Swedish Research Council fund studies on political participation and housing demolitions
Two researchers at UIL have received funding for projects in the Swedish Research Council’s (VR) latest calls. What the projects have in common is that they shed light on segregation and social cohesion from different perspectives – through housing policy’s most drastic tool and through democracy’s fundamental question of political participation. Together, the projects provide new knowledge that can be used by municipalities, authorities, and civil society.
The third project, Refugee's Political Participation in Times of Restrictive Migration Policies, starts from the observation that voter turnout among people with a refugee background is lower than among the native-born—a pattern shared by many receiving countries. Against the backdrop of policy changes after 2015, where temporary rather than permanent residence permits have become more common, the researchers investigate whether and how the conditions tied to residence permits affect political inclusion. By combining administrative data on actual voter turnout with surveys on political trust and engagement, the project analyzes what a more restrictive migration policy means for the representativeness of democracy at the local and regional levels. The project can provide practically useful knowledge about existing barriers—and what measures can strengthen participation.
The second project, Demolitions of housing – Effects on individuals and neighborhoods, addresses a question that is often discussed but has rarely been evaluated systematically in a Swedish context: what happens when entire blocks are torn down to “break social exclusion”? The research team combines rich historical sources—censuses, population registers, aerial photographs, and detailed development plans—with modern register data to follow both children and adults who were forced to move due to demolitions from the postwar era to the present. The analysis will show how residents’ life chances are affected in the short and long term, but also how the socioeconomic composition changes in the affected neighborhoods when older buildings are replaced with new ones. The project fills an important research gap: existing knowledge is based primarily on experiences from other countries, where housing policy and the social context differ from Sweden’s. By building a Swedish evidence base spanning more than seventy years of experience, the results can provide concrete input for future decision-making processes.
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News about the project Consequences of Demolitions of Residential Buildings and Neighborhoods for Individuals and Areas. Published at Urban Lab's website.