In recent years, academic research has observed how home-making processes and strategies (mostly of young people) have changed and how housing needs are today fulfilled differently than in the past (e.g. remaining in the private sector [‘Generation Rent], postponement of home-ownership, downsizing, co-living) (e.g. Coulter & Kuleszo 2024, McKee et al. 2017, Ronald et al. 2016). This changes mainly occur due to the contemporary ‘housing crisis’, observed globally and in most European countries (Aalbers 2015). Housing aspirations are thereby often stable over time, even though unable to be fulfilled, orientating towards aspirations of the past (Crawford & McKee 2018; Preece et al. 2020). Equally, research has found evidence on changing residential patterns in the context of diverse crisis, e.g. the financial crisis or the COVID-19 pandemic leading to movements down the urban hiearchy (Gkartzios 2013; Stawarz et al. 2022).

In the session, we aim to gather research that is dedicated to questions of (changing) residential and housing aspirations and preferences over Europe. The session aims to jointly discuss research focusing on changing aspirations, preferences and trajectories, both concerning housing types and the residential location. The session intends to put the spotlight on different challenges in different locations and spatial contexts over Europe and discuss not only different trends and challenges, but further also reflect on different methodological approaches, different concepts and methods with the aim to benefit from this exchange for future research and implications for policy and practice.

We address researcher and authors that are active in research (basic and applied research) on the following topics (although not limited to these):

– Patterns of residential im/mobilities and housing preferences or aspirations

– Novel methodological approaches on how to measure housing/residential aspirations: qualitative and quantitative methods

– Conceptual reflections on residential and/or housing aspirations or preferences

– Residential and housing aspirations by socio-economic status or by ethnic groups

– Societal and planning implications on changing aspirations and patterns

Aalbers, M. B. (2015). The great moderation, the great excess and the global housing crisis.International Journal of Housing Policy, 15(1), 43–60. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616718.2014.997431

Crawford, J., & McKee, K. (2018). Hysteresis: understanding the housing aspirations gap. Sociology, 52(1), 182-197.

Preece, J., Crawford, J., McKee, K., Flint, J., & Robinson, D. (2020). Understanding changing housing aspirations: A review of the evidence. Housing Studies, 35(1), 87-106.

Ronald, R., Druta, O., & Godzik, M. (2018). Japan’s urban singles: negotiating alternatives to family households and standard housing pathways. Urban Geography, 39(7), 1018–1040. https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2018.1433924

Stawarz, N., Rosenbaum‐Feldbrügge, M., Sander, N., Sulak, H., & Knobloch, V. (2022). The impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on internal migration in Germany: A descriptive analysis. Population, Space and Place, 28(6), e2566.