organization & Project members

The POLICITY project is funded by a European Research Council Starting Grant.

The goal of the project is to explore why citizens oppose urban development and how such opposition influences policy decisions. The project seeks to uncover the underlying motivations driving resistance, ranging from concerns about environmental and social impacts to perceptions of fairness and personal inconvenience. A key focus of the research is examining the role of aesthetic preferences—how individuals’ views on urban design and architectural style shape their support or opposition to new developments. Additionally, the project investigates the power dynamics between renters and homeowners, analyzing how differences in tenure status contribute to disparities in influence over urban planning processes and policy outcomes. By addressing these factors, the project aims to provide a deeper understanding of the political and social forces shaping the future of urban spaces.

The project is based at the Department of Political Science at Aarhus University.

Laura Kettel, Niels Nyholt, Karoline Kolstad, Paula Bings and Marc Sabatier Hvidkjær is affiliated with the project.

Publications

Below is a list with some of the publications from the project.

  1. Understanding Opposition to Apartment Buildings

  2. Understanding Nimbyism as Local Preservationism

  3. City Limits: Why Citizen Opposition to Urban Development Become Concentrated in Expensive Housing Markets

  4. Reassessing the Effect of Local Control on Land Use Policy: When Smaller Local Governments Permit More Housing

  5. Political Representation in Danish Local Government (Danish Article)

  6. Partisan Politics of Social Housing under Electoral Realignment

Dissemination & Events

In the summer of 2024, we hosted a Housing Policy and Politics workshop to present the project's initial findings and gain inspiration from leading experts in local politics and housing. Over two days in Copenhagen, we engaged in insightful discussions and learned from each other.

We routinely hold shorter project seminars with people from outside Aarhus University. Recently, we have hosted David Broockman (UC Berkeley), Rebekah Jones (UC Berkeley), Justin De Benedictis Kessner (Harvard University), Michael Hankinson (George Washington University), Paavo Monkkonen (UCLA) as well as Alexandra Jabbour (EUI).

We also travel to present findings from the project. Our work has been shared through talks at the University of Southern California, UC Berkeley, the Hertie School, ETH Zurich, Central European University, and many other institutions. Additionally, we have presented our research at various conferences, including the American Political Science Association (APSA) Annual Meeting, the Southern Political Science Association (SPSA) Conference, and others.