Socio-economic segregation in Europe: Area- and people-based policy solutions Professor Maarten van Ham Delft University of Technology & University of St Andrews IFHP, Rotterdam, 10 November 2016 1
Increasing income inequalities in Europe Source: World Bank, http://inequalitywatch.eu/spip.php?article58&lang=en 2
Income inequality in Europe, 2011 Source: European Commission, Social Situation Monitor 2014 http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catid=1050&intpageid=1870&langid=en 3
Does increasing income inequality also lead to increasing spatial segregation of poor and rich? 4
13 cities in 13 European countries Rick van t Hof & Rinus Bot, 2015 5
Social inequality and spatial segregation in European capitals, 2011 Spatial segregation Social inequality 6
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Conclusions Socio-economic segregation is increasing due to increasing inequality, globalisation, restructuring of the labour market, immigration of low skilled people, and decreasing investments in social/public housing. The poor and rich are increasingly living separated. The rich often live more concentrated than the poor. Segregation by income often has a strong ethnic component as well. 8
How problematic is increasing segregation in our cities? 9
Segregation has the potential of: Causing estrangement and fear for others (no go areas); Causing negative neighbourhood effects in multiple domains (Education, employment, health) and over generations; Reducing social cohesion and increasing social conflict; Causing rising crime rates. 10
Conclusion: is segregation a problem? Partly a political question. Extreme segregation can have the potential to lead to social unrest and negative neighbourhood effects. Strong intergenerational transmission of poverty and living in poor neighbourhoods. BUT 1: segregation is not necessarily a problem poverty is! BUT 2: segregation is often perceived as positive by residents. Most of YOU will happily live in very segregated neighbourhoods! 11
Policy responses to segregation and spatially concentrated poverty 12
Area-based policies Investments in housing and infrastructure. Socially mixing deprived neighbourhoods by demolition of low cost housing and replacement with higher costs housing to attract more affluent residents. Socially mixing new housing developments and infill developments. It is thought that creating mixed neighbourhoods will improve neighbourhoods AND help the social mobility of the original residents: such as transitions into employment; better school results; etc. 13
Urban renewal in Hoogvliet, Rotterdam 14
Large scale demolition & construction of housing at cost of 1.2 billion (estimate) 15
Was the large scale regeneration in Hoogvliet successful? YES and NO 16
Do area-based policies work? It really depends on what you want to achieve. Reduce spatially concentrated poverty? OR Reduce poverty? Social mix policies dilute concentrated poverty by displacing people, without actually solving the problem of poverty. People-based policies are needed to improve the lives of the neighbourhood residents by making them more socioeconomically mobile. 17
Ways forward for policy: An Urban Agenda for places AND people Invest in places to provide people with clean, safe, healthy living environments. Creating mixed neighbourhoods might be useful to avoid extremes. Demolition and new construction can be a useful instrument to upgrade neighbourhoods. Physical measures and creating mixed neighbourhoods will NOT reduce poverty and inequality. Invest in people through education. Take a long term perspective on solving poverty. It will take at least a generation. 18
Rick van t Hof & Rinus Bot, 2015 www.segregationeurope.eu 19
The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013) / ERC Grant Agreement n. 615159 (ERC Consolidator Grant DEPRIVEDHOODS, Socio-spatial inequality, deprived neighbourhoods, and neighbourhood effects), from the Estonian Science Foundation (Grant No. 8774 and 9247), and from the Marie Curie programme under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013) / Career Integration Grant n. PCIG10-GA-2011-303728 (CIG Grant NBHCHOICE, Neighbourhood choice, neighbourhood sorting, and neighbourhood effects). This lecture was based on joint work with Professor Dr Tiit Tammaru (University of Tartu), Dr Szymon Marcińczak (University of Łódź), Professor Dr Maarten van Ham (Delft University of Technology & University of St Andrews), and Professor Dr Sako Musterd (University of Amsterdam). 20