The 'rezoned property' as a site of ontological security: the case of collective sales

This paper utilizes the concept of ontological security to investigate how homeowners (owner-occupiers) negotiate financial and emotional tensions of the ‘rezoned property’. It draws on interviews with 27 owner-occupiers residing in four suburbs subject to rezoning efforts in Sydney, Australia. Rezoning to higher density alters homeowners’ land values, creating a unique and time-sensitive opportunity for a lucrative property sale, yet achieving this through a collective sale process is complex, and requires the dissolution of feelings of home and neighbourhood attachment. Analysis adopts Dupuis and Thorns’ conditions of ontological security to examine owners’ reactions to rezoning, and their subsequent actions to sell (or not sell) their properties. Interview analysis documents how rezoning challenges ontological security in different ways, revealing the importance of potential financial uplift for maintaining ontological security during change and disruption. The paper calls for fuller accounts of owner-occupiers in place during compact city delivery, and proposes ways to support owners during the process of urban renewal.