The effect of socio-economic segregation on European cities EU-funded researchers, who studied the widening gap between the rich and the poor in 13 European cities, show how socio-economic segregation reduces a city’s sustainability. Society © hinterhof, Shutterstock The widening gap between the rich and the poor is segregating Europe’s cities. Middle-class residents are moving away from low income neighbourhoods, those without options are going where housing is cheap, and gentrification is pushing poor people out of desirable areas. The result can be disastrous for the social stability of urban regions – not to mention the negative impact it can have on residents. Surprisingly, there is very little research on the mechanisms that create these ‘neighbourhood effects’. To get a better understanding of the issue, the EU-funded NBHCHOICE project, in coordination with the ERC-funded DEPRIVEDHOODS project, launched an interdisciplinary and international study on how 13 European cities changed between 2001 and 2011. By drawing on available data, researchers first made initial predictions for each city concerning segregation before later testing these predictions in practice. They also linked the assessment to an in-depth analysis of the unique local situation and policy of each individual city. ‘The link between social stratification and spatial segregation isn’t straightforward and is mediated by many other factors,’ says Project Coordinator Maarten van Ham. ‘With this project, we developed a multifactor approach for understanding segregation that combined structural/formative factors with a context-sensitive analysis of segregation.’ Further and further away The project found that, with some delay, socio-economic inequality causes people in different income classes to live farther and farther away from each other. The main causes of this segregation are globalisation, inequality, restructuring of the labour market and changes in the welfare and housing systems. ‘This spatial segregation of the rich and the poor can become a breeding ground for misunderstanding and social unrest,’ says van Ham. ‘Recent riots in Paris, London and Stockholm cannot be seen separately from the concentrations of poverty in these cities – and our study demonstrates that this is a growing problem.’ Researchers also noted that although social inequalities are increasingly found in urban spaces across Europe, the process differs for each city. ‘The link between social inequalities and segregation is not straightforward as it is mediated by many factors, including the level of globalisation in a city, the intensity and nature of immigration and the local urban spatial and housing policies,’ explains van Ham. Strong cities for a strong Europe According to van Ham, socio-economic segregation reduces a city’s social sustainability. ‘Those residents who have the means tend to leave predominantly low-income neighbourhoods, which accelerates the process of segregation, making neighbourhoods more susceptible to social unrest and less attractive to new businesses,’ he says. To remedy this, what Europe needs is a strong urban agenda founded on a vision to invest in cities and neighbourhoods – a vision that must include investments in education and social mobility. ‘A strong Europe needs attractive, inclusive and competitive cities, which can be accomplished by investing in neighbourhoods and communities and by reducing inequality through education and social mobility,’ concludes van Ham. ‘This is not a matter of ability, but one of will as segregation is partly the result of political choices and thus the political system has the ability to reverse this worrisome trend.’ Keywords NBHCHOICE, gentrification, sustainable cities, social mobility, socio-economic segregation
