Paper short abstract:

The central question of this paper is: Change housing is a useful tool to upload on social mobility? This research attempts to classify the nature of neighborhood conflict, both interpersonal and structural.

Paper long abstract:

This contribution focuses on the significant increase in popular gated communities in the city of Lima, Peru. With the increase in income, allowing a housing change and housing re-location within the classes C and D ("lower-middle" class and "emerging middle class") from the periphery (shanty towns or from province) to residential gated communities on low- price-levels in the traditional districts of the city level. In this paper we are particularly interested on symbolic boundaries and barriers that are built when the housing change is involving new neighbors, apparently from the same social class occurs but inhomogeneous (mountain, coast, Amazon jungle) that apart its protagonists from the protection of emotional networks and functional relationship of the neighborhood of origin, resulting in a series of new concerns and fears. The central question of this paper is whether the strategy is a valid tool in the upward social mobility. In Lima many families have managed to make "the dream of homeownership," but in the same way the problems between neighbors have come to be an issue that concerns a great part of Lima society (70 %), worthy of being investigated as a social phenomenon to provide tools to improve the quality of life of those involved. In this research, which forms the third phase of work done during the years 2012 to the present, it attempts to classify the nature of neighborhood conflict, both interpersonal and structural. To gain access to a wealth of empirical material, pointing to a multi-sited ethnography in different formats of popular gated communities.

Paper short abstract:

Based on participant observation, this paper analyses the reactions of ‘middle class’ residents and urban planners, who inter-relate in ‘local partnerships’ and citizen involvement procedures, to post-migration diversity in the context of the ‘refugee crisis’ in 2015 in two German cities.

Paper long abstract:

This paper presents findings from anthropological research on urban planning and citizen involvement in two German cities. It analyses the ways in which diversity, and I am focusing here primarily on migration-induced changes of the local population, is explicitly or implicitly addressed by 'middle class' participants in citizen involvement procedures. In both urban planning projects, migration-induced diversity has been perceived as a key characteristic of the neighbourhoods from the very start, and has been compounded by the allocation of large temporary asylum accommodation centres in the context of the 'refugee crisis' in 2015. How do urban planners and 'middle class' residents, who are participating in citizen involvement procedures, respond to and evaluate post-migration diversity? How do they relate to it based on their own social positioning and what scenarios do they develop for the neighbourhood? Based on participant observation in citizen involvement events and in so-called 'local partnerships', where local citizens regularly meet with the urban planners, I investigate how the right to the city is becoming differentiated in these urban development projects. I find struggles of urban planners as well as of the participating 'middle class' residents to negotiate diversity, as representations of diversity oscillate between idealizing diversity as profitable (connected with hopes for gentrification and a more dynamic future of the neighbourhood) and demonizing diversity as leading to ghettoization (connected with fears of the loss of value of one's property or of losing the status of the majority).

Paper short abstract:

Urban income inequalities have also decreased, though the evolution of inequalities at lower scales of analysis remains unclear. How these great transformations of the urban structure of Lima were reflected spatially in the capital city, through residential segregation patterns.

Paper long abstract:

Peru has been growing constantly in the last 15 years. This period of relative prosperity, combined with the implementation of social policies, allowed to more than halve poverty incidence. Urban income inequalities have also decreased, though the evolution of inequalities at lower scales of analysis, for example the city centre as opposed to the periphery, remains unclear. The numerous transformations of both the economy and urban structure of Lima in the past twenty years call for an analysis of how these inequalities are reflected spatially in Lima, the capital city, through residential segregation patterns.

Using census micro-data we have analyzed the extent of residential segregation in Metropolitan Lima in 1993 and 2007 adopting a spatial perspective using geocoded data. With data at two points in time, we can grasp extent and types of segregation and its changes over time. Specifically we have explored the following four questions:

1. What is the magnitude and nature of residential segregation in Lima today ?

2. Has Lima become a more segregated city under economic growth?

3. Are there heterogeneous patterns of segregation at lower scales of analysis than the whole city?

4. To what extent socioeconomic factors are more relevant than ethnic factors (linked to internal rural/urban migration) to explain residential segregation patterns?

Paper short abstract:

Instead of understanding housing cooperatives as exclusive models of self-help for privileged members of urban middle-classes, the paper highlights various motivations, hopes and practices that accompany processes of initiating and moving in housing cooperatives, so-called Genossenschaften, in Munich.

Paper long abstract:

Munich is considered to be a city where housing has always been expensive. During the last decade an increasing lack of flats combined with the rapid financialisation of housing have led to diverse practices of coping. The municipality presents new built residential areas on former military barracks as socially and ecologically responsible and fair solutions to ease housing shortage. Parts of these public areas are reserved for housing cooperatives, so-called Genossenschaften.

With support from municipalities, on the one hand Genossenschaften are being presented as promising models of a different way of city development by using the dominant key words community, sustainability and social mixture. On the other hand, various members of middle income groups perceive living in Genossenschaften as the only way out of insecure tenancies. Taking into account the expected rise of rents in the future, to move in or to initiate Genossenschaften can be part of a rather rational decision and compromise depending on one's own financial possibilities.

Drawing on qualitative interviews and participant observations, the paper focuses on practices and imaginations associated with processes of initiating or moving in Genossenschaften. What future visions for Munich, what biographical needs and hopes are constitutive in these decisions? Using a praxeological approach I will focus on practices of decision-making, counting, applying and moving as modes of responsibilization regarding the increased financialization of housing (Heeg 2015).

Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses "Stattpark Olga", an alternative trailer park in Munich, as an example of how to expound the economic logic of today's housing market by claiming wasteland. Cultural and social capital are the residents' main resources to claim their space in the crowded city.

Paper long abstract:

In times of population growth and housing production, wasteland in Munich is scarce. This implies less possibilities for urban open space and alternative ways of dwelling. "Stattpark Olga" has been campaigning for public open spaces for several years.

In contrast to common connotations of "trailer parks" as alternatives for people who lack economic means, the residents of "Stattpark Olga" deliberately choose to live in mobile homes. This decision is part of their political project: First of all the residents want to show an alternative way of dwelling: While many people pay high and increasing rents for small apartments, "Stattpark Olga" demonstrates a possibility to neglect this capitalist logic while still remaining a part of society. Practices of organization in forms of grassroots democracy and the provision of public space for non-commercial events like concerts and readings are crucial parts of their dwelling practices. Dwelling is therefore not limited to private space but rather a public statement by a well-educated and politically engaged milieu.

Lacking legal status, the inhabitants of trailer parks in Germany depend on the tolerance of the municipality. Only recently "Stattpark Olga" was forced to move from their site due to a planned building project. It took them many months to negotiate with the municipality and to find a fallow for their needs. To be able to live their chosen way of dwelling apart from the norm, "Stattpark Olga" applies several strategies to strengthen their position in the city. Therefore, they rely on their cultural and social capital.

Paper short abstract:

One might argue about Berlins' economical success, but there is no question that its population is significantly growing. Affordable housing in central districts is becoming a scarce good and co-housing initiatives are discussed as one way to provide reasonable solutions for an urban middle-class.

Paper long abstract:

Many of Berlins' contemporary co-housing projects originate from the early 2000's when empty lots and low property prices in inner city areas had created favorable conditions for such self-initiated developments. For the middle-class this was an affordable access to privately owned dwelling. Often it also enabled a more experimental and integrating architecture, due to the participation of the later inhabitants in a creative planning process.

Berlins' population is now significantly growing and prices for inner city housing are rising. Currently, the threats and effects of gentrification processes are widely discussed and academics and activists state a return of the 'housing question'. In this context, I assume it has a double meaning to ask: Does the middle-class only help itself by establishing co-housing initiatives? On the one hand it seems to be a privileged "guarantor of gentrification", only taking care about its economic interests. On the other hand, it also fears the effects of rising rents. Sociologist Susanne Frank points out that many members of the contemporary urban middle-class feel uneasy about social segregation as it contradicts their ideal of living in mixed neighborhoods.

I will focus on this ambivalent question of 'self help' by using the example of a collaborative housing initiative in Berlin-Kreuzberg. As the initiative refers to "communality" and "urban diversity" as important objectives, I am interested in how such values become materialized in architecture. I will discuss this as an example for social creativity and also ask about the limitations of such urban development strategies.

Paper short abstract:

The paper analyses the interplay between urban developments of crowding or increasing rents and normative orientations towards the idea of an "average" in housing.

Paper long abstract:

Modalities of urban housing are in large part restricted by physical, financial, or structural factors. The choice of residential districts, the size of accommodations or forms of cohabitation are contingent on price, income, infrastructure or space, especially in face of urban developments of crowding or increasing rents. In addition, lifestyle, social relationships, or the appeal of districts have an influence on housing decisions. As political stances or ideas of a "good life" are referred to in debates on housing, these factors and developments are connected to socio-political attitudes or normative orientations. Increasingly, perceptions of "good averages" or "happy mediums" feature in such debates. The proposed paper takes the occurrence of normative orientations towards an "average" in diverse fields (such as debates on work-life-balance and medium achievements in the workplace; goals to keep up with average performances in leisure sport) as a starting point to investigate the role of the "average" in urban housing. The paper is interested in the relation between ethical references to an "average" and urban developments of crowding or increases in rents. Based on qualitative interviews, the paper asks how ideas of an "average" discursively feature in explanations of housing choices, how and if they are used in situating oneself as part of a "middle class" and how they are connected to other fields.

Paper short abstract:

For young middle class families, living in the cities of Sweden today, being able to afford a house is becoming harder considering the current market. As an alternative strategy, many consider staying in their rental flats while purchasing a cheap summer cottage sometimes hours away.

Paper long abstract:

For young middle class families, living in the cities of Stockholm and Gothenburg today, being able to afford a house of their own is becoming harder considering the current market. As an alternative strategy, many now consider staying put in their rental flats while purchasing a cheap summer cottage sometimes hours away from the permanent home. Despite the ever rising house prices in and near the city, they are not prepared to give up on the dream of achieving "the good life" for their children. Sometimes this stems from their own childhood in the suburbs and other times from a normative idea of what constitutes the good middleclass life. In my research on "a new generation of holiday home-makers in Sweden", this generations struggle with how to afford staying in the city, where they work, while providing the life they want for their children becomes apparent.

Paper short abstract:

The presentation focuses on strategies and ways of engagement of the middle class in Slovenian cities to ensure themselves a proper living and improve their quality of life. Their responses to urban austerity policies create ethical and practical models of alternative futures.

Paper long abstract:

Austerity measures in Slovenia as well as globally caused not only decrease in the quality of living of the poor and middle class residents, but also encouraged developing of alternative models of dwelling, working, socializing and creating. Co-working, crowdfunding, alternative markets, co-mobility, temporary use of space, urban gardening, community-led renovations and housing cooperatives are only some of the recent initiatives aimed to mitigate global crisis. However, alternative ways of dwelling (in the narrow sense) have been the least developed, probably because of social apartments being built in major cities, apartments available for public workers without property and a drop of the real-estate prices after 2008.

The presentation therefore focuses mostly on initiatives that strive to improve the immediate dwelling environments such as common public spaces between apartment buildings and abandoned construction sites in residential areas. They arrange urban cooperative gardens, initiate community-led renovations of playgrounds, parks and other public spaces, or establish alternative markets for exchange of food or small household appliances and other things only occasionally needed in a household. Although the initiatives are by the rule inclusive, they seem to be the most attractive for middle class inhabitants seeking opportunities to actively co-create their spaces as well as improve their existential conditions. By advocating participative planning, community work and grassroots management of space, the initiatives build alternative communities based on ethical values such as cooperation, inclusion, equality and justice, and develop alternative models of urban living with the potential to solve the anomalies of the current social order.

Paper short abstract:

Employing ethnographic data, the goal of this paper is to examine how post-socialist gated communities and houses with picket fences have become pillars of middle-class’ identities and aspirations but simultaneously spaces of (un)predictable dead-ends.

Paper long abstract:

In a study on the post-socialist materialities of middle-class houses from the suburbs of a Hungarian city, Fehervary (2011) investigates the shift from "the dreams of modernist utopia embedded in ‚man-made' (and thus better than nature) miracle materials like plastic and concrete" to a "neoliberal social order embedded in ‚natural' (in fact super-natural) materials like Bramac roofing tiles." In post-socialist Romania, along with double-glazed windows and other objects that revive the gray flats built during communism, one can also find various vintage objects (i.e., old clocks, smoothing irons, kettles etc.) bought at flea markets. At the same time, the will for autonomy and proximity to nature have also translated into specific middle-class' housing aspirations, e.g., owning a house with picket fences (or "casa pe pâmânt" in Romanian) either in Bucharest's old neighborhoods that were not destroyed by Ceausescu's urban policies or in the city's (mostly rural) suburbs .

Employing ethnographic data, the goal of this paper is to examine how socialist-era flats along with post-socialist gated communities and houses with picket fences have become pillars - as "respectable material standards" (Patico 2008) - of middle-class' identities and aspirations. I will also discuss situations when aspirations conflict with reality by looking at cases when the new owners realize that their houses are located in areas with an extremely poor infrastructure and/or that the costs of utilities are much higher than initially advertised and/or that easy access to (good) kindergartens and schools is severely limited or other umpredictable dead-ends.