Policy movement in housing research: a critical interpretative synthesis

Soaita, A. M. , Marsh, A. and Gibb, K. (2023) Policy movement in housing research: a critical interpretative synthesis. Housing Studies, 38(1), pp. 107-127. (doi: 10.1080/02673037.2021.1879999)

Abstract

The movement of housing policy across space/time has attracted considerable policy and scholarly interest. But once we accept that policy moves, interesting questions arise. Particularly: what is it that moves? Why do some policies move but others do not? Academic conversations have involved concepts like “policy diffusion”, “policy transfer”, “lesson-drawing”, “fast policy”, “policy mobility” and “policy translation” - but a clear picture of how these concepts have been used to interpret housing policy developments is absent. Through systematic bibliographical searches, we identified 55 ‘housing’ publications to review. Our concern is the theoretical assumptions underlying these studies and their implications for the questions stated above. Through a grounded analysis, we identified ‘dominant knowledge’ as the key element shaping housing policy movement; highlighted five strategic conditions for mobility (summarized as ontological, ideological, institutional, legitimizing devices, and contingency); presented the sporadic engagement with questions of immobility; and synthesized authors’ policy recommendations, particularly their calls for deeper engagement with the people affected by policies.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Soaita, Dr Adriana Mihaela and Gibb, Professor Ken
• Authors: Soaita, A. M., Marsh, A., and Gibb, K.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Urban Studies
• Journal Name: Housing Studies
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• ISSN: 0267-3037
• ISSN (Online): 1466-1810
• Published Online: 08 February 2021
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 The Author(s).
• First Published: First published in Housing Studies 38(1): 107-127
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
300119		UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence (CaCHE)	Kenneth Gibb	Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)	ES/P008852/1	S&PS - Urban Studies