Housing tenure, urban development and environmental inequality

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between housing and environmental exposures to understand the structuring role of housing and planning regimes in environmental inequality. Comparing the exposure to air pollutants, noise, greenery, and heat stress for different housing tenures in the Amsterdam region in 2021, our analyses indicate that ownership housing generally has more favourable exposure than the rental. Second, given institutional changes in urban planning and housing development, it evaluates whether housing built before and after the Great Financial Crisis shows differences in exposure. We find significant differences between construction periods. Unexpectedly, exposure does not differ between recent development periods for social housing. Instead, the most recently built private rental housing is significantly more exposed than pre-crisis new-built housing. This is likely related to urbanist planning leading to housing densification near urban infrastructure. Our conclusion reflects on the broader implications for understanding the links between housing, planning and environmental inequality.