iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Amrita Kulka @amritakulka.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

Our WhereToBuild mapping tool was on ITV Tonight last night!! Super interesting episode on new builds and housing quality! wheretobuild.warwick.ac.uk @nikdatta.bsky.social @cagewarwick.bsky.social @annapowellsmith.bsky.social

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Reposted by Amrita Kulka

CAGE Research Centre @cagewarwick.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

A fantastic day two of our Winter School for GES members. With thanks to @econopete.bsky.social for tips on using AI tools to achieve research tasks more effectively and @amritakulka.bsky.social for an insightful presentation on the #wheretobuild project.

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Amrita Kulka @amritakulka.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

Check out our new Op-ed in the LGC!

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Amrita Kulka @amritakulka.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

Please reach out if you’re interested in learning more! Read more on our project site: warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/econ... 12/12.

warwick.ac.uk

Where to Build

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Amrita Kulka @amritakulka.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

Finally, we find that Bexley, Lewisham, and Wandsworth combine high housing gaps with restrictive planning systems-candidates for reform. Conversely, Manchester, Leeds, and Birmingham show high demand and efficient planning, offering opportunities to deliver housing quickly.11/12

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Amrita Kulka @amritakulka.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

Developers also contribute to the speed of a project being built. We show that the buildout rate – a developer decision – is several months faster on average when building takes place in areas with a high housing gap than in areas with a low housing gap. 10/12

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Amrita Kulka @amritakulka.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

New builds are subject to supply side frictions. We add planning data and show that particularly larger projects (often urban extensions) face much higher hurdles in terms of their paperwork through the number of filings, and can often spend years in the planning system. 9/12

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Amrita Kulka @amritakulka.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

Planning designations matter. 15% of the housing gap lies in greenbelt areas, but not all greenbelt areas are in high demand. Allowing building on just 10% of England’s greenbelts with the highest gap would be a huge positive, particularly in the North West Green Belt. 8/12

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Amrita Kulka @amritakulka.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

30% of the housing gap requires urban extensions in places such as North Shields and South of London (Richmond/Kingston). Surprisingly, we find urban extensions are slower and more bureaucratic, with longer planning times and slower build-out rates compared to densification. 7/12

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Amrita Kulka @amritakulka.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

Half the housing gap lies in areas classified as densification–but only 29% of homes were built in such areas over the last 20 years. Densification is needed particularly in neighbourhoods of Wandsworth, Islington, Camden, Manchester, Bristol, Salford, Edinburgh & Portsmouth. 6/12

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Amrita Kulka @amritakulka.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

We classify 3.2 million new builds in the last two decades by location—based on population & distance to CBD : New Rural Developments – small villages & rural areas Small Town Extensions – around small towns Urban Extensions – city outskirts Densification – inner-city builds 5/12

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Amrita Kulka @amritakulka.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

The highest gaps are in trendy urban centres (Stockbridge Edinburgh, Jewellery Quarter Birmingham) while the lowest are either near infrastructure, e.g. sewage plants, airports and big road interchanges, or in areas without good amenity access where few people want to live. 4/12

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Amrita Kulka @amritakulka.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

Local housebuilding decisions are crucial: 96% of variation in the housing gap is within LAs rather than between. Many LAs have areas of both high and low gaps, e.g. Hillingdon has gaps in the top 14th and bottom 1st percentile (similar images can be downloaded from map). 3/12

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Amrita Kulka @amritakulka.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

We ask: Where should the 1.5m new homes be built? To answer this question, we define a micro-neighbourhood level measure of excess demand: the housing gap - the difference between the number of people searching for a home and the number of available properties in an area. 2/12

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Amrita Kulka @amritakulka.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

📢Where and How to Build 1.5 million homes in Britain? New research report + micro-neighbourhood level mapping tool with @nikdatta.bsky.social uses 20 billion housing searches to map demand Map wheretobuild.warwick.ac.uk Research report + 350 customised LA reports: warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/econ...

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Amrita Kulka @amritakulka.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

Planning applications are down but shifts to large projects mean units may not always be! @nikdatta.bsky.social summarizes our work ⬇️

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