Second homes planning, policy and governance

The topic of second homes has been of major interest in regional, rural and tourism planning and policy since the 1970s. More recently the lens of governance has also begun to be applied as a lens to the topic of mobility, including second homes. This paper provides a review of the literature on second homes, policy and governance and highlights major themes and issues including that of housing policy, sustainability, political representation and the environment. The paper suggests that research in the governance of second homes can help shed further light on problems of understanding and governing mobility and multiple dwellings in contemporary neoliberal globalisation. It highlights that that governance, policy and regulatory structures are much better geared to the stationery and the immobile than they are to the movement of people (and capital) between jurisdictions, as well as to mobile homes themselves.