Abstract
Following a review of recent literature on the social and spatial distribution of income inequality, this paper examines a number of methodological issues affecting the measurement of urban poverty. In particular the paper highlights the roles of changing household composition, the location of public housing, and the dynamics of urban fringe growth in the spatial distribution of urban poverty. Using Census data the analysis shows that between 1986 and 1991 there were opposing trends in Melbourne and Sydney. Different processes of concentration and dispersion of low income families were at work in the private and public housing sectors of these two cities. Whilst the concentration of low income families in Sydney is greater overall than in Melbourne, the gap between the two cities is narrowing. However, it is argued that interpreting conventional measures of concentration and dispersion as indicators of the creation of urban ghettos is problematic.
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