As part of the geo lectures series,
students at Corvinus University of Budapest had a presentation “Housing
Flexibility and Subjective Wellbeing in U.S. Suburban Regions” given by Deirdre
Pfeiffer, Associate Professor from School of Geographic Sciences & Urban
Planning at Arizona State University on the 27th February 2020.
According to Professor Pfeiffer, the main
goal of the research was to focus on one role of the housing market, which she
named flexibility, taking into account the concept of wellbeing that we know
today as happiness. The geographical focus was kept on the Sun Belt region
considered to stretch across the Southeast and Southwest.
Keeping this in mind, the students were
introduced to the historical background of the problem. Suburban regions
started developing in the US in the postwar period with a number of innovations
being introduces, such as technological advancements, for example, air
conditioning crucially important for the Sun Belt region, and the way it was
financed, for instance, banks suggesting cheap loans. As follows, the demand
for these areas was created, and diversity of the areas grew significantly, one
could clearly see the level of diversity in the Inland Empire region of
California, a suburban area in southern California. Another historical
turnaround happened in 1970s, a so called Post-Civil Rights era when African
Americans, Latinos, and Asians had their rights restored, including the housing
sector. Finally, in 2000s in the time of global recession there was another
significant change in the US housing market when people could not afford buying
houses and paying for them that led to banks taking over those houses. In terms
of these historical highlights the Professor introduced her theories.
The students learned that there are two
major directions in this research area, representatives of both trying to
answer the question if the suburban areas of the US are geography of
opportunities or traps that limit people’s opportunities? The Professor claimed
that it is possible to find particular windows of opportunities, a particular
condition that enables people to thrive that makes her theories stand out. The
first project posed a question whether places that allow housing growth from
Post-Civil Rights suburbs have more opportunities for people from minorities
mentioned above to reach socio-economic wellbeing compared to post-war suburbs?
The students were introduced the results for the Phoenix region with a note
that the same picture is observable on the nationwide level. According to the
outcomes, proportion of middle class families living in poverty within minority
groups is lower for Post-Civil Rights suburbs, and the level of segregation is
subsequently lower for them.
The second project analyzed the US housing
market characterized by massive disruption during the recession period when
there was a conversion from owner-occupied to renter-occupied houses. Banks
were taking over the houses, and investors were buying them and renting out to
reduce the gap between the extended demand and supply. The boom in rental
housing market was explained by people’s inability to buy the houses, by the
bigger number of young people entering the market, and lack of construction. As
a result, a significant growth in single-family rentals was observed from 2005
to 2015.
During the third part of the lecture the
students were lucky to be presented the ongoing research that focuses on the
growing concerns about the health consequences of car-oriented design features
of living neighborhoods, in particular, the garage home. The professor noted
that her family lives in such kind of a house, and due to this the topic is of
great importance and interest for her. She came up with three theories saying
that garage homes detract from subjective wellbeing, take away nature
engagement, however detraction of subjective wellbeing lessens over time due to
adaptation mechanism. It was exciting to see the real examples of the research
process, and think about further opportunities for research.
At the end of the lecture students were
asking questions, making important notices and trying to extend the problem to
their areas of specialization, asking about sustainability practices in the
suburban areas.
Ira Gribanenkova
The video of the lecture is available here:
