Gideon Bolt – författare

Policy-makers tend to view the residential segregation of minority ethnic groups in a negative light as it is seen as an obstacle to their integration. In the literature on neighbourhood effects, the residential concentration of minorities is seen as a major impediment to their social mobility and acculturation, while the literature on residential segregation emphasises the opposite causal direction, by focusing on the effect of integration on levels of (de-)segregation.

This volume, however, indicates that the link between integration and segregation is much less straightforward than is often depicted in academic literature and policy discourses. Based on research in a wide variety of western countries, it can be concluded that the process of assimilation into the housing market is highly complex and differs between and within ethnic groups. The integration pathway not only depends on the characteristics of migrants themselves, but also on the reactions of the institutions and the population of the receiving society. Linking Integration and Residential Segregation exposes the link between integration and segregation as a two-way relationship involving the minority ethnic groups and the host society, highlighting the importance of historical and geographical context for social and spatial outcomes.

This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.

Policy-makers tend to view the residential segregation of minority ethnic groups in a negative light as it is seen as an obstacle to their integration. In the literature on neighbourhood effects, the residential concentration of minorities is seen as a major impediment to their social mobility and acculturation, while the literature on residential segregation emphasises the opposite causal direction, by focusing on the effect of integration on levels of (de-)segregation.

This volume, however, indicates that the link between integration and segregation is much less straightforward than is often depicted in academic literature and policy discourses. Based on research in a wide variety of western countries, it can be concluded that the process of assimilation into the housing market is highly complex and differs between and within ethnic groups. The integration pathway not only depends on the characteristics of migrants themselves, but also on the reactions of the institutions and the population of the receiving society. Linking Integration and Residential Segregation exposes the link between integration and segregation as a two-way relationship involving the minority ethnic groups and the host society, highlighting the importance of historical and geographical context for social and spatial outcomes.

This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.

The global financial and economic crisis that hit the world since 2008 has affected the lives of many people all over the world and resulted in declining incomes, rising unemployment, foreclosures, forced residential moves, and cut-backs in government expenditure. The extent to which the crisis has affected urban neighborhoods and has led to rising intra-urban inequalities, has not yet received much attention. The implemented budget cuts and austerity programs of national and local governments are likely to have hit some neighborhoods more than others. The authors of this this book, which come from a variety of countries and disciplines, show that the economic crisis has affected poor neighborhoods more severely than more affluent ones. The tendency of the state to retreat from these neighborhoods has negative consequences for their residents and may even nullify the investments that have been made in many poor neighborhoods in the recent past. This book was originally published as a special issue of Urban Geography.