Brussels Studies Institute (BSI)

Mapping housing insecurity and residential markets dynamics

Processes of restructuring housing markets are underway. They are related to several combined new trends such as the emergence of rental digital platforms, remote work, new migratory fluxes and financialization of housing, among others. Those processes often result in displacement for some urban residents who are priced out of housing markets. Even if not displaced, the rise in rental housing prices in some locations forces some individuals and families to spend over half of their income on housing costs. The burden of rental costs as well as evictions and displacements are transforming lives. Yet little is known about the prevalence and causes of housing insecurity, since most of the effects are lived as if they were individual and as such, they are mostly invisible at the city level, preventing policy makers and communities to take them into consideration in their actions.

To unearth and make such movements visible requires methodologies that take into account, not only where and how processes of displacements and acute situations of inaffordability are taking place, but also the logics of residential markets that drive evictions, and the interconnections which link both, together and with public policies.

Researchers, students and web designers in different countries have developed “evictions observatories” mobilizing cartographic methods as well as different sorts of databases to identify, map and analyze threats and actual evictions.  These observatories’ purposes are to understand and to influence the dynamics, urban projects and policies that lead to evictions.

The workshop will consist of two parts: in the first one, different methodologies will be shared with participants (multi-scalar mapping of threats and evictions that combines collaborative cartographic processes, ethnographic research strategies and methods for mining and analyzing data).

In the second one, participants will try to collectively draft a map of residential market dynamics in Brussels, using available data, technical reports and academic studies to identify “hot spots” of housing insecurity, as well as projects, regulations and plans which may interact with it.

*As only a limited number of people can participate in the workshop, if you are interested in taking part in this workshop, please send an email to info@bsi.brussels stating why and how you would like to contribute to the workshop.