Benedikt Straňák

Benedikt is a PhD student researching rent and the political economy of land and housing in London. Before starting his PhD, Benedikt worked as a researcher at the New Economics Foundation and the Centre for Local Economic Strategies, focusing on land and housing, spatial inequality, community wealth building and local government. Benedikt holds an MSc in Regional and Urban Planning Studies from LSE and a BSc in Politics and Economics with Data Science from UCL.

Key Expertise: Political economy, urban theory, tenant organising, social science methods

Benedikt's research investigates rent and how urban space functions as a rentier asset, drawing on both quantitative data and qualitative methods. His PhD project examines the scale and character of income from property ownership in London since the financial crisis, how rentierisation transforms the life of the city, and who benefits and who pays for it.

Working Thesis Title: Space as asset: the remaking of London as a rentier city

Supervisors: Professor Aaron Reeves (Department of Sociology) and Dr David Madden (Department of Sociology)