ESRA 2027 sessions by theme
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Measuring Housing Security in a Changing Data Landscape: Surveys, New Data Sources and Multidimensional Indicators |
| Coordinator 1 | Professor Maria Gabriella Campolo (University of Messina) |
| Coordinator 2 | Professor Ida D'Attoma (Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna) |
| Coordinator 3 | Professor Demetrio Panarello (Link Campus University) |
| Coordinator 4 | Professor Gabriele Ruiu (University of Sassari) |
Session Details
Housing security is a multidimensional condition involving affordability, residential stability, adequacy, accessibility, autonomy, neighbourhood quality, and protection from involuntary displacement. Yet survey research often measures these dimensions separately, limiting their comparability and their capacity to capture the cumulative nature of housing advantage and disadvantage.
This session invites methodological and substantive contributions on the conceptualisation, operationalisation, construction, and validation of multidimensional measures of housing security and insecurity. We welcome studies developing composite indicators, measurement scales, typologies, or latent constructs, as well as research examining their reliability, validity, dimensionality, weighting, aggregation, and comparability across populations, territories, and countries.
Particular attention will be given to approaches that integrate traditional survey data with administrative records, geospatial information, neighbourhood indicators, digital traces, remote-sensing data, or qualitative evidence. Contributions may also explore the use of artificial intelligence and machine-learning methods for questionnaire development, coding open-ended responses, identifying latent dimensions, treating missing data, integrating heterogeneous sources, or validating housing-security measures. Critical assessments of the transparency, added value, and potential biases of these methods are especially encouraged.
Applications may address transitions to adulthood, fertility and family formation, health and subjective wellbeing, residential mobility, migration, housing inheritance, and decisions to remain in or leave rural, peripheral, or depopulating areas. Studies examining inequalities by gender, generation, migration background, household structure, and socioeconomic position are particularly welcome.
By bringing together survey methodologists, social statisticians, demographers, and housing researchers, the session aims to advance robust, transparent, and comparable measures of housing security while demonstrating how survey research can be enriched through new data sources and computational methods.
