Rowan Arundel

Rowan Arundel serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography, Planning and International Development at the University of Amsterdam, where his research examines housing inequalities through spatial and quantitative lenses across European contexts.

His core research investigates how housing market polarization interacts with labor and welfare regimes to drive socio-spatial inequalities, with particular focus on housing wealth accumulation dynamics and mental health implications of unaffordability. Methodologically, he integrates macro-level comparative analysis with micro-quantitative techniques to dissect housing-labour-welfare interdependencies.

Recent publications reveal a concentrated research trajectory examining spatial dimensions of housing wealth (2024 Spain study), mental health consequences of unaffordability (2024 cross-age analysis), and theoretical critiques of homeownership promises (2021 foundational work), demonstrating consistent progression in analyzing how housing systems generate and amplify societal inequalities.

Scientific recognition includes:

• Veni fellowship for 'WEALTHSCAPES' project investigating spatial housing wealth inequality

Arundel currently leads the Veni-funded WEALTHSCAPES project, which analyzes how housing market spatial polarization and access barriers drive wealth disparities. His research directly informs European housing policy debates through empirical evidence of systemic inequalities in homeowner societies.