Melissa Fernández Arrigoitia
Biographic Data
| ID | 4994669 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Melissa Fernández Arrigoitia |
| GIVEN NAMES | Melissa Fernández |
| FAMILY NAME | Arrigoitia |
| SIGNATURE | ARRIGOITIA M F |
| AFFILIATIONS | Lancaster University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5465-5289 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 43 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 19 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
The Longue Durée of Housing Justice
This editorial frames housing justice as a question of spatial and temporal struggle, engaging the longue durée of dispossession, endurance, and collective transformation. From the weaponisation of space–time in conditions of settler colonial domination to the quieter bureaucratic violence of eviction, precarity, and financialisation in global cities, housing injustice emerges as a slow, iterative process rather than a sudden rupture. The contrib…
Cohousing and the role of intermediaries in later life transitions
Mutual support among residents in collaborative housing for older people presents an alternative care model to family or formal social care provided in individuals’ homes or specialised care facilities. This is particularly the case in cohousing, where residents commit to mutual support and exercise autonomy through self-governance. Cohousing also supports the ageing processes by fostering greater wellbeing and significantly lessening social isol…
Housing as a battlefield
Since October 2023, we have witnessed the human and material devastation brought about by the horrific mediatised genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, itself preceded by a long history of ‘urbacide’—an intentional form of urban destruction characterised by siege and denied rehabilitation (Chiodelli 2022). In his research on modern warfare and ‘domicide’ in Syria (2022), Amar Azzouz has spoken eloquently about ‘...the millions of or…
Like a fellow traveler of organizers: A conversation with Allan Heskin on multicultural housing organizing
In March 2023, RHJ editors Melissa Fernández Arrigoitia and Mara Ferreri had a long online chat with Allan D. Heskin on his life and committed work linking community advocacy, housing organizing and planning scholarship, as collected in books such as The Struggle for Community (1991). This is an edited, re-ordered version of that conversation. It contains some conversational references to Allan’s work, which may read as gaps in the structure but …
Toward a feminist housing commons? Conceptualising care - (as) - work in collaborative housing
This article conceptualizes care-(as)-work in collaborative housing and addresses current debates on the potential of cohousing to embody a feminist commons. A focus on purpose-built cohousing projects in the UK enables us to focus on the values present in the initial phases of collective design and on the ongoing negotiations and mediation that take place through social interactions, resident-led self-management, and formal and informal mutual s…
Collaborative housing communities through the Covid-19 pandemic: Rethinking governance and mutuality
The national lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the prevalence and importance of informal mutual support in neighbourhoods and social networks. Mutual support structures and functions are strong in collaborative housing, in which people often intentionally form resident communities to enhance support practices. Using qualitative methods, this article examines how lockdown restrictions have impacted on practices of mutual s…
Community-Led housing in the UK: Learning from Black British and migrant histories
How might Collaborative Housing be a space that creates support and opportunities for precarious migrants, or refugees? Where examples or initiatives do exist, what kinds of challenges, barriers and- indeed- opportunities may there be for developing stronger links? This conversation is an edited summary of a video interview between Melissa Fernández Arrigoitia and Claude Hendrickson, as part of the Migration and Collaborative Housing (MICOLL) pro…
Lived realities versus state rationalities: Mobilizing within and against housing injustices
The contributions in this issue of the Radical Housing Journal evidence the historical and contemporary evolution of struggles against structural pressures impacting housing and everyday precarity, as well as mobilizing efforts based on particular local, gained or ancestral knowledge. We outline four main themes emerging in the articles featured in this issue, all situated both within and against the lived realities of housing injustices. We hope…
The Making of Caribbean Not-so-Natural Disasters
Hurricanes are not a novelty in the Caribbean. However, 2017 left several shocking facts for history books regarding intensity and frequency. Two Category 4 and two Category 5 hurricanes – the strongest category on the Saffir-Simpson scale – hit the Caribbean in a month's-time. Despite the label ‘natural disaster’, colonialism and human-induced factors are behind the high levels of inequality, climate change and incomplete recoveries in the Carib…
Latin Elephant: On language, translations and connections in an urban ethnic migrant movement
Latin Elephant is a London-based charity that works with migrant and ethnic groups in processes of urban change, and which has had a critical role in articulating the voices of traders threatened by displacement in the context of the Elephant and Castle redevelopment plans over the last decade. In this Lexicon Conversation, members of Latin Elephant discuss with RHJ the different ways in which language, vocabularies, solidarity, memory and transl…
Interdependence, commitment, learning and love: The case of the United Kingdom's first older women's co-housing community
Housing options for older people in the United Kingdom (UK) have been rather limited to remaining living ‘independently’ in one's own home and some variant of institutionally provided, pre-established and age-exclusive housing such as retirement communities, extra-care or sheltered housing. However, interest in alternative forms of housing and living which align more closely with the expectations of those currently entering later life is steadily…
Radical housing (dis)encounters: Reframing housing research and praxis
We came to this issue before the outbreak of Covid-19, and we release it amidst what feels like an entirely new, and yet also entirely known world-order—a place of multiple and multiplying crises that existed before the pandemic and continue, relentlessly, to render certain people, bodies and homes disposable. It is against this cruelty, but also with a renewed sense of radical hope in justice everywhere, that RHJ first came to be. The majority o…
For the City yet to come
DIY Detroit: Making Do in a City Without Services
Towards Critical Intersections of Ageing, Housing and Well-Being
Across the life course, far-reaching socio-demographic and health related transformations are influencing the meaning of home in the UK. The collection presented in this Special Issue of Home Futures critically interjects into the ‘where and when’ of dwelling during the process of ageing with key concepts explored within this introductory article. It argues that, change is seen through the disruption of conventional ideas of ageing ‘at home’, tra…
Geographies of Forced Eviction: Dispossession, Violence, Resistance
This book offers a close look at forced evictions, drawing on empirical studies and conceptual frameworks from both the Global North and South. It draws attention to arenas where multiple logics of ur
Towards the dis-alienation, democratisation and humanisation of housing
Housing is, in our current context, a key site of politics. Its central role in the production and reproduction of inequality, in processes of gentrification and displacement, but also in triggerin
Development of new cohousing: Lessons from a London scheme for the over-50s
There is increased interest in the UK in cohousing as a desirable alternative for older people. The economics of developing cohousing differ from the normal model for residential development; in particular, the participatory nature of the process increases the time required and there are higher risks for both resident/purchaser and developer. We examine the nature of supply and risk using the case of a new senior cohousing community in south Lond…
Social Housing in Europe
Un Making Public Housing Towers: The Role of Lifts and Stairs in the Demolition of a Puerto Rican Project
Through the case of a Puerto Rican public housing project, Las Gladiolas, this article argues that demolitions should be understood as long-term physical and emotional processes of home un making. It focuses on the diverse appearances of lifts and stairs in public housing representations, residents' everyday life, memories, and legal arguments to tell a nuanced story about their meaning and materiality in the un making of home. Drawing together s…
Enduring violence: Ladina women's lives in Guatemala
Un Making Public Housing Towers: The Role of Lifts and Stairs in the Demolition of a Puerto Rican Project
Through the case of a Puerto Rican public housing project, Las Gladiolas, this article argues that demolitions should be understood as long-term physical and emotional processes of home un making. It focuses on the diverse appearances of lifts and stairs in public housing representations, residents' everyday life, memories, and legal arguments to tell a nuanced story about their meaning and materiality in the un making of home. Drawing together s…
Toward a feminist housing commons? Conceptualising care - (as) - work in collaborative housing
This article conceptualizes care-(as)-work in collaborative housing and addresses current debates on the potential of cohousing to embody a feminist commons. A focus on purpose-built cohousing projects in the UK enables us to focus on the values present in the initial phases of collective design and on the ongoing negotiations and mediation that take place through social interactions, resident-led self-management, and formal and informal mutual s…
Interdependence, commitment, learning and love: The case of the United Kingdom's first older women's co-housing community
Housing options for older people in the United Kingdom (UK) have been rather limited to remaining living ‘independently’ in one's own home and some variant of institutionally provided, pre-established and age-exclusive housing such as retirement communities, extra-care or sheltered housing. However, interest in alternative forms of housing and living which align more closely with the expectations of those currently entering later life is steadily…
For the City yet to come
Collaborative housing communities through the Covid-19 pandemic: Rethinking governance and mutuality
The national lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the prevalence and importance of informal mutual support in neighbourhoods and social networks. Mutual support structures and functions are strong in collaborative housing, in which people often intentionally form resident communities to enhance support practices. Using qualitative methods, this article examines how lockdown restrictions have impacted on practices of mutual s…
Towards Critical Intersections of Ageing, Housing and Well-Being
Across the life course, far-reaching socio-demographic and health related transformations are influencing the meaning of home in the UK. The collection presented in this Special Issue of Home Futures critically interjects into the ‘where and when’ of dwelling during the process of ageing with key concepts explored within this introductory article. It argues that, change is seen through the disruption of conventional ideas of ageing ‘at home’, tra…
Towards the dis-alienation, democratisation and humanisation of housing
Housing is, in our current context, a key site of politics. Its central role in the production and reproduction of inequality, in processes of gentrification and displacement, but also in triggerin
Enduring violence: Ladina women's lives in Guatemala
Enduring violence: Ladina women's lives in Guatemala
Social Housing in Europe
Un Making Public Housing Towers: The Role of Lifts and Stairs in the Demolition of a Puerto Rican Project
Through the case of a Puerto Rican public housing project, Las Gladiolas, this article argues that demolitions should be understood as long-term physical and emotional processes of home un making. It focuses on the diverse appearances of lifts and stairs in public housing representations, residents' everyday life, memories, and legal arguments to tell a nuanced story about their meaning and materiality in the un making of home. Drawing together s…
Development of new cohousing: Lessons from a London scheme for the over-50s
There is increased interest in the UK in cohousing as a desirable alternative for older people. The economics of developing cohousing differ from the normal model for residential development; in particular, the participatory nature of the process increases the time required and there are higher risks for both resident/purchaser and developer. We examine the nature of supply and risk using the case of a new senior cohousing community in south Lond…
Geographies of Forced Eviction: Dispossession, Violence, Resistance
This book offers a close look at forced evictions, drawing on empirical studies and conceptual frameworks from both the Global North and South. It draws attention to arenas where multiple logics of ur
Towards the dis-alienation, democratisation and humanisation of housing
Housing is, in our current context, a key site of politics. Its central role in the production and reproduction of inequality, in processes of gentrification and displacement, but also in triggerin
DIY Detroit: Making Do in a City Without Services
Towards Critical Intersections of Ageing, Housing and Well-Being
Across the life course, far-reaching socio-demographic and health related transformations are influencing the meaning of home in the UK. The collection presented in this Special Issue of Home Futures critically interjects into the ‘where and when’ of dwelling during the process of ageing with key concepts explored within this introductory article. It argues that, change is seen through the disruption of conventional ideas of ageing ‘at home’, tra…
Radical housing (dis)encounters: Reframing housing research and praxis
We came to this issue before the outbreak of Covid-19, and we release it amidst what feels like an entirely new, and yet also entirely known world-order—a place of multiple and multiplying crises that existed before the pandemic and continue, relentlessly, to render certain people, bodies and homes disposable. It is against this cruelty, but also with a renewed sense of radical hope in justice everywhere, that RHJ first came to be. The majority o…
For the City yet to come
Latin Elephant: On language, translations and connections in an urban ethnic migrant movement
Latin Elephant is a London-based charity that works with migrant and ethnic groups in processes of urban change, and which has had a critical role in articulating the voices of traders threatened by displacement in the context of the Elephant and Castle redevelopment plans over the last decade. In this Lexicon Conversation, members of Latin Elephant discuss with RHJ the different ways in which language, vocabularies, solidarity, memory and transl…
Interdependence, commitment, learning and love: The case of the United Kingdom's first older women's co-housing community
Housing options for older people in the United Kingdom (UK) have been rather limited to remaining living ‘independently’ in one's own home and some variant of institutionally provided, pre-established and age-exclusive housing such as retirement communities, extra-care or sheltered housing. However, interest in alternative forms of housing and living which align more closely with the expectations of those currently entering later life is steadily…
Community-Led housing in the UK: Learning from Black British and migrant histories
How might Collaborative Housing be a space that creates support and opportunities for precarious migrants, or refugees? Where examples or initiatives do exist, what kinds of challenges, barriers and- indeed- opportunities may there be for developing stronger links? This conversation is an edited summary of a video interview between Melissa Fernández Arrigoitia and Claude Hendrickson, as part of the Migration and Collaborative Housing (MICOLL) pro…
Lived realities versus state rationalities: Mobilizing within and against housing injustices
The contributions in this issue of the Radical Housing Journal evidence the historical and contemporary evolution of struggles against structural pressures impacting housing and everyday precarity, as well as mobilizing efforts based on particular local, gained or ancestral knowledge. We outline four main themes emerging in the articles featured in this issue, all situated both within and against the lived realities of housing injustices. We hope…
The Making of Caribbean Not-so-Natural Disasters
Hurricanes are not a novelty in the Caribbean. However, 2017 left several shocking facts for history books regarding intensity and frequency. Two Category 4 and two Category 5 hurricanes – the strongest category on the Saffir-Simpson scale – hit the Caribbean in a month's-time. Despite the label ‘natural disaster’, colonialism and human-induced factors are behind the high levels of inequality, climate change and incomplete recoveries in the Carib…
Toward a feminist housing commons? Conceptualising care - (as) - work in collaborative housing
This article conceptualizes care-(as)-work in collaborative housing and addresses current debates on the potential of cohousing to embody a feminist commons. A focus on purpose-built cohousing projects in the UK enables us to focus on the values present in the initial phases of collective design and on the ongoing negotiations and mediation that take place through social interactions, resident-led self-management, and formal and informal mutual s…
Collaborative housing communities through the Covid-19 pandemic: Rethinking governance and mutuality
The national lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the prevalence and importance of informal mutual support in neighbourhoods and social networks. Mutual support structures and functions are strong in collaborative housing, in which people often intentionally form resident communities to enhance support practices. Using qualitative methods, this article examines how lockdown restrictions have impacted on practices of mutual s…
Housing as a battlefield
Since October 2023, we have witnessed the human and material devastation brought about by the horrific mediatised genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, itself preceded by a long history of ‘urbacide’—an intentional form of urban destruction characterised by siege and denied rehabilitation (Chiodelli 2022). In his research on modern warfare and ‘domicide’ in Syria (2022), Amar Azzouz has spoken eloquently about ‘...the millions of or…
Like a fellow traveler of organizers: A conversation with Allan Heskin on multicultural housing organizing
In March 2023, RHJ editors Melissa Fernández Arrigoitia and Mara Ferreri had a long online chat with Allan D. Heskin on his life and committed work linking community advocacy, housing organizing and planning scholarship, as collected in books such as The Struggle for Community (1991). This is an edited, re-ordered version of that conversation. It contains some conversational references to Allan’s work, which may read as gaps in the structure but …
The Longue Durée of Housing Justice
This editorial frames housing justice as a question of spatial and temporal struggle, engaging the longue durée of dispossession, endurance, and collective transformation. From the weaponisation of space–time in conditions of settler colonial domination to the quieter bureaucratic violence of eviction, precarity, and financialisation in global cities, housing injustice emerges as a slow, iterative process rather than a sudden rupture. The contrib…
Cohousing and the role of intermediaries in later life transitions
Mutual support among residents in collaborative housing for older people presents an alternative care model to family or formal social care provided in individuals’ homes or specialised care facilities. This is particularly the case in cohousing, where residents commit to mutual support and exercise autonomy through self-governance. Cohousing also supports the ageing processes by fostering greater wellbeing and significantly lessening social isol…
Sociology (16 works) · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism (13 works) · Political science (13 works) · Law (9 works) · Collaborative and Sustainable Housing Initiatives (8 works) · Psychology (7 works) · Urban Planning and Governance (7 works) · Gender Studies (6 works) · Business (5 works) · Urban and Rural Development Challenges (5 works)