Things Overlooked

Abstract

While network perspectives in housing studies have gained currency over the last decade, research looking at the actor-networks of housing management is limited. This is remarkable given the recognition for actor-network theory (Latour, 2005) in the related fields of urban studies (Farías and Bender, 2010) and planning theory (De Roo et al., 2012). Accordingly, the thesis introduces and tests concepts from actor-network theory in the study of housing renewal. It describes the socio-technical controversy in the Sint-Mariastraat in the Oude-Westen Rotterdam (NL) to explore the making of the renewal project by heterogeneous means. In particular, it looks at the actors’ strategies to manage uncertainty by means of translating other—human and non-human—actors to form and stabilize the renewal network. The case study illustrates how the issues of foundations and evictions are interrelated, and how their alliances are continuously negotiated. Building on network governance, actor-network theory adds new (non-human) actors to the housing renewal network. These non-human actors are found to be significant to explain how specific actors accomplish the closure of controversies. They are also relevant to analyze the mechanisms by which housing renewal issues are made technical or political. Accordingly, ANT offers new perspectives on the democratic anchorage of housing renewal networks and introduces new forms of being political. The implications of this are worked out in a participation model based on the suggestion that contesting the issues (parts) is more important than consenting on the plan (whole).