ABSTRACT
As European countries increasingly house populations of diverse racial origins, the questions of segregation and inequality arise frequently. France, Germany, and Denmark share borders, are members of the European Community, have broadly comparable standards of living and operate their state housing largely through independent but publicly sponsored housing bodies. There is a growing international consensus that the role of social housing must be enhanced if poorer groups in Western cities are to be accommodated and the eruption of bitter urban conflict avoided. Much European social housing was built in this form, as it was to a lesser but still significant extent in Britain and Ireland. At one extreme – in the United States, for example, where the concept of the free market economy dominates – housing is considered a consumer good not a social right, something that the individual buys in accordance with income. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
