Where do we search for housing? What does the search process look like? Which areas do we consider – and which do we dismiss? How are our choices shaped by the knowledge we have about different neighbourhoods and by how we perceive them? This study focuses on the housing search itself as a key to understanding why people with different incomes and backgrounds often end up in different parts of the city. Although research has long shown the persistence of residential segregation in Swedish cities – and despite political efforts to create more socially mixed neighbourhoods – cities remain divided. To find new solutions, we must continue to investigate the underlying causes of segregation. The study builds on and expands existing explanations that link residential segregation to income, social ties to place, and discrimination. The project uses register data, surveys, and interviews to explore, from multiple angles, how housing search is connected to people’s knowledge and perceptions of the city – as well as to their broader social networks, including those that extend beyond their immediate neighbourhood.