Class matters for housing accessibility

The conditions and strategies to gain housing access for lower- and upper-class migrants in Zurich

11/11/2024, h. 12:00 – 14:30
Politecnico di Milano, Campus Leonardo, Edificio 12, Sala riunioni
Piattaforma Teams

The housing accessibility issue is exerting pressure in several European cities, and access to housing is becoming increasingly difficult for a broader range of inhabitants, even in those cities considered economically attractive and competitive, like Zurich. As a result, just and sustainable housing distribution is becoming a matter of privilege.
Migrants are recognized as one of the most vulnerable groups in the housing market: academic research points to specific barriers they encounter accessing dwellings, leading to worse, more precarious, less affordable, and more segregated housing solutions. However, so far, the relationship between housing accessibility and migration phenomenon has been mainly studied from the perspective of the unprivileged and using ethnicity and legal status as main lenses. Not much research has been performed on housing accessibility for migrants from a class perspective.
To close this gap, this seminar elaborates on the intersection of housing accessibility and migration by class and sheds light on the distinct roles different migrant groups play in the urban rental housing market. Our overarching aim is to show that migrating and accessing a home in urban areas is a matter of class and to understand of how and why.

This seminar is organized within the PhD program in Urban Planning, Design and Policy. It is based on the ongoing PhD research carried out by PhD candidate Beatrice Meloni, with the supervision of Prof. Stefania Sabatinelli.

Presentation

Beatrice Meloni, DAStU, Politecnico di Milano

Review

Ifigeneia Dimitrakou – Department of Geography, UZH, Chiara Iacovone – DIST, Politecnico di Torino, Mara Ferreri – DIST, Politecnico di Torino, Marco Peverini – DAStU, Politecnico di Milano

Invited to the discussion

David Kostenwein – SPUR, ETH Ola Söderström – Institute of geography UNINE, Costanzo Ranci – DAStU Politecnico di Milano, Francesca Governa – DIST Politecnico di Torino

Responsabile

Beatrice Meloni