Joe Kwasnik

This PhD research investigates the phenomenon of short-term rental arbitrage—where individuals lease properties on long-term rental contracts and sublet them on short-term rental platforms like Airbnb to profit from price differentials. Despite its prevalence in housing markets globally (Swigunski, 2021; AirDNA, 2024), this practice remains unexplored in academic literature. Drawing on Maalsen's (2022, 2023) concept of urban hacking—which views regulatory exploitation as an adaptive and opportunistic response to vulnerabilities within urban systems—the study analyses how Airbnb arbitrageurs creatively navigate and exploit gaps in housing regulations to maximise financial gain. Kusiak's (2021, 2023) theory of reverse legal engineering further guides the investigation by critically examining these strategies to inform more effective and equitable housing policies. The research engages with ongoing debates on the commodification of housing (Rogers, 2017), the digitization of urban governance (Kitchin & Dodge, 2011), and the effects of platform economies on urban spaces (Srnicek, 2017). 

While existing literature has largely focused on the impacts of short-term rentals and those affected (Fields, 2019; Beswick et al., 2016), this study centres on the overlooked practices of small-scale actors like Airbnb hosts and arbitrageurs on housing regulation. 

Using a mixed-methods qualitative approach—including in-depth interviews, participant observation, and digital ethnography—this study examines Airbnb arbitrage in Warsaw and Bucharest, two cities with favorable regulatory environments that make them attractive to property entrepreneurs. Both cities are frequently discussed in Airbnb arbitrage forums due to their lenient tax policies and minimal regulations on short-term rentals. The research also explores the global online culture surrounding arbitrage, investigating how platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and Reddit facilitate knowledge exchange and promote entrepreneurial ideologies that encourage regulatory evasion. 

The findings hope to offer insights for policymakers and housing advocates to develop more effective responses to the challenges posed by digital disruption in urban housing markets, ultimately aiming to promote more equitable urban housing outcomes.

Joe Kwasnik is a PhD candidate at the Institute of European Urban Studies whose research examines Airbnb rental arbitrage as a form of urban “hacking” in post-socialist cities, with a comparative focus on Warsaw and Bucharest. Joe holds a BA in Social Anthropology from Queen’s University Belfast, a Postgraduate Diploma in City Planning from the University of Glasgow, and an MSc in European Urban Studies from Bauhaus-Universität Weimar.

His master’s thesis analysed how short-term rentals affected affordability in Warsaw in the year following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, tracing the interconnections across rental sub-markets and challenging narrow divisions between tourist vs. local demand and short- vs. long-term letting.

Drawing on legal geography and housing studies, his PhD maps how operators exploit regulatory frameworks and platform affordances, and develops counter-measures through critical/reverse legal engineering. Methodologically, the project combines digital ethnography, semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and policy/process tracing to follow practices from lease to listing and assess impacts on housing availability and governance.

Between 2020 and 2025, he worked as a proofreader and editor, supporting academic, policy, and professional publications. His broader interests include the relationship between digital subcultures and housing, housing policy in post-socialist contexts, and anthropological approaches to housing studies. 

2013 - 2017 - Bachelors of Social Anthropology at Queen’s University Belfast

2017 - 2018 - English Teacher, Sachkhere Georgia

2018 - 2019 - Postgraduate Diploma in City Planning at University of Glasgow

2021 - 2024 - Msc in European Urban Studies at Bauhaus Uni Weimar, graduating with the dissertation: Assessing the Impact of Airbnb on the Warsaw Rental Housing Market: The Role of the Short-Term Rental Market in a HousingCrisis