The Right to Buy in marginalised urban areas - how is local participation in urban planning and housing decisionmaking affected?

English summary from project proposal

Research into the conversion of public rental housing into tenant owned cooperatives in Sweden has focused on inner city locations and processes of gentrification, and emphasised the role of tenure conversion in broader trends of widening inequality and geographical marginalisation. This project will focus on the specific effects of tenure conversions in marginalised urban areas, where tenure conversions have been advocated as a means to reduce segregation and criminality.

Purpose

The purpose of this project is to study a case of tenure conversion in western Gothenburg and draw lessons for housing policy and practice in marginalized urban areas in Sweden and beyond.

Aims

In order to achieve this purpose, we aim to:

1. Compare population dynamics and resident experiences between converted and unconverted blocks in the same immediate environment

2. Study the effects of the tenure conversion on residents’ engagement in improving their social and physical environment, with particular attention to the emergence of a middle class female leadership

3. To study the potentials and limitations of resident activism by means of a three-cycle action research collaboration following the “feminist agenda” of the steering committee of BRF Topasberget

Conclusions will be drawn with caution. Tenure conversions in marginalized areas implemented without an increasing supply of housing or a more diverse tenure mix in affluent areas will not contribute to overcoming structural segregation and inequality.

Implementation

The project was implemented by Robin Biddulph and Mattias Sandberg, but Mattias left the University for new work during the project

The project was extended from 2019-21 to 2019-2023 because of the pandemic and because of Mattias’ departure. The project completion report was submitted to Formas on 30 June 2024 with two scientific journal articles having been submitted but not yet accepted. The following work remained to be done

• The articles need to be peer-reviewed and possibly revised before publication
• More articles will be written and published (one in relation to densification and mixed tenure and one in relation to criminality and mixed tenure)
• The research will be presented and discussed in different scientific and non-scientific fora and in some cases, there will be documentation supporting those presentations

This page will continue to be updated with new publications and activities until at least 31 December 2025.

Publications

Before the project is reported on 30 June 2024, the following articles will have been written and submitted:

• Tenure mix paradoxes. How context and scale determine the outcomes of selling public housing to tenants in marginalised urban areas, to the journal Housing Studies
• Do good fences make good neighbours? Towards a research agenda for management of outside areas in mixed tenure settlements, to the journal Land

For copies of drafts and other information, contact robin.biddulph@geography.gu.se

Communication

7 February 2021
Presentation to Network for Housing and Welfare (via Zoom hosted by Matilda Sandberg & Martin Grandér of Malmö University)

1 November 2023
Feedback to residents who had answered the project’s survey, (in the Tenant Union office in the study area at Briljantgatan 53)

19 January 2024
Feedback to Bostadsbolaget staff at their office (near the study area at Topasgatan 5)

28 February 2024
Guest appearance on the School of Business, Economics and Law’s podcast ”Staten & kapitalet”, 5^th episode entitled “Who benefits from a sustainable housing market?” (In Swedish)

7 March 2024
Presentation to representatives of Destination Tynnered attended by  Camilla Tjernberg (Bostadsbolaget), Niklas Svensson & Linda Bergvall (Police); Mari Levin (Social services) – via Zoom.