Shifting inner-city sociodemographics: the case of Riga

Abstract

Post-socialist inner cities are rapidly re-urbanising - a process that typically involves major changes in their population composition. The aim of this study was to find out how the sociodemographic status of inner-city residents of Riga changed between 2011 and 2021. In order to do that, this study explored and summarised prior research on the inner city of Riga and expanded on these findings by employing a neighbourhood-level statistical analysis of the most recent population composition and housing data, which was then mapped. The results revealed that not only did the inner-city population grow in size in the second half of the decade, but it also attracted an increasing number of young adults of a high socio-economic status, among other signs of reurbanisation increasingly present in the study period. Most of these reurbanisation processes were spatially fragmented, thus increasing the risk of growing socio-spatial inequalities within the inner city and between the inner city and the outer city.