In It for the Money? On the Origins of Opposition to New Housing Development

• In Event: Housing, Equity, and the Built Environment

Abstract

The price of housing in and around some large cities have increased manifold in the past fifty years. This has created an affordability crisis in these cities, which has wide-ranging environmental, social, and economic implications. Arguably, the most important factor driving the affordability crisis is local opposition to new, more dense housing. But why do citizens oppose new development? This article lays out three potential explanations: wealthy home-owners wish to protect their home equity (pocket-book motive), that citizens in general wish to preserve the character of their community (place-protective motive), that citizens are averse to new construction because of the temporary effects it has on the community (disturbance). Using large-scale survey experiments in Denmark and the US as well as text analysis of open-ended survey questions, we tease out the different potential mechanisms, in order to find out which factors are important for opposition to new construction. The findings hold important implications for those who want to understand, and potentially lessen, opposition to new construction.

Authors

• Jacob Nyrup, University of Oslo

• Martin Vinæs Larsen, Aarhus University