Ethnic Residential Segregation Research Articles

Uber to get groceries: Are ride-hail services accessing Chicago’s food deserts?

ABSTRACT Segregation has many negative consequences for marginalized populations, including increased poverty, low-quality housing, and decreased access to quality education, employment, and food stores. This study illuminates how food and transportation infrastructures exacerbate these inequalities and whether ride-hail services like Uber and Lyft help affected populations access food stores. As a descriptive understanding of the intersection between food, transportation, and racial and ethnic residential segregation in Chicago, Illinois, this study analyzes two questions: (1) how often are ride-hail trips crossing food desert census tract boundaries and (2) are ride-hail trips that access food deserts also accessing neighborhoods that contain supermarkets? Using spatial analyses of data from the city of Chicago, the American Community Survey, food store locations, and the USDA food access atlas, this study finds that ride-hail services are accessing food desert neighborhoods at a very low rate, and very few rides access food desert and supermarket-containing neighborhoods in the same trip.

Current Approaches to Measuring Local Racial and Ethnic Residential Segregation in Population Health Studies

Current Approaches to Measuring Local Racial and Ethnic Residential Segregation in Population Health Studies

Racial and Ethnic Residential Segregation and Monocyte DNA Methylation Age Acceleration

Neighborhood segregation and poverty may be important drivers of health inequities. Epigenomic factors, including DNA methylation clocks that may mark underlying biological aging, have been implicated in the link between social factors and health. To examine the associations of neighborhood segregation and poverty with 4 DNA methylation clocks trained to capture either chronological age or physiological dysregulation. This cohort study uses data from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), a longitudinal study that started in 2000 to 2002, with follow-up in 2002 to 2004, 2004 to 2005, 2005 to 2007, and 2010 to 2012. In 2000 to 2002, adults who identified as White or Black race or Hispanic or Chinese ethnicity in 6 US sites (Baltimore, Maryland; Chicago, Illinois; Forsyth County, North Carolina; Los Angeles County, California; Northern Manhattan, New York; and St. Paul, Minnesota) were sampled for recruitment. A random subsample of 4 sites (Maryland, North Carolina, New York, and Minnesota) were selected for inclusion in the MESA epigenomics ancillary study at examination 5 (2010-2012). Participants who identified as White or Black race or Hispanic ethnicity, were aged 45 to 84 years, and did not have clinical cardiovascular disease were included in this analysis. Data were analyzed from May 2021 to October 2023. Information on 2000 census tract poverty and Getis-Ord G statistic segregation of Hispanic residents, non-Hispanic Black residents, or non-Hispanic White residents were linked to participant addresses at examination 1 (2000-2002). At examination 5, DNA methylation was measured in purified monocytes. DNA methylation age acceleration was calculated using 4 clocks trained on either chronological age or physiological dysregulation. Linear regressions were used to test associations. A total of 1102 participants (mean [SD] age, 69.7 [9.4] years; 562 [51%] women) were included, with 348 Hispanic participants, 222 non-Hispanic Black participants, and 533 non-Hispanic White participants. For non-Hispanic Black participants, living in tracts with greater segregation of Black residents was associated with GrimAge DNA methylation age acceleration, a clock designed to capture physiological dysregulation. A 1-SD increase in segregation was associated with 0.42 (95% CI, 0.20-0.64) years age acceleration (P < .001); this association was not observed with other clocks. This association was particularly pronounced for participants living in high poverty tracts (interaction term, 0.24; 95% CI, 0.07-0.42; P = .006). In the overall sample, census tract poverty level was associated with GrimAge DNA methylation age acceleration (β = 0.45; 95% CI, 0.20-0.71; adjusted P = .005). These findings suggest that epigenomic mechanisms may play a role in the associations of segregated and poor neighborhoods with chronic conditions.

Analyzing the Impact of Public Housing Privatization on Immigrant Micro-Segregation in Milan

In several Western European countries, a significant share of social rental housing stock has been sold since the 1980s as part of government policies aimed at promoting homeownership societies. Research has shown that tenure conversion has contributed to increasing socio-spatial segregation of lower-income groups, with diverging spatial patterns of homeownership among immigrants. This paper examines the impact of recent public housing privatization schemes in Milan in relation to micro-segregation and peripheralization processes of foreign populations, which represent distinctive features of immigrant residential distribution in this city. By employing name analysis, an unconventional approach in segregation studies, I inferred the geographical origins of homebuyers and mapped their distribution across the city. The findings reveal divergent purchasing behaviors, whereby Italians predominantly acquire properties in semi-central areas currently undergoing urban regeneration. In contrast, immigrants tend to concentrate their acquisitions in peripheral post-war public housing neighborhoods or in areas predominantly inhabited by residents with similar geographical origins. This paper contributes to the existing literature on ethnic residential segregation in Southern European cities by shedding light on the underexplored role of public housing privatization policies in shaping specific residential patterns and housing outcomes among different groups.

Immigration und Soziale Integration – Was sind die Konsequenzen von ethnisch-residentiellen Grenzen und Halos für die soziale Integration in Deutschland?

AbstractDoes immigration erode the social integration of contemporary mass-scale societies? Continued immigration and corresponding growing ethnic, racial, and religious diversity have prompted this important and highly controversial question. This article gives a brief introduction to the scientific literature on this question and derives from it the following gap that it seeks to address: According to a small number of studies on related but different topics, immigration may be detrimental to social integration if it physically manifests as one of two specific types of ethnic residential segregation. The contested boundaries hypothesis has it that border regions sandwiched between ethnically defined neighborhoods are particularly conflict prone and characterized by increased rates of crime. The halo-effect hypothesis claims that majority members who live in homogenous mainstream neighborhoods that border on ethnically diverse ones (or are even encircled by them) are more likely to vote for right-wing populist parties. In this article, we expand both approaches to the study of social integration in theoretical and empirical terms. With respect to theory building, we discuss why social integration, as indicated by social trust and community attachment, should suffer from these two types of ethnic segregation. To test these claims empirically, we use data from the geo-coded German General Social Survey (ALLBUS/GGSS) 2016 and 2018 that we merge with 100-m × 100‑m spatial grid data from the German Census 2011. These data allow us to apply edge detection techniques to identify ethnic residential boundaries, and our recently developed donut-method to measure ethnic residential halos. To our knowledge our study is the first investigation into the arguably important question whether ethnic residential boundaries and halos erode social integration.

Ethnic segregation and spatial patterns of attitudes: studying the link using register data and social simulation

We theorize the causal link between ethnic residential segregation and polarization of ethnic attitudes within and between ethnic groups (e.g. attitudes towards immigration policies, multiculturalism, tolerance or trust in certain ethnic groups). We propose that the complex relationship between segregation and polarization might be explained by three assumptions: (1) ethnic membership moderates social influence–residents influence each other’s attitudes and their ethnic background moderates this influence; (2) spatial proximity between residents increases opportunities for influence; (3) the degree of ethnic segregation varies across space–and therefore, the mix of intra- and inter-ethnic influence also varies across space. We borrow and extend an (agent-based) simulation model of social influence to systematically explore how these three assumptions affect the polarization of ethnic attitudes within and between ethnic groups under the assumptions made in the model. We simulate neighborly interactions and social influence dynamics in the districts of Rotterdam, using empirically observed segregation patterns as input of our simulations. According to our model, polarization in ethnic attitudes is stronger in districts and parts of districts where mixing of ethnic groups allows for many opportunities to interact with both the ethnic ingroup and the outgroup. Our study provides a new theoretical perspective on polarization of ethnic attitudes by demonstrating that the segregation-polarization link can emerge as an unintended outcome from repeated intra- and inter-ethnic interactions in segregated spaces.

Spatial segregation of families with migrant background in the high-status City of Munich: How strong is the effect of socio-economic status?

Ethnic residential segregation can result from preferential choices or from market forces. Depending on whether it evolved voluntarily or forcibly, segregation can have differential effects on immigrant integration. Using the example of Munich as a major German city, we examine the unequal spatial distribution of migrants and non-migrants. Following an approach proposed by Frank Kalter we calculate indices of residential segregation, which are adjusted for differences in socio-economic status. Results show that almost 14 percent of the residential segregation of immigrants can be attributed to socio-economic restrictions. This finding suggests that factors related to immigration and, possibly, also ethnic boundaries are determinants of the unequal spatial distribution also in high-status cities such as Munich.

Discrimination Experiences and All-Cause and Cardiovascular Mortality: Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.

Epidemiologic studies have documented the associations between experiences of discrimination and adverse health outcomes. However, the relationship between discrimination and mortality, and the factors that may moderate this relationship are not well understood. This study examined whether lifetime and everyday discrimination were associated with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality and whether these associations differed by race and ethnicity, gender, and racial and ethnic residential segregation. The study included 1633 Black, 1403 Hispanic/Latino, and 2473 White participants aged 45 to 84 years from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, enrolled from 2000 to 2002 and followed across 5 exams (2002-2018). Discrimination was measured using the lifetime discrimination (major experiences of unfair treatment) and everyday discrimination (day-to-day experiences of unfair treatment) scales. Racial and ethnic residential segregation was measured using the Gi* statistic. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs, adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, health behaviors, and clinical risk factors. Each increase in reports of lifetime discrimination was associated with increased all-cause (HR, 1.06 [95% CI, 1.00-1.11]) and cardiovascular (HR, 1.15 [95% CI, 1.04-1.27]) mortality, adjusting for sociodemographic factors, health behaviors, and clinical risk factors. Associations between lifetime discrimination and cardiovascular mortality were observed across all racial and ethnic groups but were strongest and only statistically significant among Black participants (HR, 1.18 [95% CI, 1.02-1.37]). Additionally, in the fully adjusted model, each increase in reports of everyday discrimination was strongly associated with increased cardiovascular mortality (HR, 1.21 [95% CI, 1.03-1.43]). Associations for lifetime and everyday discrimination with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality were not modified by race and ethnicity, gender, or racial and ethnic residential segregation. These findings suggest that experiences of discrimination are associated with increased all-cause and cardiovascular mortality.

Inclusion of Race and Ethnicity With Neighborhood Socioeconomic Deprivation When Assessing COVID-19 Hospitalization Risk Among California Veterans Health Administration Users

Despite complexities of racial and ethnic residential segregation (hereinafter referred to as segregation) and neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation, public health studies, including those on COVID-19 racial and ethnic disparities, often rely on composite neighborhood indices that do not account for residential segregation. To examine the associations by race and ethnicity among California's Healthy Places Index (HPI), Black and Hispanic segregation, Social Vulnerability Index (SVI), and COVID-19-related hospitalization. This cohort study included veterans with positive test results for COVID-19 living in California who used Veterans Health Administration services between March 1, 2020, and October 31, 2021. Rates of COVID-19-related hospitalization among veterans with COVID-19. The sample available for analysis included 19 495 veterans with COVID-19 (mean [SD] age, 57.21 [17.68] years), of whom 91.0% were men, 27.7% were Hispanic, 16.1% were non-Hispanic Black, and 45.0% were non-Hispanic White. For Black veterans, living in lower-HPI (ie, less healthy) neighborhoods was associated with higher rates of hospitalization (odds ratio [OR], 1.07 [95% CI, 1.03-1.12]), even after accounting for Black segregation (OR, 1.06 [95% CI, 1.02-1.11]). Among Hispanic veterans, living in lower-HPI neighborhoods was not associated with hospitalization with (OR, 1.04 [95% CI, 0.99-1.09]) and without (OR, 1.03 [95% CI, 1.00-1.08]) Hispanic segregation adjustment. For non-Hispanic White veterans, lower HPI was associated with more frequent hospitalization (OR, 1.03 [95% CI, 1.00-1.06]). The HPI was no longer associated with hospitalization after accounting for Black (OR, 1.02 [95% CI, 0.99-1.05]) or Hispanic (OR, 0.98 [95% CI, 0.95-1.02]) segregation. Hospitalization was higher for White (OR, 4.42 [95% CI, 1.62-12.08]) and Hispanic (OR, 2.90 [95% CI, 1.02-8.23]) veterans living in neighborhoods with greater Black segregation and for White veterans in more Hispanic-segregated neighborhoods (OR, 2.81 [95% CI, 1.96-4.03]), adjusting for HPI. Living in higher SVI (ie, more vulnerable) neighborhoods was associated with greater hospitalization for Black (OR, 1.06 [95% CI, 1.02-1.10]) and non-Hispanic White (OR, 1.04 [95% CI, 1.01-1.06]) veterans. In this cohort study of US veterans with COVID-19, HPI captured neighborhood-level risk for COVID-19-related hospitalization for Black, Hispanic, and White veterans comparably with SVI. These findings have implications for the use of HPI and other composite neighborhood deprivation indices that do not explicitly account for segregation. Understanding associations between place and health requires ensuring composite measures accurately account for multiple aspects of neighborhood deprivation and, importantly, variation by race and ethnicity.

Ethnic residential segregation in the city of Milan at the interplay between social class, housing and labour market

This article analyses the spatial distribution of foreigners living in the city of Milan, based on data from the civil registry and relying on theories and methods from the residential segregation literature, exploring the dimensions of evenness, exposure, concentration, centralisation and clustering, as well as analysing migrants’ over/under-representation in specific areas through maps of their location quotients. Despite the low degree of ethnic residential segregation detected, we highlight the presence of persistent dynamics that exclude ethnic minorities from the wealthiest areas of the city. The most relevant case is that of the Chinese, clustering in some peripheral areas north of the historic centre, where they have established an enclave economy, often making their residence coincide with their workplace and running commercial activities mostly directed towards their compatriots. The Egyptians, constituting the most numerous foreign group in the city, show a completely different settlement pattern, being more integrated into the social tissue and more scattered throughout the city. In the context of a city strongly polarised between a wealthy centre and progressively deprived peripheral belts, the only foreign groups with a marked presence in the city core are those traditionally employed in domestic work, which are however excluded from life in the public places in which they reside. Overall, the class dimension seems to prevail over the ethnic in shaping population settlement patterns within the city.

Do ethnic integration policies also improve socio-economic integration? A study of residential segregation in Singapore

Concerns over the negative impact of residential segregation have motivated desegregation policies around the world. Singapore’s Ethnic Integration Policy (EIP) is a desegregation policy perceived to be effective in reducing ethnic segregation. However, there is little clarity about how the Ethnic Integration Policy might affect socio-economic segregation, another important dimension of segregation. This study explores Singapore’s socio-economic and ethnic residential segregation patterns from 1990 until 2020, focussing on three scales of analysis: national, city district-level (subzone) and building-level. Ethnic and socio-economic segregation, which were generally low, fluctuated in opposite directions over the years. While public housing flats were exposed to less ethnic and socio-economic segregation than private housing, findings suggest a negative relationship between ethnic and socio-economic segregation for majority public housing subzones. This inverse relationship between socio-economic and ethnic segregation might be due to the Ethnic Integration Policy's distortionary effect on flat resale prices. These findings highlight the need for greater attentiveness to residential integration policies’ impact on both socio-economic and ethnic integration, and not to assume that policies aimed at improving one would be sufficient to address the other.

Abstract 32: Patterns of segregation among diverse Hispanic/Latino adults- implications for cancer prevention

Abstract Background: Residential segregation has been associated with cancer incidence and mortality. Hispanic/Latinos (HL) experience moderate to high residential segregation. Purpose: This study investigates levels of racial and ethnic residential segregation and racialized economic concentrations at the extremes in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL). Methods: We used baseline data from 16,415 HL adults enrolled in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos between 2008-2011 from the Bronx, NY; Chicago, IL; Miami, FL; and San Diego, CA. Segregation measures were calculated from census tract-level (2006-2010 American Community Survey and 2010 decennial census). We measured residential segregation using the % HL Gini coefficient, to capture variability of HL residents within the census tract, and the isolation index, to capture the probability that HL residents come into contact with other members of the same minority group. We measured racialized economic (race/ethnicity + income) concentration using the Index of Concentration at the Extremes (ICE), to capture spatial social polarization at the extremes. We compared means of HCHS/SOL population characteristics using linear regression and adjusted Wald tests for continuous, binary, and categorical variables, respectively, calculated from weighted complex samples analyses. Results: On average, overall segregation was moderate to high (M±SE): Gini (0.39 ± 0.00); Isolation (0.76 ± 0.01); ICE (race: -0.64 ± 0.01; income: -0.29 ± 0.01; race + income: -0.26 ± 0.01). HL adults who were older (&amp;gt; 65 y: 0.80 ± 0.01; 45-65 y: 0.77 ± 0.008; 18-44 y: 0.75 ± 0.75, p = .000) and foreign/territory-born residing in US &amp;lt;10 years (0.81 ± 0.009; p = 0.000; foreign/territory-born residing in US &amp;gt;=10 years: 0.76 ± 0.01; vs. US born: 0.70 ± 0.01) and preferred Spanish (0.79 ± 0.01; p = .000 vs. English: 0.69 ± 0.007) experienced higher racial/ethnic segregation as measured by the Isolation index. HL of Cuban (0.42 ± 0.006, p = 0.049) vs. all other heritage experienced the as measured by the % HL Gini index. We found higher levels of racialized economic segregation among foreign/territory-born residing in US &amp;lt;10 years (-0.32 ± 0.01) vs. foreign/territory-born residing in US &amp;gt;= 10 years (-0.26 ± .01) and US born (-0.21 ± 0.01; p = 0.000); individuals that preferred Spanish (-0.28 ± 0.01) vs. English (-0.21 ± .01; p = 0.000); and self-reported Cuban heritage (-0.42 ± 0.01; p = .000) vs all other heritage. Conclusion: Using multiple, measures of segregation, we found that HL adults who were older, foreign born, and preferred Spanish experienced moderate and high levels of segregation. It is important for future work to examine the impact of racial/ethnic and economic segregation on social determinants of cancer disparities within segregated environments among diverse HL. Citation Format: Catherine M. Pichardo, Jesse J. Plascak, Lisa A. Sanchez-Johnsen, Amber Pirzada, Amanda L. Roy, Margaret S. Pichardo, Earle C. Chambers, Sheila F. Castañeda, Ramon A. Durazo-Arvizu, Krista M. Perreira, Tanya P. Garcia, Matthew Allison, Jordan Carlson, Martha L. Daviglus, Gregory A. Talavera, Linda C. Gallo. Patterns of segregation among diverse Hispanic/Latino adults- implications for cancer prevention [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 32.

Faith and Assimilation: Italian Immigrants in the Us

We study the effects of religious organizations on immigrants' assimilation. We focus on the arrival of Italian Catholic churches in the US between 1900 and 1920, when four million Italians had moved to America, and anti-Catholic sentiments were widespread. We combine newly collected Catholic directories on the presence of Italian churches across years and counties with the full count US Census of Population. We find that Italian churches reduced the social assimilation of Italian immigrants, lowering intermarriage rates and increasing ethnic residential segregation. We find no evidence that this was the result of either lower effort exerted by immigrants to ``fit in'' the American society or increased desire to vertically transmit national culture. Instead, we provide evidence for other two, non-mutually exclusive, mechanisms. First, Italian churches raised the frequency of interactions among fellow Italians, likely generating peer effects and reducing contact with other groups. Second, they increased the salience of the immigrant community among natives, thereby triggering backlash and discrimination.

Minority groups in the largest cities of Latvia

Spatial segregation of minority ethnic groups is a returning issue in public and political debates across many parts of the world. The degree of spatial concentration and segregation of ethnic minorities in European cities is well documented. However, despite Latvia's diverse migration history and relatively high minority population, particularly in the largest cities, these issues have received scant attention. This study examines the residential patterns of minority ethnic groups, presenting data on the levels and dynamics of urban residential segregation. The study includes five ethnic minorities: Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Poles, and other ethnicities. We adopted a widely used methodology to examine changes in ethnic residential segregation between 2000 and 2019. The information comes from the 2000 census and the population register. We are confident in stating that overall ethnic residential segregation levels do not appear to be increasing. However, there are some differences not only between ethnic groups in the same city, but also between similar groups in different cities. Furthermore, demographic change reinforces both minority representation in established residential patterns and ethnic segregation in urban Latvia as a whole. Certain characteristics of the Latvian context, such as the dominance of owner-occupied dwellings and relatively low residential mobility, may explain the findings.

Implementations, interpretative malleability, value-laden-ness and the moral significance of agent-based social simulations

The focus of social simulation on representing the social world calls for an investigation of whether its implementations are inherently value-laden. In this article, I investigate what kind of thing implementation is in social simulation and consider the extent to which it has moral significance. When the purpose of a computational artefact is simulating human institutions, designers with different value judgements may have rational reasons for developing different implementations. I provide three arguments to show that different implementations amount to taking moral stands via the artefact. First, the meaning of a social simulation is not homogeneous among its users, which indicates that simulations have high interpretive malleability. I place malleability as the condition of simulation to be a metaphorical vehicle for representing the social world, allowing for different value judgements about the institutional world that the artefact is expected to simulate. Second, simulating the social world involves distinguishing between malfunction of the artefact and representation gaps, which reflect the role of meaning in simulating the social world and how meaning may or not remain coherent among the models that constitute a single implementation. Third, social simulations are akin to Kroes’ (Kroes, Technical artefacts: creations of mind and matter: a philosophy of engineering design, Springer, Dordrecht, 2012) techno-symbolic artefacts, in which the artefact’s effectiveness relative to a purpose hinges not only on the functional effectiveness of the artefact’s structure, but also on the artefact’s meaning. Meaning, not just technical function, makes implementations morally appraisable relative to a purpose. I investigate Schelling’s model of ethnic residential segregation as an example, in which different implementations amount to taking different moral stands via the artefact.

Fertility of Roma Minorities in Central and Eastern Europe

We analyse Roma fertility in four neighbouring countries in Central and Eastern Europe with a large Roma minority: in Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Serbia. The sources of data are the respective national population censuses from 2011. Fertility is measured at the birth cohort level as the average number of children ever born. We make an international comparison of the fertility of Roma and non-Roma majority population women on the basis of completed education. In the case of Hungary, we also explore how the correlation between fertility and ethnic identity is modified when completed education and ethnic residential segregation are controlled.&#x0D; The fertility of Roma women is far above the majority population average in all birth cohorts and in each country. Educational attainment modifies this relationship. The fertility of highly educated Roma and majority population women is converging. The exposure to majority behaviour also has an effect. The lower the level of ethnic residential segregation, the smaller the difference between the fertility of Roma and majority population women. Completed education and residential segregation may exert different forces at the two ends of the educational hierarchy when their joint effect is explored. At the upper end of the social hierarchy, neither segregation nor ethnicity matters; at the lower end, however, both exposure to ethnic majority behaviour and ethnicity matter.

Groups' contribution to shaping ethnic residential segregation: a dynamic approach

Some have argued it is possible to infer different groups’ contributions to ethnic residential segregation from their individual neighborhood preferences. From this perspective, natives tend to be more segregation-promoting than non-natives, since they prefer neighborhoods where they are the majority. It remains unclear, however, whether this holds when one evaluates their contributions to segregation within a dynamic perspective. Using register data from Statistics Sweden, I define and model ten different groups’ residential behavior based on their ethnicity and family composition. I thereby simulate the residential mobility of the full population of Stockholm municipality residents from 1998 to 2012. Even though my results at the micro-level are consistent with previous studies, the simulation results show that foreign singles’ mobility patterns are more segregation-promoting than any other groups, since this group shows a greater in-group feedback effect regarding choice of new neighborhoods, an effect that increases their flow from low-to-high segregated neighborhoods progressively. My results suggest that (1) integration initiatives would be more efficient if focused on this particular group and (2) a proper evaluation of micro-behaviors’ implications for macro-patterns of segregation requires a dynamic approach accounting for groups’ heterogeneous behaviors and their main interdependencies on shaping segregation over time.

Racial and Ethnic Residential Segregation by Family Structure and the Presence of Children in Metropolitan America

Racial and Ethnic Residential Segregation by Family Structure and the Presence of Children in Metropolitan America

The Spatial Structure and Local Experience of Residential Segregation

This study examines the extent to which road connectivity and physical barriers—such as highways, railroad tracks, and waterways—structure spatial patterns of racial and ethnic residential segregation and shape how segregation is locally experienced by residents. Our focus is on physical barriers that are also social boundaries—features of the built environment that reduce physical connectivity and mark a social boundary between geographic areas. We measure residential segregation with attention to the proximity and road connectivity between locations, which allows us to identify areas where physical barriers mark a social boundary between geographic areas with different racial and ethnic compositions. Our approach integrates ethnographic observation of three such areas in Houston, Texas, to investigate residents' perceptions and local experience of social and spatial division. The results reveal that physical barriers are associated with heightened levels of ethnoracial segregation, and residents experience the barriers as symbolic markers of perceived distinctions between groups and physical impediments to social connection. Although barriers like highways, railroad tracks, and bayous are not inherently harbingers of ethnoracial segregation, our study demonstrates that physical barriers can provide the infrastructure for social boundaries and facilitate durable neighborhood racial divisions.

Residential segregation of ethnic minorities and sustainable city development. Case of Kumasi, Ghana

The influx of people of different sociocultural and ethnic background affects the composition of the city in ways that go beyond the conventional disaggregation by age, sex and income. The paper examines (i) the nature and patterns of residential segregation of ethnic minorities, (ii) the factors and processes underlying the locational choice of ethnic minorities, and (iii) the knowledge or perception on dimensions and effects of ethnic residential segregation on sustainable city development. This paper uses two migrant communities – Aboabo and Asawase – in Kumasi, Ghana's fastest growing city as case studies. The study adopts household surveys, focus group discussions, secondary data and agency interviews to achieve the objectives of the research. Findings of the paper generally show that even in highly dense populated and multi-ethnic neighbourhoods, some levels of clustering are possible for several reasons. The existence of migrant communities has both positive and adverse implications on environmental, social and economic sustainability of the city. There is however no urban planning or management regime in place to harness the potentials of such neighbourhoods for sustainable city development.