Dayton Hudson Faculty Fellows: Jeff Crump

Jeff Crump, Associate Professor, Department of Design, Housing, and Apparel
Dayton Hudson Faculty Fellow, 2006-2007

Designing Housing Markets

The landscape of urban housing is shaped by a delicate interplay between design and economics. For example, rising housing prices influence design practices as designers attempt to find innovative ways to reduce the cost of urban housing. The housing market is the arena where prices are set. Yet, it is safe to say that markets are taken for granted (Smith, Munro, & Christie, 2006). In neo-classical economic theory and practice, markets are considered to be naturally occurring structures that function according to the laws of supply and demand.

Markets are far too important to take for granted. In contrast to the teleological notion of the pre-existing markets, Crump argues that markets are socially constructed and are the result of active human intention and design. Instead of taking markets for granted, Crump will investigate how the existing housing market functions. As Lie (quoted in Peck 2005) argues: "Rather than assuming the invisible hand, we should investigate the concrete social relations of those who buy and sell: the visible hand of the market." (Peck, 2005)

Housing markets are shaped by a large number of public and private actors who actively construct how markets function. In particular, professionals operating in the real estate industry, banking and financial sectors and in architectural and associated design areas play a critical part in formulating the housing market.

Real estate professionals in particular, act as market intermediaries and help shape the housing market. Certainly, their perceptions of housing supply and demand play a significant role in setting the price of shelter (Smith et al., 2006). Therefore, to begin his exploration of how housing markets are designed, Crump will interview real estate professionals including brokers, salespeople and real estate appraisers. These exploratory interviews will focus on how real estate professionals understand the housing market.

These interviews will help to develop a better understanding of how housing markets actually function in the real world. In particular, an improved understanding of how housing prices are set will contribute to the mission of the Metropolitan Design Center to ". make the metropolitan landscape more livable and sustainable."

 





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