The Multiple Spatialities of the Local. Insights from the Intersection of Housing Markets and Politics.

Referring to something as local implies that we can identify its location and position in the world. It might not be a self-sufficient entity, but a meaningful unit with an air of singularity. Contrastingly, a phenomenon described as global is either not quite locatable, bounded, or only definable over vast connections and interdependencies. Many authors have pointed out the multiple interrelations between global and local and the shifting logics of scale. Looking at the intersection of housing markets and politics, this contribution sheds light on the complex interdependencies between the local as an identifiable place and territory, but at the same time connected through a multitude of networks and routes. Because of its material boundedness and phenomenal ubiquity, housing is an empirically and theoretically extremely helpful example to unravel the complexities of the local as multiple spatialities.