5th ISA Forum of Sociology (6-11 July 2025)

The mixing of housing tenures is a prominent feature of housing and urban policy across the world, not least in relation to the regeneration of social housing estates which are demolished and rebuilt as mixed-tenure communities (Watt and Smets, 2017). The policy expectation is that poor social renters will benefit socially by interacting with their typically affluent home-owning neighbours, for example via fostering positive role models, extending social and employment networks, and reducing stigma. Whilst some of the research literature has pointed to such beneficent effects, other studies query how genuinely positive mixed-tenure neighbourhoods really are, and especially for social tenants. We are interested in the following themes. First, is how young people and elderly people – two relatively neglected groups – experience mixed-tenure communities. Second, although post-regeneration mixed-tenure neighbourhoods are often regarded as gentrified enclaves, this nevertheless begs all sort of questions regarding exactly how social inequalities – such as class, income and wealth, race/ethnicity, and gender – are actually experienced in relation to social mixing processes. Third, we are interested in how issues of health (both physical and mental) and disability are experienced with reference to mixed-tenure communities. Fourth, we are interested in understanding the variety of community development strategies which are put in place in mixed-tenure neighbourhoods, and with what effects. We welcome submissions from different national contexts and especially from the Global South, and using a range of methodologies.