Multiple Deprivation and Urban Development in Athens, Greece: Spatial Trends and the Role of Access to Housing

This paper presents the spatial distribution of multiple deprivation in Athens, and links these spatial patterns to the city’s urban development trajectory and the way housing is accessed. Multiple deprivation was measured as the combined concentration of disadvantageous employment situation, access to education and housing conditions. A principal components analysis was utilized for 20 variables from the three said domains. Two components were identified as statistically significant. The analysis covered approximately 3000 urban spatial analysis units (URANU), using data from the population censuses of 1991, 2001 and 2011. The findings unveil that from 1991 to 2011, multiple deprivation in the urban periphery as well as in city center areas worsened. Conditions in many (but not all) working-class areas in the west of Athens, as well as in middle class suburbs in the east, improved or did not get worse. If compared to the urban development trajectory of the city, this distribution means that the historical East–West socio-economic division is getting less pronounced, whereas an important center–periphery dynamic is emerging. The filtering and sorting process of the housing market could explain those trends. It appears that the most affected populations are those outside the Greek family-centered and homeownership-based model of access to housing

Segregation in the twenty first century: Processes, complexities and future directions

Economic inequality, international migration and urban transformation have generated fresh interest in segregation and given new social significance to questions of socio‐spatial separation and interaction. At the same time, advances in data, methods and theory are opening up new avenues of inquiry that push the focus beyond simple measures of unevenness of residential patterns towards more nuanced analysis of spatial asymmetry, structure and scale. There is also a drive towards considering spaces and activities outside the neighbourhood, bringing new richness to our understanding of how various social groups interact in the various aspects of their lives. These processes and complexities form the backdrop for our special issue and we reflect on the implications for future priorities in research on segregation in the twenty first century

The measurement of social stratification : comparative perspectives between Europe and Latin America

Production of INCASI Project H2020-MSCA-RISE-2015 GA 691004This chapter analyses compared social stratification in three Latin American countries (Argentina, Chile and Uruguay) and four European countries (Finland, France, Spain, Great Britain). We focus on both external and internal borders of social classes, as well as on the challenges posed by their analysis for sociology. We compare social classes using EGP6 in relation to a variety of social indicators, to examine how social classes vary among countries. We include debates on production models and welfare state policies to understand the specific configurations and compare the conditions of some of the INCASI countries regarding social stratification. Lastly, we apply a latent class analysis to validate the number of social classes and to recognise class boundaries

Segregation, mobility and encounters in Jerusalem: The role of public transport infrastructure in connecting the ‘divided city’

This paper assesses ways in which urban segregation is shaped and transformed by Jerusalem’s public transport network, enhancing mobility and potential group encounters. We suggest that segregation should be understood as an issue of mobility and co-presence in public space, rather than the static residential-based segregation that continues to be a central focus of debate in urban studies. We explore public transport infrastructures, considering how their implementation reflects the variety of ways that transport can have impact: segmenting populations, linking populations and/or creating spaces for interaction or conflict between the city’s Jewish Israeli and Arab Palestinian populations. Space syntax network analysis suggests that in the case of Jerusalem, access to public transport is multi-dimensional: as well as providing access to resources, it shapes opportunities for spatial mobility that may either overcome or reinforce area-based housing segregation. We discuss these opportunities in the light of Jerusalem’s on-going ethno-national division in an increasingly fractured urban reality

Socio-economic classification models and contextual difference: The 'European Socio-economic Classes" (ESeC) from a South European angle

The paper provides a critical overview of a new socio-economic classification model, the 'European Socio-economic Classes' (ESeC), which aspires to become the classification standard for the European Union (EU). After a brief presentation of its basic features and theoretical foundation, the paper focuses on the compatibility of this model with the South European context. The main issue is that the central classifying principle of the model is the Goldthorpian employment relation, while a substantial part of the active population in Southern Europe is outside the scope of this principle, either because they have no employee status or because they are operating within small firms where internal hierarchies are very limited. The conclusion discusses the dilemma between the adoption Of a relatively inappropriate classification standard and the prolongation of the current lack of such a standard for the EU

La ségrégation sociale à Athènes

The synthetic imaging of the socio-professional structure of Athens' Urban Area provides a detailed geographic morphology of the urban segregation. This morphology may become an essential element of interpretation of segregation processes

Middle class education strategies and residential segregation in Athens

This paper uses census data to investigate educational inequality in different types of residential areas in Athens, focusing on drop-out rates from secondary education, access to higher education and to particular degrees within it. The unequal socio-spatial distribution of educational attainment is linked to antagonistic middle class education strategies centred on school choice. Different forms of such strategies are identified broadly corresponding to different groups within the middle class hierarchy. Each form of school choice strategy has a particular relation to residential segregation. The latter is growing as a result, but under various forms and spatial scales that sometimes challenge the usual assumptions for the evaluation of neighbourhood effects

Vertical Social Differentiation in Athens: Alternative or Complement to Community Segregation?

Vertical social differentiation is presented in the recent literature as an important element of reduced segregation in South European cities, and the supporting evidence originates mainly from Athens. The authors of this article question the claim about the common form and function of vertical social differentiation across South Europe, as well as its opposition to community segregation, and try to reveal the specificity of the processes leading to its formation in Athens. Since the mid-1970s, the dominant process of urban growth in Athens has been middle-class suburbanization. This process has reinforced community segregation and, at the same time, has triggered a filtering-down process in wide areas around the CBD, formerly occupied by upper and mainly intermediate professional categories. Interclass vertical segregation has subsequently appeared in these areas, where intermediate professional categories and lower middle-class households are now predominant. The fact that these areas do not represent a real choice for any of their resident groups shows that this vertical cohabitation has been the unintended consequence of changing segregation patterns, and hardly the outcome or the corollary of a growing process of sociospatial homogenization. Copyright Joint Editors and Blackwell Publishers Ltd 2001.