Abstract
This presentation, delivered at the IMISCOE Annual Conference in Paris in July 2025, drew on preliminary findings from the Horizon Europe SERIGO project’s South Tyrol case study to examine migrants’ access to housing in rural areas.
Focusing on a community-based housing initiative in the Eisack Valley, managed by a social cooperative, the study explored how migrants navigated precarious housing conditions in a rural border context marked by tourism-driven price inflation, limited rental stock, and sparse institutional support.
Using qualitative methods, including participant observation and interviews with residents and housing professionals, the research analysed how agency, vulnerability, and belonging were negotiated through everyday practices of “strategic compliance” and adaptation to rural constraints.
Preliminary findings highlighted differentiated housing trajectories shaped by gender, age, family status, and migration status, revealing both continuities with urban experiences and distinct rural dynamics. By situating these processes within broader structural and intersectional factors, the presentation shed light on the complex interplay between local housing systems, socio-economic structures, and migrants’ strategies in peripheral European contexts.