published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

published_or_final_version / Real Estate and Construction / Master / Master of Science in Real Estate and Construction

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

Residential crowding is frequently associated with impoverished segments of the population, often living in distressed neighbourhoods, and with detrimental consequences for crowded households. The aim of this thesis is to apply a sociological and historical perspective on residential crowding by analyzing Swedish governmental texts and quantitative survey data. Politically defined welfare standards, as well as the subjective experience of crowding are analyzed and interpreted through sociological welfare and governmentality theory. The arguments justifying the official governmental standards on residential crowding – first formulated in the mid-1930s – are explored in a discourse analysis. The analysis shows that there is a strong link between what is regarded to be appropriate dwelling space and what is regarded to be morally good housing conditions. In the 1930s and 1940s experts’ decided on what was adequate dwelling space, however in the mid- 1980s experts’ ability to decide on dwelling space was highly questioned. Instead it became an individual responsibility to decide on how to reside. Hence, what constitutes morally good and morally bad dwelling conditions is debated and dispersed on many actors. Two parallel discourses on crowding, a ”gentrified” and a “distressed” are further explored by analyzing the data from a survey study. Subjective as well as objective elements are analyzed by relating socio-economic profiles of the crowded residents in a distressed and a gentrified neighbourhood. Despite income differences within the crowded population, depending on what neighbourhood you live in, the crowded residents in all neighbourhoods experience less freedom regarding their dwelling situation than do non-crowded residents. The least amount of freedom is experienced by those who are crowded both according to the Swedish housing standard and according to a subjective measure of crowding.

Unlike major cities across the country, New Orleans did not have the power to expropriate property to engage in urban renewal projects after 1954. Yet city officials desperately sought to meet the ends of urban renewal, specifically through public claims of slum clearance and private motivation to speed along neighborhood segregation. Hamstrung in their efforts to move forward with taking residents' homes for private redevelopment, the city worked to reach its urban renewal goals by taking property for public works projects, including public housing. The city's decision to build the Guste and Fischer housing projects represents a case study of how officials, including Mayor deLesseps “Chep” Morrison, the City Planning Commission, and the Housing Authority of New Orleans, worked together to create a more racially separate city in the age of Brown v. Board of Education.

This research paper examines China's urban housing reform with a historical perspective, which provides an insight into current housing policy. In the past two decades, urban housing in China has been under a drastic transformation. As a critical component of the economy, the housing sector has played a very active role in restructuring China's economic system. The housing reform has encountered significant resistance. This research focuses on the property rights issue, which is a major concern in housing reform. With a comparative approach, the study addresses the basic research question, what are the fundamental barriers in urban housing reform. The research also involves a comprehensive review of the concept of the property rights and related issues in Western countries to establish a theoretical framework for furthering China's housing reform in term of property rights. The research also involves an inspection of housing reform in selected post-socialist countries to explore alternative transformation policies. Further housing reform policy is also articulated. / Master of Urban and Regional Planning