Inequalities' Impacts: State of the Art Review

By way of introduction This report provides the fi rm foundation for anchoring the research that will be performed by the GINI project. It subsequently considers the fi elds covered by each of the main work packages: ● inequalities of income, wealth and education, ● social impacts, ● political and cultural impacts, and ● policy effects on and of inequality. Though extensive this review does not pretend to be exhaustive. The review may be “light” in some respects and can be expanded when the analysis evolves. In each of the four fi elds a signifi cant number of discussion papers will be produced, in total well over 100. These will add to the state of the art while also covering new round and generating results that will be incorporated in the Analysis Reports to be prepared for the work packages. In that sense, the current review provides the starting point. At the same time, the existing body of knowledge is broader or deeper depending on the particular fi eld and its tradition of research. The very motivation of GINI’s focused study of the impacts of inequalities is that a systematic study is lacking and relatively little is known about those impacts. This also holds for the complex collection of, the effects that inequality can have on policy making and the contributions that policies can make to mitigating inequalities but also to enhancing them. By contrast, analyses of inequality itself are many, not least because there is a wide array of inequalities; inequalities have become more easily studied comparatively and much of that analysis has a signifi cant descriptive fl avour that includes an extensive discussion of measurement issues. @GINI hopes to go beyond that and cover the impacts of inequalities at the same time

Between Two Places : Emigrant Integration and Identity: A Case Study of Irish-born People Living in England

Despite net in-migration to Ireland in the last years of the twentieth century, large numbers of Irish people continued to leave the country on an annual basis (29,000 is the estimate for 1999). Their primary destination was England where, according to the last British Census (1991), the Irish are the largest ethnic minority in England. This report reveals the findings of a case study of Irish emigrants living in England, drawing on data from a variety of sources including the British census, surveys, focus groups and interviews with employees of Irish agencies in England. The research was conducted by Dr. Nessa Winston of the Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University College Dublin for the Irish National Committee of the European Cultural Foundation.11/11/2013. SB

Multifamily Housing and Resident Life Satisfaction: Evidence from the European Social Survey

Much of the literature on sustainable communities and compact cities calls for higher density housing including multifamily dwellings. Some case studies suggest problems with such dwellings. However, rigorous comparative research on this topic has not been conducted to date. This paper draws on a high quality, comparative dataset, the European Social Survey, to analyse a) the quality of multifamily dwellings in European urban areas, b) the characteristics of residents of these dwellings, c) their life satisfaction compared with those living in detached housing and d) the relative importance of built form in explaining life satisfaction. One of the main findings from the multivariate analyses is that built form, including residing in multifamily housing, is not a statistically significant predictor of life satisfaction when you control for standard predictors of life satisfaction (e.g. health, employment and income) and housing and neighbourhood quality

Sustainable housing: A case study of the Cloughjordan Eco-village

In 2007, the development of Ireland's first eco-village began in the small town of Cloughjordan, which is in a scenic rural area of the midlands region in Ireland. Approximately 1.5hours from the capital city of Dublin, it is accessible by train from a number of urban centres. In the past the town had suffered from both population decline and population ageing. Some of its key services, such as the bank, post office and a school, were either under threat or had already closed. However, the town and its hinterland are rich in both natural and social amenities. Before embarking on the empirical analysis of the Village, which is based on interviews with a range of stakeholders and local residents as well as site visits and documentary research, it is useful to reflect on the concept of sustainable housing.DG 18/10/201

"Experiencing the system: Social integration in the European Union"

There is considerable debate about the effects of European integration on different forms of identification (sub-national, national and European). Using European survey data, this paper examines identification change in the European Union (EU) between 1973 and 1990. The results show that identification has remained fairly static during this period. In particular, the fact that European identification is low and has not increased over time suggests that social integration in the EU is very limited. This paper also advances and tests a conceptual framework for the study of European identification. My main hypothesis is that the more European citizens experience the EU in their daily lives, the more likely they will be to identify with it. The types of experiences examined include social, economic and cultural experiences and evaluations of these experiences compared with those of the nation state. Empirical findings support this hypothesis

Learning from the "leaders" ? Lessons for the creation or regeneration of more sustainable housing and communities in the European Union

ENHR International Conference 2013 : Overcoming the crisis: integrating the urban environment, June 19-22, 2013, TarragonaRecent research has identified a number of ‘leader’ countries with regard to the sustainability of urban housing (Winston, 2013). Drawing on the relevant literature in housing and planning, it outlined a number of criteria for assessing sustainable housing included: mixed use developments; public transport usage; higher residential densities; high quality dwellings and neighborhoods; housing affordability; food production; greenhouse gas emissions; and renewable energy use. Drawing on data from the 2007 tranche of the European Quality of life Survey, the paper ranked each country on the sustainability of its urban housing and communities according to each of the aforementioned criteria (see Table 1 for indicators and measures). It found significant variations between countries and highlighted leaders and laggards in this regard (see Table 2).11/11/2013. SB

Urban Regeneration for a Sustainable City: The role of housing

Other funder'IRCHSS Awards' - Scheme 4: Research Fellowship 2007Author has checked copyright18/10/201

Sustainable communities? A comparative perspective on urban housing in the European context

Housing: Local Welfare and Local Markets in a Globalised World. European Network for Housing Researchers Annual Conference., June, 2012This paper examines the sustainability of urban housing in the European Union. It outlines a number of key criteria for assessing the sustainability of urban housing including mixed use developments, higher residential densities, high quality dwellings and neighbourhoods, affordability and food production. Utilising the 2007 tranche of the European Quality of Life Survey, it finds significant variations between countries in the sustainability of urban housing and communities and highlights the leaders and laggards in this regard. The relative success of urban areas in Denmark and Finland deserves some additional research, although there is scope for considerable improvement even in these ‘leader’ countries. The paper highlights significant problems with housing and communities in some Southern and some Eastern European urban locations, in particular Portugal, Hungary and Poland and Greece.Author has checked copyrightDG 18/10/2012Names JG 2012-11-2

Dwelling type and quality of life in urban areas: evidence from the European Social Survey

Much of the literature on sustainable communities and compact cities calls for higher density housing. However, case studies suggest that there can be problems with multi-unit dwellings. Problems identified include inadequate space, noise pollution, suitability for families and children, and a lack of personal green/outdoor space. These studies raise questions about the quality of life, life satisfaction and liveability for its residents. Some suggest that residing in these dwellings is likely to be short-term, that those who can do so relocate to lower density housing over time. However, rigorous comparative research on this topic has not been conducted to date. This paper draws on comparative data from the European Social Survey to analyse: the quality of multi-family dwellings in European urban areas; the characteristics of residents of these dwellings, and their quality of life compared with those living in detached housing

Young People's Trajectories through Irish Housing Booms and Busts: headship, housing and labour market access among the under 30s since the late 1960s

The economic, social and demographic history of the Republic of Ireland since World War II is distinctive in western European terms. While many of her neighbours experienced strong economic and population growth during the post war decades, resulting in unprecedented prosperity for the generation born during the post war baby boom, Ireland experienced economic stagnation and population decline during the 1950s, punctuated by a period of growth in the 1960s and early 1970s, until the traditional pattern of economic stagnation was reinstated in the 1980s (Kennedy et al 1988). This longstanding pattern of economic under performance changed in the mid 1990s with the advent of the ‘Celtic Tiger’ economic boom and during the decade which followed Ireland’s economic growth caught up with and then surpassed the western European average, employment and household disposable income grew radically and the Irish population expanded by 20 per cent (Clinch et al 2002).12/11/13 R