Cities and the housing boom/bust

[i]XVII ISA World Congress of Sociology[/i] July 11-17, 2010 Gothenburg, Sweden Joint session of RC21 Regional and Urban Development and RC43 Housing and Built Environment Organizers: - Manuel Aalbers, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, [url=mailto:m.b.aalbers@gmail.com]m.b.aalbers@gmail.com[/url] - Ken Gibb, University of Glasgow, UK, [url=mailto:k.gibb@socsci.gla.ac.uk]k.gibb@socsci.gla.ac.uk[/url] Housing markets are highly dependent on the economic performance of cities. Yet, local housing market boom/bust is shaped not only at the city level, but also at the national and increasingly as the financial crisis of 2007-2009 makes clear at the global level. Local, national and global factors interact to produce housing booms/busts. A housing boom may be seen as a sign of economic vitality of a city, but also implies an affordability crisis for large parts of the urban population. A housing bust may be connected to an economic downturn and may result in redundant housing in one city and only a pause in increasing house prices in another. Possible topics for this session include, but are not limited to: - The local politics of housing - Examples of housing boom/bust - Analysis of how local, national and global factors interact in shaping housing markets - Local housing effects of the global financial crisis - Booming neighbourhoods in a busting city - Busting neighbourhoods in a booming city - The real estate network as a growth machine [b]If interested, please send an abstract of no more than 200 words to both organizers before October 30, 2009.[/b]