Tim White
@timwhite100.bsky.social
Social scientist studying housing, land, property and power.
King's College London / London School of Economics
www.timwhite.work
King's College London / London School of Economics
www.timwhite.work
Pinned
Tim White
@timwhite100.bsky.social
· Jan 7
HYPERSCALING HOUSING: Venture Capital, Real Estate Start‐Ups and the Race to Build a Global Residential Brand
What happens when venture capitalists try to reinvent housing in their own image? Synonymous with the rise of Big Tech, venture capitalists (VCs) are asset managers that invest in early-stage compani...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
What happens when venture capitalists try to reinvent housing in their own image? Find out in my new @ijurresearch.bsky.social article ‘Hyperscaling Housing’
It traces VC-fuelled attempts to aggressively scale real estate start-ups, and the devastating consequences for tenants.
It traces VC-fuelled attempts to aggressively scale real estate start-ups, and the devastating consequences for tenants.
Reposted by Tim White
New in SER: Nils Peters shows soaring UK startup valuations in the 2010s were less about VC power & more about a struggle for ownership. Late‑stage funds pushed into early‑stage rounds, intensifying competition & a small elite captured outsized returns. doi.org/10.1093/ser/...
Bringing ownership in: a conjunctural approach to venture capital valuations
Abstract. High startup valuations are commonly perceived as expressions of venture capitalists’ (VCs) power. This study complicates this view and argues th
doi.org
February 2, 2026 at 12:15 PM
New in SER: Nils Peters shows soaring UK startup valuations in the 2010s were less about VC power & more about a struggle for ownership. Late‑stage funds pushed into early‑stage rounds, intensifying competition & a small elite captured outsized returns. doi.org/10.1093/ser/...
Reposted by Tim White
I am super proud of this 3 part series about digital politics by the brilliant Robert Topinka that I commissioned and edited.
First piece here about how liberals misread the rise of the right content platforms.The illos by Antoine Cossé are so good www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
First piece here about how liberals misread the rise of the right content platforms.The illos by Antoine Cossé are so good www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
How liberals lost the internet | Robert Topinka
In the first part of our series on digital politics, we look at how centrists have lost ground fighting disinformation – when the real battle is over emotion and attention, says digital media academic...
www.theguardian.com
January 30, 2026 at 12:12 PM
I am super proud of this 3 part series about digital politics by the brilliant Robert Topinka that I commissioned and edited.
First piece here about how liberals misread the rise of the right content platforms.The illos by Antoine Cossé are so good www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
First piece here about how liberals misread the rise of the right content platforms.The illos by Antoine Cossé are so good www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Tim White
I enjoyed writing this in the great new issue of Renewal. It's an effort to think through how fighting the far right should be integrated with campaigns for economic alternatives in a "postneoliberal" context
FREE TO READ: Neil Warner (@neilwarner.bsky.social) argues social democrats must connect the far-right threat to authoritarianism already present within neoliberalism, and calls for a cross-scale anti-authoritarian agenda to counter concentrations of both political economic power
Anti-oligarchy as anti-fascism
03 Renewal 33.3-33.4_Warner03 Renewal 33.3-33.4_Warner.pdf95 KBdownload-circle
Progressive responses to the rise of the far right have often been confused due to a tendency to overemphasise its dis...
renewal.org.uk
January 27, 2026 at 4:55 PM
I enjoyed writing this in the great new issue of Renewal. It's an effort to think through how fighting the far right should be integrated with campaigns for economic alternatives in a "postneoliberal" context
Reposted by Tim White
“It’s like torture”: our new report reveals how Temporary Accommodation is harming neurodivergent children and families across the UK. Based on a nationwide call for evidence, it sets out urgent policy asks for change.
www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
Temporary accommodation in England is ‘torture’ for neurodivergent children, report finds
Exclusive: Parents said their children had become withdrawn or hypervigilant because of uncertainty, unsafe environments and removal of support
www.theguardian.com
January 27, 2026 at 8:56 AM
“It’s like torture”: our new report reveals how Temporary Accommodation is harming neurodivergent children and families across the UK. Based on a nationwide call for evidence, it sets out urgent policy asks for change.
www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
Reposted by Tim White
'Debt & Disruption: South East Water's creaking infrastructure & finances'. With background analysis and comment from me, in this @financialtimes.com article on South East Water www.ft.com/content/534a...
Debt and disruption: South East Water’s creaking infrastructure and finances
Under-fire utility paid almost as much in interest and dividends as it invested in the network in past 15 years
www.ft.com
January 22, 2026 at 9:51 AM
'Debt & Disruption: South East Water's creaking infrastructure & finances'. With background analysis and comment from me, in this @financialtimes.com article on South East Water www.ft.com/content/534a...
Reposted by Tim White
Now available for pre-order and we're open for book talks to students, workshops and conferences, organisations etc.
press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
January 21, 2026 at 11:36 AM
Now available for pre-order and we're open for book talks to students, workshops and conferences, organisations etc.
press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
Reposted by Tim White
At last JustSpace has moved over here. Do follow and tell people. @justspace7.bsky.social (and remember to protest by Thursday against the Mayor's cave-in to the developers - briefing at JustSpace.org.uk)
Just Space
Community groups supporting each other on London planning
JustSpace.org.uk
January 19, 2026 at 8:01 PM
At last JustSpace has moved over here. Do follow and tell people. @justspace7.bsky.social (and remember to protest by Thursday against the Mayor's cave-in to the developers - briefing at JustSpace.org.uk)
Reposted by Tim White
Approved Housing Bodies - public, private, or not quite either?
I (try to) get at this in my new paper in IJHP on the piecemeal financialisation of social housing provision in post-crash Ireland - 50 free eprints at tinyurl.com/4MPF8U47, but DM me if you're stuck...
I (try to) get at this in my new paper in IJHP on the piecemeal financialisation of social housing provision in post-crash Ireland - 50 free eprints at tinyurl.com/4MPF8U47, but DM me if you're stuck...
January 13, 2026 at 9:30 AM
Approved Housing Bodies - public, private, or not quite either?
I (try to) get at this in my new paper in IJHP on the piecemeal financialisation of social housing provision in post-crash Ireland - 50 free eprints at tinyurl.com/4MPF8U47, but DM me if you're stuck...
I (try to) get at this in my new paper in IJHP on the piecemeal financialisation of social housing provision in post-crash Ireland - 50 free eprints at tinyurl.com/4MPF8U47, but DM me if you're stuck...
Reposted by Tim White
My book is out on Friday in print and ebook. Get a 40% discount wit this code: MIB26
@robkitchin.bsky.social @maedhbhlikedave.bsky.social @maoiliosarey.bsky.social @codyhochstenbach.bsky.social @javigil.bsky.social @fingalpimpernel.bsky.social @adrianasoaita.bsky.social
tinyurl.com/kxunfkb4
@robkitchin.bsky.social @maedhbhlikedave.bsky.social @maoiliosarey.bsky.social @codyhochstenbach.bsky.social @javigil.bsky.social @fingalpimpernel.bsky.social @adrianasoaita.bsky.social
tinyurl.com/kxunfkb4
Beyond Generation Rent: Political Economy, Inequality, and the Private Rental Sector
Beyond Generation Rent: Political Economy, Inequality, and the Private Rental Sector, As societies struggle to respond to the revival of private renting, this book offers the first comprehensive and c...
www.politybooks.com
January 12, 2026 at 12:43 PM
My book is out on Friday in print and ebook. Get a 40% discount wit this code: MIB26
@robkitchin.bsky.social @maedhbhlikedave.bsky.social @maoiliosarey.bsky.social @codyhochstenbach.bsky.social @javigil.bsky.social @fingalpimpernel.bsky.social @adrianasoaita.bsky.social
tinyurl.com/kxunfkb4
@robkitchin.bsky.social @maedhbhlikedave.bsky.social @maoiliosarey.bsky.social @codyhochstenbach.bsky.social @javigil.bsky.social @fingalpimpernel.bsky.social @adrianasoaita.bsky.social
tinyurl.com/kxunfkb4
Reposted by Tim White
Finally made it to bluesky, just to share my conversation with Jan Groos about socialisation as transformation strategy 🙂
A new episode of Future Histories Live!
This time I talk to Rabea Berfelde ( @ktbberlin.bsky.social, @humboldtuni.bsky.social) about socialisation, its history, and contemporary movements.
Recorded during the 2025 Rethinking Economics Summer School Switzerland.
Full Episode: buff.ly/EeUb9Wj
This time I talk to Rabea Berfelde ( @ktbberlin.bsky.social, @humboldtuni.bsky.social) about socialisation, its history, and contemporary movements.
Recorded during the 2025 Rethinking Economics Summer School Switzerland.
Full Episode: buff.ly/EeUb9Wj
January 7, 2026 at 5:47 PM
Finally made it to bluesky, just to share my conversation with Jan Groos about socialisation as transformation strategy 🙂
Reposted by Tim White
If you've ever wondered how co-living went from idealism and alternative living in the 1960s to rapacious capitalism hiding behind funky branding in the 2020s, this article explains a lot
What happens when venture capitalists try to reinvent housing in their own image? Find out in my new @ijurresearch.bsky.social article ‘Hyperscaling Housing’
It traces VC-fuelled attempts to aggressively scale real estate start-ups, and the devastating consequences for tenants.
It traces VC-fuelled attempts to aggressively scale real estate start-ups, and the devastating consequences for tenants.
HYPERSCALING HOUSING: Venture Capital, Real Estate Start‐Ups and the Race to Build a Global Residential Brand
What happens when venture capitalists try to reinvent housing in their own image? Synonymous with the rise of Big Tech, venture capitalists (VCs) are asset managers that invest in early-stage compani...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
January 8, 2026 at 9:55 AM
If you've ever wondered how co-living went from idealism and alternative living in the 1960s to rapacious capitalism hiding behind funky branding in the 2020s, this article explains a lot
Reposted by Tim White
Read @timwhite100.bsky.social's latest piece on how venture capital‑driven real estate start‑ups chase aggressive expansion across global housing markets, and the consequences this produces for tenants⬇️
What happens when venture capitalists try to reinvent housing in their own image? Find out in my new @ijurresearch.bsky.social article ‘Hyperscaling Housing’
It traces VC-fuelled attempts to aggressively scale real estate start-ups, and the devastating consequences for tenants.
It traces VC-fuelled attempts to aggressively scale real estate start-ups, and the devastating consequences for tenants.
HYPERSCALING HOUSING: Venture Capital, Real Estate Start‐Ups and the Race to Build a Global Residential Brand
What happens when venture capitalists try to reinvent housing in their own image? Synonymous with the rise of Big Tech, venture capitalists (VCs) are asset managers that invest in early-stage compani...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
January 7, 2026 at 4:56 PM
Read @timwhite100.bsky.social's latest piece on how venture capital‑driven real estate start‑ups chase aggressive expansion across global housing markets, and the consequences this produces for tenants⬇️
Reposted by Tim White
The answer is more surprising than I thought!
What happens when venture capitalists try to reinvent housing in their own image? Find out in my new @ijurresearch.bsky.social article ‘Hyperscaling Housing’
It traces VC-fuelled attempts to aggressively scale real estate start-ups, and the devastating consequences for tenants.
It traces VC-fuelled attempts to aggressively scale real estate start-ups, and the devastating consequences for tenants.
HYPERSCALING HOUSING: Venture Capital, Real Estate Start‐Ups and the Race to Build a Global Residential Brand
What happens when venture capitalists try to reinvent housing in their own image? Synonymous with the rise of Big Tech, venture capitalists (VCs) are asset managers that invest in early-stage compani...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
January 7, 2026 at 3:54 PM
The answer is more surprising than I thought!
What happens when venture capitalists try to reinvent housing in their own image? Find out in my new @ijurresearch.bsky.social article ‘Hyperscaling Housing’
It traces VC-fuelled attempts to aggressively scale real estate start-ups, and the devastating consequences for tenants.
It traces VC-fuelled attempts to aggressively scale real estate start-ups, and the devastating consequences for tenants.
HYPERSCALING HOUSING: Venture Capital, Real Estate Start‐Ups and the Race to Build a Global Residential Brand
What happens when venture capitalists try to reinvent housing in their own image? Synonymous with the rise of Big Tech, venture capitalists (VCs) are asset managers that invest in early-stage compani...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
January 7, 2026 at 11:07 AM
What happens when venture capitalists try to reinvent housing in their own image? Find out in my new @ijurresearch.bsky.social article ‘Hyperscaling Housing’
It traces VC-fuelled attempts to aggressively scale real estate start-ups, and the devastating consequences for tenants.
It traces VC-fuelled attempts to aggressively scale real estate start-ups, and the devastating consequences for tenants.
Reposted by Tim White
Grateful to Hannah Murphy at the FT for covering the Network State movement. Quotes from yours truly. Shoutout @shanley.com for the assist and doggedly pushing this story. www.ft.com/content/b127...
Tech elites are starting their own for-profit cities
They want to escape from regulation and ‘failing’ democracy — but are they more opportunistic than libertarian?
www.ft.com
December 7, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Grateful to Hannah Murphy at the FT for covering the Network State movement. Quotes from yours truly. Shoutout @shanley.com for the assist and doggedly pushing this story. www.ft.com/content/b127...
Reposted by Tim White
Tomorrow, we host @miroborn.bsky.social for an AMCIS Seminar on "Social Ladders: The Weight of Social Mobility" where he will critically explores the ideal of social mobility.
Info and registration: amcis.uva.nl/content/even...
@codyhochstenbach.bsky.social
@aissr.bsky.social
Info and registration: amcis.uva.nl/content/even...
@codyhochstenbach.bsky.social
@aissr.bsky.social
Social Ladders: The Weight of Social Mobility - AMCIS
In this talk, Dr Anthony Miro Born (London School of Economics and Political Science) critically explores the ideal of social mobility.
amcis.uva.nl
December 2, 2025 at 10:37 AM
Tomorrow, we host @miroborn.bsky.social for an AMCIS Seminar on "Social Ladders: The Weight of Social Mobility" where he will critically explores the ideal of social mobility.
Info and registration: amcis.uva.nl/content/even...
@codyhochstenbach.bsky.social
@aissr.bsky.social
Info and registration: amcis.uva.nl/content/even...
@codyhochstenbach.bsky.social
@aissr.bsky.social
Reposted by Tim White
This highlights some of the obvious implications of densification and living small - no living room/lounge, no room for socialising, the end of the house party etc etc. @nospacelikehome.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
The death of the living room: ‘It’s hard to invite people over – not everyone wants to sit on a bed’
The number of rental properties without a lounge is surging, and people are having to eat and socialise in kitchens, bedrooms and stairwells. How can you relax and build community without a communal a...
www.theguardian.com
December 1, 2025 at 11:40 AM
This highlights some of the obvious implications of densification and living small - no living room/lounge, no room for socialising, the end of the house party etc etc. @nospacelikehome.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
Reposted by Tim White
This is fascinating and disturbing from @jburnmurdoch.ft.com on rise of 'financial nihilism' (cc @aminsamman.bsky.social !) in the asset economy www.ft.com/content/c17a...
The housing crisis is pushing Gen Z into crypto and economic nihilism
Locked out of home ownership, young adults are turning to risky financial behaviour
www.ft.com
November 28, 2025 at 9:04 AM
This is fascinating and disturbing from @jburnmurdoch.ft.com on rise of 'financial nihilism' (cc @aminsamman.bsky.social !) in the asset economy www.ft.com/content/c17a...
Reposted by Tim White
My latest for @transitionsec.bsky.social, where I take a look at the implications of the UK forgeing its defence strategy in the image of the US. I argue that this pathway to growth, via a "defence dividend”, risks primarily serving those with vested industry interests, not the public at large.
NEW ESSAY: Ahead of the Budget, read @ElkeSchwarz on how the UK Government has made venture capital investment in defence tech the cornerstone of its growth model and security strategy.
transitionsecurity.org/venture-capital-statecraft/
transitionsecurity.org/venture-capital-statecraft/
November 25, 2025 at 3:08 PM
My latest for @transitionsec.bsky.social, where I take a look at the implications of the UK forgeing its defence strategy in the image of the US. I argue that this pathway to growth, via a "defence dividend”, risks primarily serving those with vested industry interests, not the public at large.
Reposted by Tim White
Is construction best left to the capitalist market? No. Let's learn from history and build new non-profit construction companies!
💥 new paper with Maria Wallstam in @housingjournal.bsky.social 💥
💥 new paper with Maria Wallstam in @housingjournal.bsky.social 💥
Building beyond profit: the history and potential future of non-profit construction companies
When housing construction slows down due to diminished profit margins while the actual need for housing increases, people might raise the question: is residential construction best left to the capi...
www.tandfonline.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Is construction best left to the capitalist market? No. Let's learn from history and build new non-profit construction companies!
💥 new paper with Maria Wallstam in @housingjournal.bsky.social 💥
💥 new paper with Maria Wallstam in @housingjournal.bsky.social 💥
Reposted by Tim White
OUT NOW "Remittances as translocal collateral: How microfinance profitably sustains precarity in Cambodia"
@vincentguermond.bsky.social as lead, bringing together !5! studies on the relationship between migration, remittances, and microfinance debt.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
@vincentguermond.bsky.social as lead, bringing together !5! studies on the relationship between migration, remittances, and microfinance debt.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
November 24, 2025 at 10:27 AM
OUT NOW "Remittances as translocal collateral: How microfinance profitably sustains precarity in Cambodia"
@vincentguermond.bsky.social as lead, bringing together !5! studies on the relationship between migration, remittances, and microfinance debt.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
@vincentguermond.bsky.social as lead, bringing together !5! studies on the relationship between migration, remittances, and microfinance debt.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Vital new paper from @davvkamp.bsky.social on the political economy of venture capital!
Pleased to share my new paper in Socio-Economic Review on the political economy of venture capital. It argues that VC follows a winners-take-all logic in which founder control became crucial post-2010, helping to explain the concentration of power in US Tech academic.oup.com/ser/advance-...
November 19, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Vital new paper from @davvkamp.bsky.social on the political economy of venture capital!
Reposted by Tim White
THE ASSET CLASS, my first book, will be published by @wnbooks.bsky.social on 9 April 2026. It’s a narrative investigation of private equity, a secretive and relentlessly destructive wing of finance that penetrates almost every aspect of our lives - and it’s available to pre-order now!
November 18, 2025 at 12:00 PM
THE ASSET CLASS, my first book, will be published by @wnbooks.bsky.social on 9 April 2026. It’s a narrative investigation of private equity, a secretive and relentlessly destructive wing of finance that penetrates almost every aspect of our lives - and it’s available to pre-order now!
On Dec 3rd we will launch our book (w/Ella Harris, Mel Nowicki & Cian Oba-Smith) Reconstructing the American Dream: Life Inside the Tiny House Nation @intellectbooks.bsky.social It combines photographic and ethnographic accounts of life in Texas tiny home communities. Sign up here: shorturl.at/tpbKR
November 17, 2025 at 4:41 PM
On Dec 3rd we will launch our book (w/Ella Harris, Mel Nowicki & Cian Oba-Smith) Reconstructing the American Dream: Life Inside the Tiny House Nation @intellectbooks.bsky.social It combines photographic and ethnographic accounts of life in Texas tiny home communities. Sign up here: shorturl.at/tpbKR
Reposted by Tim White
Absolutely going to this! Cutting edge stuff on #housing problems and prospects from Ifigeneia Dimitrakou (University of Zurich) and @timwhite100.bsky.social (Queen Mary University of London, UK)
Join the Society's Economic Geography Research Group for an upcoming webinar:
'Emerging voices in economic geography: housing' will take place on Thursday 20 November.
Register here: https://www.rgs.org/events/upcoming-events/emerging-voices-in-economic-geography-session-one
'Emerging voices in economic geography: housing' will take place on Thursday 20 November.
Register here: https://www.rgs.org/events/upcoming-events/emerging-voices-in-economic-geography-session-one
Emerging voices in economic geography: housing
A new webinar series showcasing fresh perspectives from early career researchers. This webinar's theme: housing.
www.rgs.org
November 14, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Absolutely going to this! Cutting edge stuff on #housing problems and prospects from Ifigeneia Dimitrakou (University of Zurich) and @timwhite100.bsky.social (Queen Mary University of London, UK)