Research

My research is on affordable and sustainable housing for diverse communities. I want to contribute to designing successful diverse communities. Adapting Dania Santana’s definition:

“In successful communities individuals of different race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, socioeconomic status, language, geographical origin, gender and/or sexual orientation bring their different knowledge, background, experience and interest for the benefit of their diverse community.”*

I am fascinated by the idea that diversity creates both feelings of inclusion and exclusion for people. The way diversity affects invididuals differently is influenced by social contexts such as the media and politics in a society, the characteristics of the suburb or even the small scale level of the estate or the school. My research focuses on the following questions:

• How can governments, housing providers, and community sectors create more cohesive communities?

• How can more affordable and sustainable housing be created?

• In which diverse social settings are people affected differently? How do (social) media, politics and policies, feelings of belonging and community, and housing situation foster social connections? 

• When does diversity create feelings of exclusion, and what level of social cohesion is best for individuals and society? 

• If feelings of exclusion prevail, how can we design interventions that will create more inclusive communities?

* Dania Santana, ‘What is Diversity and how do I define it in the Social Context’, Inclusion expert, raising cultural awareness to create social change, sourced from https://embracingdiversity.us/what-is-diversity-define-social-diversity/