ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses who lives where, and why and how they live there. It considers the housing market, since this is the arena in which different groups are allocated to different types of housing in different areas of the city. A general distinction can be made in the housing market between housing supplied by private markets and housing provided by the state, the public sector. In the private sector housing is allocated on the ability to pay. The rich get the best, most desirable housing in the most-favoured locations while the poor get the worst housing in the least-favoured places. The system of housing allocation is different in socialist countries from that in North American and West European countries. The difference lies in the degree of state control. In the USA, for example, the vast majority of housing is produced by the private sector and housing is allocated by income.
