Verrier, C. (2023, March). Making sense of a new national context in comparative housing: personal and systemic reflections of a researcher’s journey in France. In Diaconu, A. (Ed.) Proceedings of the RE-DWELL Grenoble Conference (pp. 23-25). Pacte Social Sciences Research Centre, University Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France.

Considering the complex meshing behind housing systems, the fact that housing policies are highly contextual is nothing groundbreaking. Variegated political and institutional pathways, economic conditions, the state of the housing stock, or simply socio-culturally constructed housing aspirations each singularly shape the ways housing systems function so as to—in an ideal world—provide decent homes for all. This complexity leads to a particular set of challenges for comparative housing researchers.

For example, anyone discussing ‘social housing’ across national boundaries needs to account for the wide variations in the meaning of the term, which may refer to very different objects in different countries (Scanlon et al., 2014). It could refer solely to publicly owned units offered as a last resort option for the most vulnerable (like in the United States), while it may also refer to a broad tenure type geared at a range of household types by a wide variety of actors, whether public, not for profit or collective (such as a in Sweden or Singapore). In fact, even the previous sentences are oversimplifications, as only a—relatively—lengthy discussion of national specificities of different cases studied allows to create a space for comparison and differentiation (Haffner et al., 2009). In fact, defining and building understandings are a central piece of most comparative housing literature publications.

Yet, this relatively well acknowledged difficulty hides a wider conceptual issue; the words underpinning these definitions and differentiations tend to prevent leading researchers from making full sense of the various logics, institutions and actor behaviors operating within a specific housing system.In fact, where the literature is quite explicit on the multiple variations across contexts and what they mean for comparative work. Indeed, there is little interest given to the actual learning process, how individual researchers acquire the knowledge necessary to carry research on housing, whether at home or abroad. Ultimately, this poses a challenge for comparative work, specifically: how can one effectively understand the national specificities of an ‘external’ housing system to an extent that would result in meaningful comparative work.

Stemming as a reflection on van Heur’s (2020) call to better integrate personal histories and the role of researchers positionality in affecting the knowledge they produce, this contribution will reflect both the personal and systemic aspects involved in the process of “learning” a new housing system. Especially when it comes to carrying comparative work involving policies, institutions, and actors.

The presentation will be articulated around the personal experience of the author in “learning” the French and Dutch housing system, as well as a comparison of the syllabus of housing courses from different universities in France, the Netherlands, Canada and Austria. Ultimately, it aims to underline in which ways the intersection between the initial perspective of the researcher as well as the specific idiosyncrasies of the researched system can allow to open new avenues. Similarly, it will also underline the difficulties involved in the process as well as possible shortcomings that can lead to issues, from cultural faux pas to incorrect inferences. Ultimately, this contribution aims to encourage housing researchers to reflect on the impact of their own frame of reference when engaging in comparative work.

References

Haffner, M., Hoekstra, J., Oxley, M., & van der Heijden, H. (2009). Bridging the gap between social and market rented housing in six European countries? (Vol. 33). IOS Press.

Scanlon, K., Whitehead, C., & Fernandez Arrigoita, M. (2014). Introduction. In K. Scanlon, C. Whitehead, & M. Fernandez Arrigoita (Eds.), Social Housing in Europe (pp. 1–20). Wiley & Sons.

Van Heur, B. (2020). Urban geography as if urban knowledge matters. Urban Geography, 41(5), 694–702.comp