Martina Salvarani

Progetto di ricerca
Geographies of Vacancy: Ownership, Abandonment, and Housing Policies

This research project investigates the phenomenon of housing vacancy in urban context in Italy, focusing on the underutilization of privately owned residential properties. In a situation of rising housing demand and an increasingly inadequate long-term rental supply, a significant portion of the housing stock remains vacant, escaping both market and public use.

The project combines structural and subjective approaches to explore the scope, distribution, and underlying causes of this phenomenon. It is articulated along two main axes: (1) the development of an urban scale vacancy indicator through the integration of administrative datasets (cadastre, taxation, registry, utilities); and (2) a qualitative analysis of small landlords’ motivations not to rent out their properties, investigated through semi-structured interviews and thematic coding inspired by Grounded Theory.

Applied to the cities of Modena, Bologna and Milan, the study aims to construct a typology of landlord profiles and decision-making logics. The research contributes to filling a critical gap in Italian housing studies and offers evidence-based insights for the design of more effective and differentiated public policies..

Pubblicazioni

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