Book release about urban socio-economic segregation
Worldwide, levels of socio-economic segregation in cities are increasing and as a result the rich and the poor are increasingly living in different parts of urban regions. In a new book researchers Maarten van Ham and colleagues explain the relationship between increasing levels of inequality and segregation.
This relationship is important because the places where people live have a direct effect on their social mobility and well-being. The rising levels of inequality and segregation pose huge challenges for the future social sustainability of cities.
Professor Maarten van Ham: “Actually, you see similar patterns all over the world. The more unequal societies are, the further apart the rich and the poor live from one another. In higher income countries we see the affluent part of the urban population moving to the city centre, while those without much money move to the outer edges of the urban region. This is a reversal of the suburbanisation trends of the 1970s, when many of the higher income groups moved to a house with a garden in the suburbs. In lower income countries we see similar patterns emerge, with the rich concentrating in enclaves.”
The book Urban socio-economic segregation and income inequality, a global perspective includes 24 case studies from large urban regions in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America. The book offers a unique global overview of segregation trends based on case studies by local author teams.
More information
- Read more about the book publication.
- Read the interview with Maarten van Ham and Caroline Newton “The ability (or inability) to attain a better life”.