Mae A. Clarke, Patchwork Quilt, 1935-1942
This comparative methodological report opens up the “backstage” of the HousInC project and explains how we actually did the research across Athens, Barcelona and Glasgow. It sets out our core research problem and why we treat crises as a continuum, explains why these three cities were selected, and details the mixed-methods approach we used – from comparative urbanism and periodisation of crises, to discourse analysis of policies and movement texts, social movement analysis of housing struggles, and multi-sited micro-ethnography with activists, tenants and allies. The report also reflects on the limits and challenges of doing research with movements and vulnerable groups, including questions of access, ethics and representation. It is aimed at researchers, students and activists who are interested not only in what we found about housing struggles, but also in how we generated those insights.