New patterns of ethnic diversity: exploring the residential geographies of mixed-ethnicity individuals in Sydney, Australia

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn multi-ethnic societies, the rise in mixed-ethnicity partnerships has contributed to strong growth in populations of mixed-ethnicity individuals. Yet scholarship on ethnic residential geographies has predominantly focused on individuals with singular ethnic identities. Using 2011 Australian census data, this paper explores the residential patterns of mixed-ethnicity populations in Sydney, Australia’s most populous city. I deploy a mapping analysis to show that mixed-ethnicity populations’ residential geographies are unique and do not match those of their constituent ethnic groups. In many cases, mixed-ethnicity individuals concentrate in inner-city areas, in contrast to the suburban hubs of their respective ethnic minority groups. They are also more likely to reside outside neighbourhoods with high proportions of their constituent ethnic groups, and instead gravitate towards moderately diverse neighbourhoods. The paper demonstrates the in-between nature of the geographies of mixed-ethnicity individuals, echoing established findings for mixed-race/ethnicity couples. Further, these geographies are powerfully differentiated according to birthplace and educational attainment. Australia-born mixed-ethnicity individuals and those with Bachelor degrees exhibit particularly extensive deviation from Sydney’s established ethnic landscape. The growing number of mixed-ethnicity individuals has implications for ethnic residential geographies both in this city, and in other diverse contexts.