Segregation - Indicator for Disintegration?

Abstract

The concept of segregation established by the Chicago School gave way in the 1960s and 1970s — the heyday of empirical segregation research — to measurements of the degree of uneven dispersion of social groups within cities or urban regions, and predictions of negative outcomes for the integration process. This negative view of segregation was adopted by almost all local politicians and urban planners, who tried to rectify the uneven distribution by the means of urban renewal and allocation policies in the new housing estates, but almost without success. Policies changed again in the late 1980s to area-based approaches, where urban renewal became interlinked with job qualification, empowerment, networking and new forms of public management.

With these shifts, however, the (local) state reduced its responsibility for the systemic integration (citizenship, ensuring equal access to housing, labour market, education and health care) in favour of a new focus on supporting local social integration. This shift and its results for social disintegration are often neglected in scientific debate, particularly where scientific community itself is part of these programmes as consultants, practitioners or evaluators.