Eluasemeuuringute uurimisrühm
Housing Inequalities research group
Department of Geography,
Introduction
The Housing Inequalities research group, led by Tiit Tammaru, brings together researchers from various disciplines at the University of Tartu. The group is dedicated to understanding the mechanisms shaping residential segregation and housing inequalities across different welfare and housing regimes. Its primary research areas include residential mobility and how sorting into housing tenures and neighbourhoods is linked to access to broader urban opportunities such as schools, workplaces, and leisure spaces. This research contributes to the evolving discourse on segregation and housing from the longitudinal and activity space-based perspectives, where housing plays a central role in shaping urban opportunities and inequalities. The group has introduced the concept of a “vicious circle of segregation”, which examines how housing-related inequalities are generated and perpetuated across generations, being correlated with inequalities in other important activity places, including workplaces, schools, and leisure activities.
Research Group Highlights:
A leading research group in Europe on residential mobility, housing inequalities, and segregation, composed of senior and junior researchers, postdocs, and PhD students.
Lead partner in the international “Urban Inequality and Segregation Lab” network (segregationlab.com).
Regular publications in prestigious journals in the field of housing such as Urban Studies, Housing Studies, Regional Studies, Nature Human Behaviour and so on.
Lead editors for key publications, including Socio-economic Segregation in European Capital Cities (Springer) and Towards an Equity-Centred Model of Sustainable Mobility (Journal of Transport Geography).
National contact point for URBACT and ESPON, pan-European networks focused on best practices in urban and regional planning.
Developed the Migration Calculator (mc.ut.ee), a web tool for urban and regional population projections, uncovering the geographic shifts in housing demand.
This combination of cutting-edge research and data infrastructure allows the group to make significant contributions to understanding housing inequalities and developing strategies for sustainable and inclusive urban development.
Focus Areas in the Current Project
The group’s contribution to the Centre of Excellence (CoE) focuses on understanding how housing inequalities are formed and how to implement the Renovation Wave in a socially and regionally inclusive way. It seeks to link housing renovation with issues such as affordability and access to other urban opportunities within market-driven housing systems. The research will engage with the discussions on the eco-social paradox, which posits that sustainability and equity goals are often in conflict with each other. For example, housing renovation can increase property values, making already expensive central city housing even less affordable for middle- and lower-income families, forcing them to seek affordable homes in the suburbs or beyond. This, in turn, increases commuting distances and the ecological footprint of daily mobility. Additionally, the digital transition and the rise of remote working are enabling wealthier families to diversify their housing choices, reshaping both housing demand and daily mobility patterns. Hence, changes in housing demand and changes in daily mobility need to be jointly considered.
The group will investigate longitudinal building-level changes in housing together with building-level changes in the population composition to assess the social and regional inclusiveness of the Renovation Wave. It will dig into questions such as whether living in sustainable, energy-efficient housing—such as renovated homes—correlates with individuals adopting more sustainable transportation choices, such as cycling, walking, or using public transport. To advance this research, the group provides the CoE with an advanced census and registry-based data infrastructure developed in collaboration with Statistics Estonia within the Infotechnological Mobility Observatory (imo.ut.ee).
In a nutshell, the key research topics within the CofE include:
Geographic shifts in housing demand within the context of green and digital transitions.
The relationship between housing and neighbourhood characteristics and the residential mobility of different demographic groups (e.g., age, income, ethnicity), with particular emphasis on housing affordability.
Linkages between different housing situations, including renovated homes, and modal choices (i.e., modes of transport), with a specific focus on whether sustainable housing options and sustainable mobility choices reinforce each other.
The research utilises longitudinal individual and housing-level register data to detect longer term evolution of the Renovation Wave, alongside a mobile phone-based tracking to investigate daily activity spaces. This comprehensive approach employs a mix of longitudinal, GIS, and qualitative research methods to better understand how housing and mobility choices intersect in implementing the Renovation Wave.
Societal impact
To enhance the social relevance and impact of the research, the team collaborates closely with key stakeholders involved in housing renovation, including city governments and housing associations. This collaborative approach ensures that the findings are translated into practical applications and policy recommendations. Three key issues that underpin this collaborative approach are:
Affordability and Access to Housing: The collaboration aims to find out how to achieve a breakthrough in deep renovation of houses without significantly deteriorating affordability. By working with stakeholders, we seek for policies and solutions that would prevent the deepening of socio-economic divides when implementing the Renovation Wave in a highly market-based housing system.
Inclusive Urban Mobility and the 15-Minute City approach in urban planning: Housing renovation projects should be tied to improving access to urban opportunities, including schools, workplaces and leisure time activity places. This requires considering both housing renovation, segregation processes as well mobility solutions within the city.
Policy Implementation and Regional Inclusion: Urban processes are, to a certain degree, always context-specific. We will collaborate with housing associations and urban planners to find both sustainable and inclusive solutions in the Renovation Wave that would fit the specific urban contexts.