IN-PERSON Manchester Livable Cities
Abstract
The English urban renaissance of the last 25 years has witnessed increased levels of residence in once-moribund city centres, with urban densification and verticalization producing central cities that are compact, vibrant and potentially less wasteful than the alternatives of suburban and ex-urban sprawl. But at what cost? This paper presents quantitative (‘big’) data on the emerging geographies of very small homes in England, using data from c. 25m Energy Performance Certificates issued since 2010 to explore the location of homes below the government’s (2015) Nationally Described Space Standard, clarifying whether the urban renaissance has produced inner city hotspots of ‘sub-standard’ housing (i.e. one bed, one person flats below 37m2). We will then supplement this with preliminary evidence from qualitative interviews with residents to consider whether these very small homes are liveable homes. In combining these sources of data, we nuance debates about small home living by addressing the distinctions between self-contained flats and studios, co-living developments, rooms in HMOs, and student accommodation. Should a single floorspace or roomspace minimum prevail across all house types and locations, or do we need locally-sensitive planning guidelines that consider residents’ potential access to shared communal spaces, local social facilities, and green spaces? This paper concludes that simple measures of internal floorspace are insufficient for understanding whether homes are adequate, but that some consideration of the quality and quantity of interior and exterior living space should always inform housing and planning policy.
Phil Hubbard is a geographer with broad interests in urban gentrification, social segregation, housing and planning law. His books include The Battle for the High Street (2017, Palgrave) and Key concepts in geography: the City (second edition 2018, Routledge).
Katherine Brickell is Professor of Urban Studies at King’s College London and is best known for her feminist-oriented research on precarious home and working lives.
Helen Carr is Professor of Property Law and Social Justice in the Law School at the University of Southampton. Helen’s research interests are in the conflicts and injustices connected with property law and housing inequality, drawing on social-legal and feminist approaches.
Iliana Ortega-Alcázar is an Associate Lecturer at Birkbeck College, University of London, and has also lectured at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Brunel University of London.
Ella Harris is an academic and independent researcher with expertise in creative methods and ‘crisis cultures’. She’s interested in how creative and inventive approaches to research can develop understanding of complex, intersecting crises with a particular focus on ‘compensatory’ forms of housing like tiny homes, micro housing and pop-up accommodation.
Jon Reades is Professor of Geographic Data Science and Head of Department in the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, UCL. After nearly a decade in the technology sector as consultant and developer, Jon left industry to pursue a PhD at the Bartlett School of Planning with a focus on economic geography and ‘big data’.
Ruth Neville is a spatial data scientist specialising in population geography and demography, with a focus on migration and mobility. Her PhD research investigated international student mobility and the socio-economic, cultural, economic, and institutional factors shaping migration flows, with an emphasis on the impact of external shocks such as Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eleanor Wilkinson is a feminist cultural and social geographer, and currently Interdisciplinary Senior Research Fellow in the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Sheffield. Her research is concerned with the political life of emotions and affect, with a particular focus on intimate life.
1:30 pm - 3:00 pm
Wednesday 17th June, 2026