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Housing accessibility in densifying cities: Entangled housing and land use policy limitations and insights from Oslo

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  • Cavicchia, Rebecca

Abstract

Several cities have introduced densification policies to counteract urban sprawl, protect natural land and resources, and create socially diverse and inclusive urban areas. The common assumption, present especially in policy recommendations for sustainable urban development, that densification is the most favourable way to achieve urban sustainability in a broad sense, including economic and social dimensions, powerfully depoliticizes densification. However, within the housing sector, the implementation of densification policies might be linked to the intensification of existing - and the creation of new - social and spatial challenges. In Oslo, the case study of this investigation, urban densification has been implemented since the 1980 s, and has produced strongly exclusionary housing markets with negative socio-spatial implications. In this article, I explore the mechanisms behind such outcomes. Specifically, employing a qualitative analysis of policy documents and interviews with key-informants, I explore how the systematic prioritization of environmental sustainability and green growth goals in planning for densification, together with the lack of legal tools and economic resources to provide affordable housing, have shaped the production of exclusionary outcomes, limiting the possibilities to combine urban densification and housing accessibility at the local level.

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  • Cavicchia, Rebecca, 2023. "Housing accessibility in densifying cities: Entangled housing and land use policy limitations and insights from Oslo," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:127:y:2023:i:c:s0264837723000467
    DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2023.106580
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    1. Kristin Kjærås, 2024. "The politics of urban densification in Oslo," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 61(1), pages 40-57, January.

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