What is Governed in Cities (WHIG)

Residential Investment Landscapes and the Governance and Regulation of Housing Production.

1 April 2024

Overview

This project draws on a comparative, inter-disciplinary methodology to examine the relationships between national and international investment flows into the housing markets of major cities and the governance arrangements and public policy instruments that are designed to regulate them. Our case studies are three of Europe's leading urban centres: the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area; Greater London; and Grand Paris.

The research draws on two streams of analysis. First, we examine investment landscapes and the effectiveness of regulations and policy instruments that are designed to control them. We do this systematically and comparatively. Second, we analyse the types of investment that are shaping housing markets and their impacts on people and places. We explore its sources, objectives, and designed outcomes. The research meets an increasingly urgent need to develop better understandings of the complex relationships between markets, planning controls, and the quality of life of citizens in a context of escalating political tensions between different socio-economic groups and major global economic and social changes.

This project ran from March 2019 to March 2022.

People and collaborators

Professor Mike Raco (Lead PI), The Bartlett School of Planning
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Tuna Tasan-Kok
University of Amsterdam

Patrick Le Gales
Sciences-Po Paris

Funders

UK Research and Innovate (UKRI) Open Research Area (OPA)
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Outputs

The project has yielded multiple publications most notably a research monograph on London (by Mike Raco and Frances Brill), and a range of papers in top peer-reviewed journals including Progress in Planning, Environment and Planning A, European Urban and Regional Studies, and Political Geography.

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Photo Priyank V on Unsplash