Comparative Approaches to Informal Housing Across the Globe

We are pleased to invite you to a SSEES Fringe Centre conference on comparative scholarly approaches to informal housing, convened by Dr Udo Grashoff.

22-23 June 2017

Research on illegal housing is still fragmented. Several factors impede a more systematic approach to the topic. The variety of notions used for housing strategies that do not (entirely) comply with the law, such as squatting, illegal housing, informal housing, unauthorised housing, unlicensed housing, self-help housing, to name just a few, is indicative of a fundamental heterogeneity.

Different dimensions, actors, motivations, different social and political contexts make it a challenge to study illegal housing as a global phenomenon. When do comparisons have promise, when are they rather pointless? A number of pioneering studies have already demonstrated that comparisons can open 'new niches to investigate what previously never met our eyes' (Aguilera/Smart). Along these lines, this event will be testing the capability of comparative approaches to open new perspectives. We have invited academics who are interested in challenging the limitations of 'their' region, who are open for confrontations with the 'other' and content to let themselves in for comparisons. Scholars from different parts of the world will present and discuss new comparative research on various forms of illegal housing in Africa, Asia, Middle East, Latin America, North America and Europe.

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Favela image (C) Pedro Lopez (CC BY 2.0).