This thesis consists of four self-contained essays. Essay 1 (with Olof Åslund and Matz Dahlberg): In this essay we investigate the impact of commuter train access on individual labor market outcomes. Our study considers the exogenous introduction of a commuter train linking locations in the northern part of Uppsala County (Sweden) to the regional employment center, considerably decreasing commuting times by public transit to the center for those living close to the pre-existing railroad. Using difference-in-differences matching techniques on comprehensive individual panel data spanning over a decade, our intention-to-treat estimates show that the reform had mainly no impact on the earnings and employment development among the affected individuals. Essay 2: In this essay I look into the role of public transit for residential sorting by studying how the introduction of a commuter train linking locations in the northern part of Uppsala County (Sweden) to the regional employment center affected migration patterns in the areas served. Using a difference-in-difference(-in-difference) approach and comprehensive individual level data, I find that the commuter train had a positive effect on overall in-migration to the areas served and no effect on the average out-migration rate from these areas. With regards to sorting based on labor market status, I find no evidence of sorting based on employment status but some evidence that the train introduction increased the probability of moving out of the areas served for individuals with high labor incomes relative to the probability for individuals with lower income. Considering sorting along other lines than labor market status, the analysis suggests that people born in non-western countries came to be particularly attracted towards the areas served by the commuter train as compared to other similar areas. Essay 3: In this essay I look into the relation between housing mix and social mix in metropolitan Stockholm (Sweden) over the period 1990-2008. Using entropy measures, I find that although the distribution of tenure types over metropolitan Stockholm became somewhat more even over the studied period, people living in different tenure types still to a large extent tended to live in different parts of the city in 2008. The degree of residential segregation was much lower between different population groups. I further find that the mix of family types, and over time also of birth region groups and income groups, was rather different between different tenure types in the same municipality. The mix of different groups however tended to be similar within different tenure types in the same neighborhood. While the entropy measures provide a purely descriptive picture, the findings thus suggest that tenure type mix could be more useful for creating social mix at the municipal level than for creating social mix at the neighborhood level. Essay 4 (with Matz Dahlberg): The last decade’s immigration to western European countries has resulted in a culturally and religiously more diverse population in these countries. This diversification manifests itself in several ways, where one is through new features in the cityscape. Using a quasi-experimental approach, essay 4 examines how one such new feature, public calls to prayer, affects neighborhood dynamics (house prices and migration). The quasi-experiment is based on an unexpected political process that lead way to the first public call to prayer from a mosque in Sweden combined with rich (daily) information on housing sales. While our results indicate that the public calls to prayer increased house prices closer to the mosque, we find no evidence that the public calls to prayer served as a driver of residential segregation between natives and people born abroad around the mosque in question (no significant effects on migration behavior). Our findings are consistent with a story where some people have a willingness to pay for the possibility to more fully exert their religion which puts an upward pressure on housing in the vicinity of a mosque with public calls to prayer.

Since the foundation of the Nordic welfare state, architecture and urban planning have been central elements in the creation of post‐war, modern welfare cities. Ideals of healthy, socially conscious and productive capitalist futures have been articulated through housing design, planning strategies and infrastructure projects. Today however, the welfare city is under pressure due to the current crises our cities are facing. Central issues to these crises are housing unaffordability, rising inequality and socio‐ economic segregation. Over the past few decades, urban planners have become more concerned about these themes in relation to our cities. Housing policies have taken a turn to a more market‐ oriented approach and while there are high investments in real estate, affordable housing supply is still lacking behind. On the other hand, new housing policies are arising that should help make cities fairer and more just for everyone, often referred to as inclusionary housing policies. In this research, various housing policies are being investigated to explore how inclusionary housing addresses the current housing distribution and rising inequality in our cities. To introduce this research, a theoretical framework is outlined, introducing four different concepts that revolve around affordable housing: inclusionary housing policies, socio‐economic segregation, social mix and people‐based policies. This is followed by a methodology section and analysis consisting of two separate parts. First, a literature review is conducted to see how each of the described concepts relate to the Nordic context, after which the geographical focus is laid on Copenhagen, Denmark. In the second part of the analysis, a socio‐economic and geographical analysis is conducted, investigating the distribution of different tenure types in the city of Copenhagen. In this case study, a total of four different tenure types are analysed, namely (1) owner‐occupied housing, (2) private rental housing, (3) housing cooperatives and (4) non‐profit housing. Geographical information systems were used to map the change in distribution of each tenure type, for the period of 2000 to 2021. In addition, possible relations to patterns of socio‐economic segregation are explored, by comparing the change in distribution of tenure types to changes in distribution of average income levels. A significant overlap was found between new housing development areas and areas showing a higher average disposable income in 2019 compared to 2000. In regard of this, recent literature have warned that more market involvement in housing is expected to contribute to income disparities and segregation (Van Ham et al., 2016). The obtained results of this research can be considered in light of this, confirming that the distribution of tenure types is related to patterns of segregation. While this research brings new insights on housing developments in Copenhagen, it is suggested that the case of Copenhagen provides more widely applicable warnings for other cities undergoing a similar neoliberalization of the local housing market. This calls for a political shift in housing development, in which housing must be approached as a public good. On top of that, affordable housing should be made accessible and equally distributed around cities, to avoid further processes of socio‐spatial segregation and polarization. To achieve this, political and ideological strategies must be restored in order to build further on a modern welfare state, providing affordable and good housing for all.

One of the key determinants of the “quality” of a neighbourhood is the extent to which owners maintain their properties. Much has been written about the impact of neighbourhood blight or the physically rejuvenating impact of gentrification. To better understand why some neighbourhoods are thriving, and others not, a critical variable that has seen little exploration is the type of tenure. This thesis, focused mostly on data from the City of Rochester NY, comparing absentee landlords, resident landlords and owner-occupiers, looking for differences in the level of maintenance of residential properties. Using a procedure developed by the author, every house in Rochester, Buffalo, and Syracuse containing 1-6 units was assessed, creating a quantitative analysis that is both more current, and on a much larger scale than previous work. Findings mostly confirmed observations and theories in the literature, but there were a number of significant differences. The key observation within Rochester was that, regardless of geographic scale, absentee owners consistently took the worst care of their properties, followed by resident landlords and then owner-occupiers. Further, size and type of absentee landlord mattered. Tenure was found to be the driving force in predicting maintenance outcomes, compounded by variables such as property values and race. Evidence from Buffalo and Syracuse indicated that findings may be generalizable, at least for declining industrial cities. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)