislative-financial innovations transformed social rented housing into a liquid asset class.
Uploads
Papers by Sonia Arbaci