Because housing is a multidisciplinary, fragmented field of research, investigators are faced with the difficult task of pulling together information scattered in a wide variety of narrowly focused sources. In this volume, comprehensive, current knowledge encompassing the field as a whole is offered for the first time. Twenty-eight specialists in the major subdisciplines provide up-to-date information on the social, economic, environmental, policy, and architectural dimensions of housing and the built environment, together with extensive bibliographies for each topic. Creating a comprehensive framework for study and research in the field, this handbook will be helpful to planners, architects, developers, and citizens groups in addition to academics in promoting better understanding of the broader issues of housing.

The book is timely, and the arguments easy to follow . . . extensive references accompany each title. Choice A most valuable overview of the responses of the housing sector in different countries to changing local priorities. This volume clearly demonstrates the substantial and uneven consequences of recent trends toward greater fiscal restraint. L. S. Bourne, Center for Urban and Community Studies, University of Toronto The past 15 years have witnessed a period of fiscal austerity in North America and Western Europe. This period of financial restraint has been accompanied by shifts in government housing policy and private investment in housing. This important collection of original articles on the subject will be of great significance to geographers, urban planners, urban economists, and all others interested in recent trends in housing policy. Risa Palm, Professor of Geography, University of Colorado

This important new source provides greater insight into and awareness of housing experiences in other societies, allowing for a more informed assessment of our own national experiences and priorities. This unique compilation points to the value of cross-national work when dealing with these complex issues. ChoiceHousing issues and policy problems are both universal in scope and, at the same time, inherently specific to a given time and place. All countries are wrestling with their own housing problems and with the everyday mechanics of housing supply and regulation. Specific problems vary immensely from country to country and the policy instruments and institutions chosen to address those problems vary. As the chapters in this volume make clear, definitions of housing problems and approaches to housing policies are firmly embedded in particular national and cultural contexts.A long-awaited signal publication, this book is an important new source of analyses and information necessary to understand these contexts. It also is a major work of reference that provides the raw materials for undertaking comparative studies of housing issues and policy problems. The contributors are renowned authorities in the field who demonstrate how housing is worldwide an integral component of a nation's financial system, its social structure, and its political and policy making apparatus. Because this book provides greater insight in and awareness of experiences in other societies, it allows for a more informed assessment of our own national experiences and priorities. As the contributors make clear, there are no complete or simple solutions to contemporary housing problems. This unique compilation points to the value of cross-national work when dealing with these complex issues. It will be essential reading for scholars and policymakers alike who are concerned with housing issues.

This book is a selection of edited papers, most of which were initially presented at an international conference held under the auspices of the Ad Hoc Committee on Housing and the Built Environment of the International Sociological Association. It represents a relevant sample of the literature on recent developments in and current research on housing and neighborhoods. It focuses attention on the nature of housing and urban research at present and gives a sense of the directions in which the field is evolving.

Because housing is a multidisciplinary, fragmented field of research, investigators are faced with the difficult task of pulling together information scattered in a wide variety of narrowly focused sources. In this volume, comprehensive, current knowledge encompassing the field as a whole is offered for the first time. Twenty-eight specialists in the major subdisciplines provide up-to-date information on the social, economic, environmental, policy, and architectural dimensions of housing and the built environment, together with extensive bibliographies for each topic. Creating a comprehensive framework for study and research in the field, this handbook will be helpful to planners, architects, developers, and citizens groups in addition to academics in promoting better understanding of the broader issues of housing.

The book is timely, and the arguments easy to follow . . . extensive references accompany each title. Choice A most valuable overview of the responses of the housing sector in different countries to changing local priorities. This volume clearly demonstrates the substantial and uneven consequences of recent trends toward greater fiscal restraint. L. S. Bourne, Center for Urban and Community Studies, University of Toronto The past 15 years have witnessed a period of fiscal austerity in North America and Western Europe. This period of financial restraint has been accompanied by shifts in government housing policy and private investment in housing. This important collection of original articles on the subject will be of great significance to geographers, urban planners, urban economists, and all others interested in recent trends in housing policy. Risa Palm, Professor of Geography, University of Colorado

This important new source provides greater insight into and awareness of housing experiences in other societies, allowing for a more informed assessment of our own national experiences and priorities. This unique compilation points to the value of cross-national work when dealing with these complex issues. ChoiceHousing issues and policy problems are both universal in scope and, at the same time, inherently specific to a given time and place. All countries are wrestling with their own housing problems and with the everyday mechanics of housing supply and regulation. Specific problems vary immensely from country to country and the policy instruments and institutions chosen to address those problems vary. As the chapters in this volume make clear, definitions of housing problems and approaches to housing policies are firmly embedded in particular national and cultural contexts.A long-awaited signal publication, this book is an important new source of analyses and information necessary to understand these contexts. It also is a major work of reference that provides the raw materials for undertaking comparative studies of housing issues and policy problems. The contributors are renowned authorities in the field who demonstrate how housing is worldwide an integral component of a nation's financial system, its social structure, and its political and policy making apparatus. Because this book provides greater insight in and awareness of experiences in other societies, it allows for a more informed assessment of our own national experiences and priorities. As the contributors make clear, there are no complete or simple solutions to contemporary housing problems. This unique compilation points to the value of cross-national work when dealing with these complex issues. It will be essential reading for scholars and policymakers alike who are concerned with housing issues.

This book is a selection of edited papers, most of which were initially presented at an international conference held under the auspices of the Ad Hoc Committee on Housing and the Built Environment of the International Sociological Association. It represents a relevant sample of the literature on recent developments in and current research on housing and neighborhoods. It focuses attention on the nature of housing and urban research at present and gives a sense of the directions in which the field is evolving.