Increasing disparities within cities, the privatization of the public sector, the growing cost of housing - Processes like these manifest in single urban districts and create conditions for citizens' initiatives. At the same time, places change in meaning due to people's actions on the one hand and government strategies on the other. Manuela Wade follows these processes and shows how the inhabitants of three selected urban districts in different parts of the world deal with it, what the role of housing is in this context, and why space as a category is relevant for participation research.