The Project - Analysis methods

The methodical approach of this project is multi-disciplinary, combining the methods of statistics, economics, sociology, demography, housing research, urban geography and cultural sciences. It is a comparative study in which the connections between the problems of social integration and housing will be analysed using information from six EU member states. These are Austria, France, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands and United Kingdom. Since these six states are subject to a vast range of different demographic, socioeconomic and cultural conditions, the results of the study will contribute to solving these problems at European level.
The above-mentioned four main questions will first be answered for each of the six member states involved and a report will be published for each. For the first two questions (a and b) the overall situation in the country will be the focus of description and analysis. For the third question (c) the situation in an important urban agglomeration in the respective country will also be examined. After the individual reports for the member states have been completed a comparative and summarising final part of the full report will be prepared. This will pay special attention to prospects for reform mentioned in the fourth question (d) and will draw conclusions from the analyses carried out in the six member states.
Four phases of investigation will be carried out in each of the member states involved in this research in order to answer the above-mentioned questions and other questions arising from them.

Analysis of the current crisis of social cohesion with special regard to growing risks of poverty, the transformation in family and demographic structures and increasing social and ethnic inequality.
Analysis of the development of the housing system: past transformations, the present situation and future prospects.
Description of the interconnections between the development of housing systems and the current crisis of social cohesion, paying particular attention to the problems mentioned in point 1 (the main questions a - c will be answered here).
Preparation of possible strategies aimed at optimising the role of housing systems in overcoming the current crisis of social cohesion, with special regard to the problems mentioned in point 1 (question d will be answered here).

The investigation of current problems of inequality and social cohesion mentioned in point 1 will not be a new version of numerous poverty and integration studies already carried out. Analysis will far more be concentrated on those aspects relevant to the examples outlined in the previous section which are closely connected to conditions within the respective housing systems. Conversely, investigation of the individual housing systems will particularly concentrate on those dimensions connected to the examples in the previous section which are highly relevant to problems of inequality and disintegration.
In setting out the dimensions of the investigation, it is particularly important to pay attention to those variables for which high quality comparable data is available in all member states. Only by following this principle is quantitative verification of the general conclusions from the comparative analyses possible.
Furthermore, it should be noted that some of the connections between housing provision and the problem of integration to be investigated in this project are extremely complex. It does not therefore make sense to investigate the isolated influence of individual housing policy parameters on the extent and type of segregation phenomena. It is far more important to work out the relevant effects of the interplay between various strands of housing policy, paying special attention to subsidy, rent and renovation policy. The questions arising can only be dealt with in a methodically sound manner based on a multi-dimensional typology of the various housing systems.