Housing, inequality, and economic change in Syria
Abstract
In the field of housing, Syria displays an unusual set of characteristics. Despite being largely free of the archetypal Third World slums, an ever-larger share of the population is classed as living in ‘informal’ settlements. This lack of affordable, decent housing is increasingly seen as a major socioeconomic crisis, while at the same time vast amounts of money are being invested in luxury properties for a newly visible, ultra-wealthy elite. This article examines these aspects of contemporary Syria, and finds their roots in the country's transition from a centrally-planned, statist economy, to one with increasingly neoliberal characteristics. The recent wave of unrest in the country may be symptomatic of these changes.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The rate of electrification in Syria increased from 2% in 1963 to 99% by the time of the study.
“the rate of electrification increased from 2% in 1963 to today's impressive 99% (Goulden, 2011; World Bank, 2009).”
From The Ba'athist blackout? Selective goods provision and political violence in the Syrian civil war (2015) · cites this paper as Goulden, 2011
When the Ba'ath Party seized power in the early 1960s, it launched a massive service-provision campaign to drum up broad public support.
“When the Ba'ath Party seized power in the early 1960s, it launched a massive service-provision campaign in order to drum up broad public support (Goulden, 2011).”
From The Ba'athist blackout? Selective goods provision and political violence in the Syrian civil war (2015) · cites this paper as Goulden, 2011
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Climate change and the Syrian civil war revisited
Selby, J., Dahi, O. S., Fröhlich, C., & Hulme, M. (2017) · Political Geography · doi:10.1016/j.polgeo.2017.05.007 · Cited by 499 · see citing works
Climate change and the Syrian civil war, Part II: The Jazira’s agrarian crisis
Selby, J. (2018) · Geoforum · doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2018.06.010 · Cited by 107 · see citing works
“…2000-05, an estimated 135,000 people were leaving rural for urban areas of Syria each year (estimated from al-Hindi, 2011: 25), while right through the decade prior to the 2011 uprising there was a rapid expansion of the periurban informal housing areas around Syria’s cities (Goulden, 2011).”
BackgroundThe Ba'athist blackout? Selective goods provision and political violence in the Syrian civil war
De Juan, A., & Bank, A. (2015) · Journal of Peace Research · doi:10.1177/0022343314559437 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
“As a consequence, the rate of electrification increased from 2% in 1963 to today’s impressive 99% (Goulden, 2011; World Bank, 2009).2 According to information from the US Energy Information Administration, however, Syria’s net energy consumption dropped suddenly and substantially around 2008…”
BackgroundSpatial Inequality in China’s Housing Market and the Driving Mechanism
Zhao, S., Zhao, K., & Zhang, P. (2021) · Land · doi:10.3390/land10080841 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Wind, B., & Ibrahim, B. (2020) · Habitat International · doi:10.1016/j.habitatint.2019.102109 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
“Furthermore, investments in rental housing have become more attractive as “private rental laws which for so long made renting unappealing to property owners are being phased out, with traditional protections to renters disappearing [Law 6/2001]” (Goulden, 2011, p. 197).”
BackgroundInfluentialListening to Rights Talk in Damascus
Ferguson, S. (2015) · Comparative Studies of South Asia Africa and the Middle East · doi:10.1215/1089201x-3426409 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Groarke, E. (2016) · International Journal of Conflict Management · doi:10.1108/ijcma-12-2014-0090 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
The uprising of the marginalised: a socio-economic perspective of the Syrian uprising
Azmeh, S. (2014) · London School of Economics and Political Science Research Online (London School of Economics and Political Science) · doi:10.21953/lse.ro.60243 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Assessing housing approaches for Iraq: Learning from the world experience
Al-Hafith, O., Satish, B. K., & de Wilde, P. (2019) · Habitat International · doi:10.1016/j.habitatint.2019.102001 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
“In Syria, it provided 65% of the total housing needs between 1981 and 1995 (Syrian economic center, 2007; Goulden, 2011) .”
From the Fragments Up: Municipal Margins of Maneuver in Syria and Tunisia
Salman, L., & Baird-Zars, B. (2019) · Middle East Law and Governance · doi:10.1163/18763375-01102006 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Ahmad, B. (2014) · Forum for Development Studies · doi:10.1080/08039410.2014.963143 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
“By law, illegal housing can only be demolished if alternative housing is provided (Goulden, 2011).”
BackgroundCohen, E. (2016) · JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES · doi:10.14254/2071-8330.2016/9-1/1 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Ling, Z., & Tian, R. (2024) · Cities · doi:10.1016/j.cities.2024.105225 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Ahmad, B., Fouad, F. M., Zaman, S., et al. (2018) · International Journal of Public Health · doi:10.1007/s00038-018-1150-2 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
“Many informal areas were served by some degree of public infrastructure (Goulden 2011; Hammal et al. 2005; Lavinal 2008).”
BackgroundInfluentialLebanon Can’t Give Him a Future: Revolutionary Subjectivity and Syrian Rebel-Workers in Beirut
Proudfoot, P. (2018) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-98458-2_7 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
This is home: Redirecting reconstruction in Syria
Hourani, N. B. (2025) · Human Organization · doi:10.1080/00187259.2025.2464212 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Forging Peace in Damascus: On International Aid, Localized Elite Bargaining, and Insider Mediators
Kania, M. (2021) · Journal of Illicit Economies and Development · doi:10.31389/jied.65 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Towards an exclusionary social contract: Narratives of a revanchist city in (post)war Syria
Sudermann, Y., & Zintl, T. (2024) · Mediterranean Politics · doi:10.1080/13629395.2024.2379740 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“These unfavourable conditions on the rental market resulted in disinvestment and high vacancy rates (Goulden, 2011, p. 22).”
InfluentialAn Overview of the Conflict in Syria
Albasoos, H. (2017) · International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478) · doi:10.20525/ijrbs.v6i1.670 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Azzam, M., Graw, V., & Rienow, A. (2024) · Urban Science · doi:10.3390/urbansci8040183 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“Law 6 (2001) also improved real estate investment by eliminating laws that hindered real Law 6 (2001) also improved real estate investment by eliminating laws that hindered real estate trading by private rental land-lords [39]. estate trading by private rental land-lords [39].”
Transition economies in the Middle East: the Syrian experience
Alajaty, M., & Anchor, J. R. (2018) · Post-Communist Economies · doi:10.1080/14631377.2018.1442052 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“State socialism worked well initially because of the ready availability of basic education, jobs, health care and housing for the majority of the population during the 1960s and the 1970s (Goulden, 2011).”
BackgroundGerbaka, L., Fekih‐Romdhane, F., Hallit, S. R., & Obeïd, S. (2025) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-981-95-0461-9_13 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Ismail, W. M. (2013) · SSRN Electronic Journal
An Idea on Housing Vouchers Policy Making: Based on New-Type Urbanization
Luo, J., Wu, Y., & Zhang, X. (2016) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-981-10-0855-9_7
Thesis, D., & Al-Saleh, M. (2016)
Gentrification and urban heritage under authoritarian rule : the case of pre-war Damascus, Syria
Sudermann, Y. (2014) · Edinburgh Research Archive (University of Edinburgh)
Baczko, A., Dorronsoro, G., & Quesnay, A. (2017) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108355322.003
Horizontal inequality and multi-sectarian societies
Zahreddine, D., & Pires, G. D. L. (2022) · Conjuntura Austral · doi:10.22456/2178-8839.126987
DIARY. Coping with Discomfort – Use Patterns in a Syrian Home
Hajali, W. (2022) · Dimensions Journal of Architectural Knowledge · doi:10.14361/dak-2022-0307
Regulating informal housing for the Syrian reconstruction. Between urban renewal and upgrading
Porras‐Gómez, A. (2023) · Journal of Property Planning and Environmental Law · doi:10.1108/jppel-04-2023-0013
Bank, A., & Mohns, E. (2013) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-531-19273-4_5
- Authors
- Goulden, R.
- Corresponding author
- Goulden, Robert
- ORCID
- Goulden, Robert
- Venue
- British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2011-08
- Volume
- 38
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 187-202
- ISSN
- 1353-0194 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-3542
- OpenAlex
- W1999586060
- Cited by
- 32
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 2
- FWCI
- 7.76
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Urban Studies › Urban and Rural Development Challenges
- Social Sciences › Urban Studies › Urban Planning and Governance
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Middle East Politics and Society
- Keywords
- housing, informal settlements, inequality, economic change, neoliberalism, transition to market economy, elite wealth, luxury housing, socio-economic crisis, Syria
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
