Project description
Analysing the role of legal systems in urban inequality
The urban legal systems have played a causal role in exacerbating wealth concentration. Therefore, these systems have proven inadequate in addressing growing socio-economic inequality in major cities across the EU. In this context, the EU-funded HABITAT project will explore a unique research hypothesis that argues that the leading cause of socio-economic inequality in major European cities is due to the failures of urban legal systems. HABITAT will examine the main forms of urban inequality from a law and economics perspective. It will analyse the evolution of legal orders and assess the impact of laws and judicial decisions that, by hypothesis, accelerated urban inequalities through case studies in Berlin, London, Milan and Paris.
Objective
HABITAT is based on a groundbreaking research hypothesis (GbRH): socioeconomic inequality in major European cities is largely due to a history of regulatory failures of urban legal systems. Urban legal systems have played a central causal role in concentrating wealth and, conversely, they have failed as much as the economic system in protecting vulnerable residents from growing socioeconomic inequality in major EU cities. To test this GbRH, the Principal Investigator (PI) and his team address the main forms of urban inequality from a law and economics perspective. HABITAT measures the impact of laws and judicial decisions that, by hypothesis, have triggered urban inequalities. European urban legal systems made middle and bottom deciles, underprivileged minorities, migrants, and women worse. HABITAT tests this GbRH through a case study approach, considering Berlin, London, Milan, and Paris. The PI proposes unprecedented and unique legal research, grounded on rigorous data analysis and a robust, cutting-edge methodology that combines: a) the evolutionary analysis of legal orders, with a focus on the legal determinants of the built environment; b) the comparative analysis of the common core of urban legal systems; c) a regulatory impact assessment through econometrics, statistics, and data analysis; d) an evidence- and process- based normative model, for the design of just cities from a legal and conceptual perspective, tested through scenario analysis.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Topic(s)
Funding Scheme
ERC - Support for frontier research (ERC)Host institution
16126 Genova
Italy