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Housing, Liveability and Safety

What does this research group do?

The Housing, Liveability and Safety (WLV) research group is concerned with the relationship between people and their living environment. How do people live? Is the residential environment safe? How do people perceive their residential environment? In addition, the research group studies housing mobility patterns.

Qualitative and quantitative

The research carried out by the Housing, Liveability and Safety research group can be subdivided into different categories:

  • quantitative research (records, questionnaires)
  • qualitative research (focus groups, in-depth interviews)
  • exploratory research (literature studies)
  • hypothesis-testing research

Key themes are living and the residential environment, social safety, the social state of the countryside, and housing mobility.

Living and the residential environment

Which factors affect the quality of the residential environment, people's preference for a particular residential environment, how satisfied they are, and their housing mobility patterns? The research focuses particular attention on problem neighbourhoods in the large cities.

Social safety

What causes people to feel unsafe? The research group uses a conceptual model to explore the extent to which the actual (objective) level of safety offers an explanation for people's feelings that a neighbourhood or area is unsafe. The research also looks at the victims of crime and the consequences that crime has for them.

Social state of the countryside

How is the life situation of rural dwellers changing? What is the situation as regards social vitality of rural centres and villages? The WLV research group not only draws comparisons with the cities, but also compares different social groups and regions within the rural setting.

Mobility

Which factors affect the housing mobility patterns of the Dutch? The research group studies housing mobility both in general terms and with regard to specific population groups.