Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER)
Maison des Sciences Humaines
11, Porte des Sciences
L-4366 Esch-sur-Alzette / Belval
Salle de conférence (1st floor)
seminars@liser.lu
Abstract
Patterns of property ownership are a rising concern in urban studies, housing studies, and the social sciences more broadly. They feature prominently in current debates on a variety of themes, including gentrification, housing financialization, property wealth concentration, short-term rentals, or tax evasion and money laundering. Detailed knowledge on property ownership remains limited, however, particularly on the micro level of land plots. For most contexts, we do not know much about who owns real estate, despite increasingly available micro level data, such as land registries or tax records, and growing computing power to analyse such data. The presentation provides insights into an ongoing research project that investigates patterns of property ownership in the case of Vienna, Austria. I will discuss conceptual and procedural aspects as well as challenges of constructing a property ownership database (PropOwnVienna). I will then present current applications of the database in a number of smaller research projects that draw on either quantitative or qualitative methods. I will end by reflecting on future research directions.
Biography
Justin Kardi is Assistant Professor in Planning and Housing at the Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge. Trained in urban studies, housing studies and urban planning, he researches transformations in housing systems and how they are reshaping social and spatial inequalities. He has previously worked at the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, the Bauhaus-Universitaet Weimar, Germany, as well as Vienna University of Technology, Austria, where he was Head of Housing Research at the Department of Public Finance and Infrastructure Policy. He is Associate Editor of the International Journal of Housing Policy, was a member of the editorial collective of suburban. Zeitschrift für kritische Stadtforschung (2016-2023), as well as Editor in Chief of the multi-disciplinary journal The Public Sector (2017-2023). He is also joint coordinator of the working group Homeownership and Globalization in the European Network for Housing Research. His research has been featured in more than 150 media reports in, among others, The New York Times, The New Statesman, Arte TV, Der Spiegel, EFE and ORF.
