New Books in Sociology

Yuca Meubrink, "Inclusionary Housing and Urban Inequality in London and New York City: Gentrification Through the Back Door" (Routledge, 2024)

Feb 7, 2025

Yuca Meubrink, a social scientist and researcher at the Berlin Brandenburg Academy, dives into the nuanced impacts of inclusionary housing in London and New York City. He critiques the controversial 'poor door' practice, where affordable units are segregated from wealthier ones, revealing how these policies often exacerbate gentrification rather than alleviate it. Meubrink explores the complexities of urban policies and their failure to address true social equity, emphasizing the need for interdisciplinary collaboration to reform housing strategies.

54:43

Episode guests

Yuca Meubrink

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Quick takeaways

Inclusionary housing programs often exacerbate urban inequality by fostering social division, exemplified by the 'poor door' phenomenon in London and New York City.

The architectural design of inclusionary housing projects leads to spatial segregation, hindering meaningful interactions and undermining the goal of socio-economic integration.

Deep dives

Inclusionary Housing and Urban Inequality

Inclusionary housing is a policy intended to promote affordable housing in newly developed residential areas, but it often has unintended consequences, contributing to urban inequality. The concept gained prominence in cities like London and New York, where mayors have championed it as a solution to housing crises. However, despite the rhetoric, many of these developments have resulted in segregated living situations, such as the infamous 'poor doors' where low-income residents have separate entrances from wealthier tenants. These policies are frequently critiqued for perpetuating social divides rather than fostering truly integrated communities.

Intro

2min

Exploring Inclusionary Housing and Urban Inequality

14min

Exploring Inclusionary Housing and Urban Inequality

11min

Inclusionary Housing: A Dual Perspective

10min

Inclusionary Housing and Urban Inequality

12min

Exploring Urban Inequality and Sustainability in Housing

4min

Municipalities around the world have increasingly used inclusionary housing programs to address their housing shortages. Inclusionary Housing and Urban Inequality in London and New York City: Gentrification Through the Back Door (Routledge, 2024) problematizes those programs in London and New York City by offering an empirical, research-based perspective on the socio-spatial dimensions of inclusionary housing approaches in both cities. The aim of those programs is to produce affordable housing and foster greater socio-economic inclusion by mandating or incentivizing private developers to include affordable housing units within their market-rate residential developments.

The starting point of this book is the so-called “poor door” practice in London and New York City, which results in mixed-income developments with separate entrances for “affordable housing” and wealthier market-rate residents. Focusing on this “poor door” practice allowed for a critical look at the housing program behind it. By exploring the relationship between inclusionary housing, new-build gentrification, and austerity urbanism, this book highlights the complexity of the planning process and the ambivalences and interdependencies of the actors involved. Thereby, it provides evidence that the provision of affordable housing or social mixing through this program has only limited success and, above all, that it promotes – in a sense through the “back door” – the very gentrification and displacement mechanisms it is supposed to counteract. This book will be of interest to researchers and students of housing studies, planning, and urban sociology, as well as planners and policymakers who are interested in the consequences of their own housing programs.

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