A report examined the protections against discrimination in housing under European Union law. It discussed: the concepts and legal instruments underpinning protections at the European and international levels; non-discrimination legislation adopted by member states and some non-member states; and the range of forms of discrimination and ways in which they might be overcome.
Source: Julie Ringelheim and Nicolas Bernard, Discrimination in Housing, European Commission
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Dec
The government began consultation on the balance of competences between the United Kingdom and European Union in the area of energy.
Source: Call for Evidence on the Government s Review of the Balance of Competences between the United Kingdom and the European Union, Department for Energy and Climate Change
Links: Consultation document | Annex | DECC press release
Date: 2013-Oct
A report (by a cross-country ministerial group) examined the case for revising low carbon policy across the European Union and made recommendations.
Source: Going for Green Growth: The case for ambitious and immediate EU low carbon action, Green Growth Group
Links: Report | DECC press release
Date: 2013-Oct
A report assessed the progress of the European Union and European countries towards achieving their climate mitigation and energy policy objectives.
Source: Trends and Projections in Europe 2013: Tracking progress towards Europe's climate and energy targets until 2020, European Environment Agency
Date: 2013-Oct
A new book examined the main issues for urban planning and development – in economic development and job generation, sustainable development, housing policy, transport, and development mechanisms – and how practice in the United Kingdom had 'fallen short'. It highlighted the lessons that could be learned from 'best-practice cities' in Europe.
Source: Peter Hall, Good Cities, Better Lives: How Europe discovered the lost art of urbanism, Routledge
Links: Summary
Date: 2013-Sep
A new book examined the challenges that arose from comparative housing research.
Source: Mark Stephens and Michelle Norris (eds), Meaning and Measurement in Comparative Housing Research, Routledge
Links: Summary
Date: 2013-Aug
A new book examined the socio-economic benefits of protected areas containing biodiversity and ecosystems of high conservation value.
Source: Marianne Kettunen and Patrick ten Brink (eds), Social and Economic Benefits of Protected Areas: An assessment guide, Routledge
Links: Summary
Date: 2013-Aug
A report examined the role of the European Union in influencing the environment, particularly in the United Kingdom. As part of this it looked at the alternatives if the UK were to withdraw from active involvement in EU environmental policy or to withdraw from the EU altogether.
Source: David Baldock, Andrew Farmer, Kristof Geeraerts, Stephanie Newman, Raphael Sauter, Emma Watkins, and Sirini Withana, Report on the Influence of EU Policies on the Environment, Institute for European Environmental Policy
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Aug
An article examined access to housing for homeless people in European Union countries, focusing on the human right to adequate housing.
Source: Michael Kolocek, 'The human right to housing in the 27 member states of the European Union', European Journal of Homelessness, Volume 7 Number 1
Links: Article
Date: 2013-Jul
An article highlighted deeply embedded differences between European nations in terms of spatial planning structures. Differences in social models and welfare systems potentially put a brake on the idea of the convergence or harmonization of national and sub-national arrangements for spatial planning.
Source: Dominic Stead, 'Convergence, divergence, or constancy of spatial planning? Connecting theoretical concepts with empirical evidence from Europe', Journal of Planning Literature, Volume 28 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Feb
An article examined the use of criminal justice systems in Europe to manage homelessness. The 'punitive turn' had been variable, and local circumstances might be more influential in shaping responses to homelessness than neo-liberalism. Punitive responses to vagrancy, and anti-begging legislation and policies, were not novel and in fact had a long history.
Source: Eoin O Sullivan, 'Varieties of punitiveness in Europe: homelessness and urban marginality', European Journal of Homelessness, Volume 6 Number 2
Links: Article
Date: 2013-Jan
A report examined the effects of 'greening' on the quantity and quality of jobs in Europe, and good practice in the anticipation and management of green change at company level.
Source: Simonas Gausas, Greening of Industries in the EU: Anticipating and managing the effects on quantity and quality of jobs, European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
Date: 2013-Jan
A report provided an overview of the social housing sector in the European Union area.
Source: Michela Braga and Pietro Palvarini, Social Housing in the EU, European Parliament
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Jan
An article said that the European-level debate about quality standards in homeless services had developed largely in isolation from the growing consensus that homelessness was a social phenomenon that could be ended through 'housing led' approaches. As a result it ran the risk of setting homeless policy back by a generation.
Source: Mike Allen, 'Quality standards in homeless services, housing led approaches and the legacy of "less eligibility"', European Journal of Homelessness, Volume 6 Number 2
Links: Article
Date: 2013-Jan