Reordering, inequality and divergent growth : processes of neighbourhood change in Dutch cities

Funding: European Union’s Horizon 2020 research innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 702649; and from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013) / ERC [Grant agreement No. 615159] (ERC Consolidator Grant DEPRIVEDHOODS, Socio-spatial inequality, deprived neighbourhoods, and neighbourhood effects).Neighbourhood socioeconomic change is often related to structural processes that transform urban income compositions. In the Netherlands, restructuring of the welfare state and the housing market are examples. The paper examines the role of structural processes in neighbourhood income change in four Dutch cities (1999–2014) by decomposing total change into contributions of three factors: reordering of neighbourhood hierarchies; increasing inequality; and income growth. Results show regional variation in change components. Amsterdam and Utrecht stand out in contributions of growth; Amsterdam and the Hague in contributions of inequality. All cities’ core neighbourhoods are upgraded through reordering, a pattern often masked by increasing inequality.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Neighbourhood change and spatial polarization : the roles of increasing inequality and divergent urban development

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 702649; and from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013) / ERC [Grant agreement No. 615159] (ERC Consolidator Grant DEPRIVEDHOODS, Socio-spatial inequality, deprived neighbourhoods, and neighbourhood effects).Most studies of neighbourhood and urban change do not distinguish between different underlying processes. This study distinguishes between the effect of increasing inequality between neighbourhoods and the effect of exchanges in their relative positions which can be attributed to urban development processes. The paper identifies the relative roles of these processes in generating neighbourhood socioeconomic change in the Tel-Aviv metropolitan area in Israel, and analyses how they interacted in reshaping its socio-spatial structure. Tel-Aviv is an interesting case study because of a persistent north-south socioeconomic divide. During the research period (1995–2008) inequality in Israel has risen substantially following the integration in the global economy; at the same time, the metropolitan area went through extensive urban development and expansion to the rural fringe. To examine the contributions associated with increasing inequality and urban-development processes to neighbourhood income change we use a method that was originally presented in the context of individual income mobility and recently applied in the context of neighbourhood change. The results show that urban processes and inequality intensified the historical divide in different ways, and each factor can be associated with a typical spatial pattern. The interaction between the factors is diverse; in some places they reinforced each other, whereas in some they operated at opposite directions and offset each other.proofPublisher PDFPeer reviewe

Structural and exchange components in processes of neighbourhood change:a social mobility approach

Neighbourhood socioeconomic change is a complex phenomenon which is driven by multiple processes. Most research has focused on the role of urban-level processes, which lead to an exchange of relative positions among neighbourhoods of a single metropolitan area. Consequently, the effects of structural processes on neighbourhood socioeconomic change, such as overall income growth or decline, and increasing inequality, have been neglected. This is reflected in the standard methodological practices; the common measures of neighbourhood change exclude the effect of overall growth or decline and confound the effects of urban processes with the effect of increase in inequality. This paper proposes a method that was originally developed for understanding income mobility of individuals, to decompose total neighbourhood socioeconomic change measured in absolute terms into its contributing components. The approach enables to take account of all processes that generate neighbourhood socioeconomic change, while distinguishing between them. The method is demonstrated in an empirical analysis of neighbourhood socioeconomic change across 22 metropolitan areas in the US. The findings indicate that structural processes can be most substantial in generating change. Neighbourhood socioeconomic change in ‘superstar cities’ is mostly generated by the growth in overall incomes, with a relatively low contribution of increasing inequality. Conversely, in declining cities it is mostly driven by overall decline and increasing inequality. An additional finding relates to the interaction between urban processes and increasing inequality. These processes work in opposite directions such that any increase in positions of low-income neighbourhoods can be totally offset by an income decrease due to increasing inequality

Neighbourhood change and spatial polarization:the roles of increasing inequality and divergent urban development

Most studies of neighbourhood and urban change do not distinguish between different underlying processes. This study distinguishes between the effect of increasing inequality between neighbourhoods and the effect of exchanges in their relative positions which can be attributed to urban development processes. The paper identifies the relative roles of these processes in generating neighbourhood socioeconomic change in the Tel-Aviv metropolitan area in Israel, and analyses how they interacted in reshaping its socio-spatial structure. Tel-Aviv is an interesting case study because of a persistent north-south socioeconomic divide. During the research period (1995–2008) inequality in Israel has risen substantially following the integration in the global economy; at the same time, the metropolitan area went through extensive urban development and expansion to the rural fringe. To examine the contributions associated with increasing inequality and urban-development processes to neighbourhood income change we use a method that was originally presented in the context of individual income mobility and recently applied in the context of neighbourhood change. The results show that urban processes and inequality intensified the historical divide in different ways, and each factor can be associated with a typical spatial pattern. The interaction between the factors is diverse; in some places they reinforced each other, whereas in some they operated at opposite directions and offset each other