Housing Conditions as an Environmental Variable: The Example of the Urban Region of Liège (Wallonia)

This article focuses on the intrinsic conditions of housing (surface area, type of heating, salubrity, etc.) as a central component of reflections on environmental inequalities. Access to high-quality housing remains a major vector of social differentiation in Wallonia. We consider here housing conditions as an environmental variable that could reinforce socio-economic inequalities, in the same way as exposure to noise or air pollution, or access to urban amenities. Starting from a neighbourhood-level indicator of socio-economic deprivation, we analyse the factors that reinforce social and environmental inequalities through housing conditions. This focus is supplemented by the study of two urban amenities: accessibility from alternative forms of mobility to the car; access to green spaces. In this way, we bring out the specific aspects of the urban territories in Wallonia, and more specifically of the urban region of Liège, and we analyse how these amenities reinforce, compensate for or are disconnected from other social and housing inequalities.