This paper analyses the role and effects of housing policies on residential differentiation in the city of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. The focus is on contemporary 'post-privatization' housing-policy measures and their effects, although the transformation from socialism to a market economy during the 1990s is also covered. A distinct contrast was found between housing policies in Estonia and western Europe, where the welfare role is often to mitigate the detrimental effects of economic restructuring and to prevent segregation. Estonian housing policies at state and local levels do not even aim to reduce, prevent or slow down the harmful effects of the considerable income disparities that manifest in housing inequality and increasing residential differentiation. One of the main mechanisms driving residential differentiation is the relocation of people according to their ability to pay in connection with the increasing amount of renovation being undertaken. It is increasingly evident not only between neighbourhoods but also between tenure segments: poor people seem to be concentrated in poor housing in all categories.Housing policy, residential differentiation, post-socialist transformation, Estonia, Tallinn,
The need for more dweller-oriented approaches to the development of residential environments is widely agreed upon. In the theoretical discussion, the concept of affordances has been seen as promising in grasping the desirable dwelling features and how they become meaningful in everyday uses. However, the concept has been used surprisingly little in empirical housing studies. This article introduces an inventive method to study affordances and contributes to the understanding of the concept by reflecting its usefulness in the context of housing research. The method consists of focus group interviews guided by participant-produced photographs, which allows the participants more freedom to define what they consider meaningful in their dwellings. The results reveal some desirable dwelling features largely uncovered by the public or scholarly discussions yet. From residents' perspective, developing higher quality housing means paying greater attention to the mundane "secondary spaces", the sensory experiences and the related atmospheric qualities, as well as the continuums between interior and exterior spaces. The results also emphasize an active role of the resident in discovering and shaping the affordances.
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