Social Mix Policies Research Articles

What is achieved and lost in living in a mixed-income neighborhood? Findings from South Korea

The concept of social mix is perceived as an attempt to minimize social exclusion by enhancing individual social capital. Related policies have been implemented in many countries to prevent isolation of certain groups and achieve social integration. However, few studies have examined their impacts on various income groups. This study uses data from the National Social Capital Survey in South Korea to empirically investigate the impact of the social mix policy on trust, networks, and norms, which are the three types of social capital that promote social integration. Multiple regression models present that the income mix is negatively associated with neighborly trust and networks, while being positively associated with norms. These models also suggest that mixing of income groups improves the norms of low-income groups but reduces the trust of high-income groups. Thus, this study argues for the need to establish specific goals and targets when promoting a social mix policy and understanding the side effects of introducing such a policy.

A Comparative Analysis of the Satisfaction of Public Rental Housing Residents by Social Mix Type Focused on seoul Metropoplitan City

To alleviate the problem of low-income housing, the government built a large public rental housing complex. This has caused social exclusion problems in the region and the periphery. In order to minimize such social problems and to realize social integration, the policy of mixed housing was promoted. This study analyzed the overall residential satisfaction and characteristics of residents who are real consumers of public rental housing according to social mix type. The results of this study are as follows. The satisfaction of the residents differed according to the residential environment and social mix type of the public rental house. On the other hand, the characteristics of social mixed type showed relatively high residential satisfaction in the adjacent type. In order to promote public lease housing policy, it is necessary to have an active social mix policy such as random mix in addition to the physical aspect.

The importation of social mix policy in Italy: A case study from Lombardy

The proliferation of quasi-market rental models has characterised the rearrangement of housing policy in Italy. These new models aim to differentiate the supply of social housing by including groups from the middle class, and to remedy the traditional public housing system's tendency to produce spatial concentrations of low-income population. They are thus associated with the notions of tenure diversification and ‘social mix’. This analysis focuses on the rearrangement of housing policy in the context of Bergamo, by analysing the implementation of a new social housing model, namely ‘moderate rental’, and evaluating its effectiveness as a tool of tenure diversification within neighbourhoods characterised by high concentrations of public housing apartments and low-income households.

Future directions for social housing in NSW: new opportunities for ‘place’ and ‘community’ in public housing renewal

ABSTRACTLarge scale Estate Renewal Projects (ERPs) have been a prominent feature of recent public housing policy in Australia. These projects are often presented as an urban panacea intended to solve the social and asset challenges that have left estates as neighbourhoods of ‘concentrated disadvantage’. Communities Plus, a component of the recent Future Directions for Social Housing in NSW policy represents a recommitment to place based ERPs. These plans include a broad range of social and physical environment interventions that “create opportunities for innovation through partnership”. Past research has sought to understand the impact of social mix policies. Or have championed an idealistic agenda for urban design and renewal. This research establishes a nuanced understanding of how conceptions of ‘community’ and ‘place’ are deployed by stakeholders to navigate social housing renewal by approaching ERPs from three directions: lived experience, discourse and spatial form. The article draws on interviews, place audits, and participant led photographic surveys from two Sydney ERPs to argue that estate renewal is a complex and often site-specific undertaking. Deployed sensitively, Communities Plus may have significant potential to ensure equitable renewal of NSW’s social housing estates.

Revitalisation gone wrong: Mixed-income public housing redevelopment in Toronto’s Don Mount Court

This article challenges the presumed benevolence of mixed-income public housing redevelopment, focusing on the first socially-mixed remake of public housing in Canada, at Toronto’s Don Mount Court (now called ‘Rivertowne’). Between 2002 and 2012 the community was demolished and replaced with a re-designed ‘New Urbanist’ landscape, including replacement of public housing (232 units) and 187 new condominium townhouses. While mixed redevelopment is premised on the hope that tenants will benefit from improved design and mixed-income interactions, this research finds that many residents were less satisfied with the quality of their housing, neighbourhood design, and social community post-redevelopment. Drawing on in-depth qualitative interviews and ethnographic participant observation, this article finds that tenant interviewees missed their older, more spacious homes in the former Don Mount, and were upset to find that positive community bonds were dismantled by relocation and redevelopment. Challenging the ‘myth of the benevolent middle class’ at the heart of social mix policy, many residents reported charged social relations in the new Rivertowne. In addition, the neo-traditional redesign of the community – intended to promote safety and inclusivity – had paradoxical impacts. Many tenants felt less safe than in their modernist-style public housing, and the mutual surveillance enabled by New Urbanist redesign fostered tense community relations. These findings serve as a strong caution for cities and public housing authorities considering mixed redevelopment, and call into question the wisdom of funding welfare state provisions with profits from real estate development.

Market-Oriented Models of Social Housing as Tools for Social Mix: The Case of Bergamo

The proliferation of market-oriented models of social housing has characterised the rearrangement of housing policy in Italy. These new housing models aimed to differentiate a supply of public housing often presented as limited and ineffective by including specific groups from the middle class who struggle to access the rental market. The new models are thus associated with the notion of ‘social mix’, and the need to remedy the ambiguous effects of the traditional public housing system has been emphasised, especially in terms of the spatial concentration of low-income households. This analysis focuses on the rearrangement of housing policy in the context of Bergamo, Lombardy’s middle-sized city, by analysing the implementation of a new socially rented housing model, namely moderate rental, and evaluating its effectiveness as a tool of tenure diversification within mass housing neighbourhoods which show high concentrations of low-income population. Through focusing the investigation on this case study, the research aims to contribute to bridging the gap in the scientific literature regarding the importation of social-mix policies into the South European context.

Neighborhood Social Mix and Adults' Income Trajectories: Longitudinal Evidence from Stockholm

We investigate the relationship between neighborhood income composition and income trajectories of adults, employing annual panel data from Stockholm over the 1991–2008 period and multiple measures of neighborhood income mix. We advance the human geography literature in three ways by quantifying neighborhood effects that: (1) are unusually precise due to our large sample size; (2) are arguably causal and unbiased due to the econometric techniques employed; (3) are potentially heterogeneous, varying according to gender, income group, and ethnicity. Our innovative, fixed‐effect change modeling indicates that neighborhood income mix affects subsequent one‐ and five‐year income trajectories of residents in highly heterogeneous ways according to gender, income and ethnicity, and for some groups this effect is substantial. The evidence supports on Pareto improvement grounds a social mix policy that attempts to reduce the incidence of lower‐income dominant neighborhood environments and replace them with more mixed or middle‐income dominant ones.

사회적 배제 극복을 위한 소셜믹스정책과 대안 주거운동

사회적 배제 극복을 위한 소셜믹스정책과 대안 주거운동

Social mix, ‘[A] very, very good idea in a vacuum but you have to do it properly!’ Exploring social mix in a right to the city framework

Implementing mixed tenure projects is an ongoing practice in Australian cities despite questions raised about the soundness of the underlying assumptions. This paper draws on the concept of ‘right to the city’, based on Lefebvre's work as an organising framework to investigate the findings of empirical research on social mix policy through the case study of Carlton Housing Estate Redevelopment Project in Melbourne, Australia. From Lefebvre's work we understand the right to the city as a right to participate in and influence decision-making, and to enjoy and access local urban spaces. Data collection included in-depth interviews with public housing tenants, private residents and service providers, as well as neighbourhood observations and participation in on-site events. The findings reveal that public housing tenants' opportunities to influence and participate in decision-making processes for the redevelopment project have been limited and privatisation of public space has created ongoing symbolic and physical barriers to their fully accessing on-site ‘open’ space. Numerous tensions are revealed in the processes of implementing social mix policies particularly in terms of tenants' opportunities to participate and fully enjoy newly designed open spaces in their community; in effect tenants have been denied a right to the city.

Geographies of Whiteness and Wealth: White, Middle Class Discourses on Segregation and Social Mix in Flanders, Belgium

ABSTRACT:While policy makers in different parts of the world are worried about the supposedly negative consequences of spatial concentrations of ethnic minorities and/or disadvantaged people, researchers continue the debate about the desirability and feasibility of social mix. In this article, we add to this literature by focusing on the often neglected, but crucial practices and discourses of the privileged in urban and suburban neighborhoods. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 74 white, middle class residents of eight different neighborhoods of the Ghent urban region in Belgium, we demonstrate that few middle class whites actually want to live in a mixed neighborhood. We also make it clear that those living in diversity do not necessarily take up the roles they are expected to take up by the advocates of social mix policies. Drawing on these findings, we propose to broaden the research agenda of studies on segregation and social mix.

What is the Meaning of ‘Social Mix’? Shifting perspectives in planning and implementing public housing estate redevelopment

ABSTRACTThis paper unravels a variety of perspectives about the concept of social mix, drawing on a case study of the implementation of a redevelopment project in Melbourne. The first part provides a theoretical overview of two internationally predominant academic debates around policy interpretations of this concept, namely social mix as a means for promotion of social inclusion; and as a state-led form of gentrification. These two arguments are usually presented as one, with social inclusion and reductions of concentrations of disadvantage one side of the ‘social mix policy’ coin, and state-led gentrification the other. This paper contributes to the national and international literature on public housing estate regeneration and social mix policies through exploring the question of whether these two ideas about social mix were shared by different stakeholders as the ‘messy’ process of redevelopment unfurled. Interviews were conducted with public tenants, homeowners and homebuyers, private renters and local service providers at the Carlton Housing Estate to explore the diverse perspectives of various stakeholder groups as estate design and implementation shifted. The study identified that as a result of the global financial crisis and the developers exerting pressure on government there was a gradual move away from perceiving social mix as a policy tool for encouraging social inclusion at Carlton, between public housing tenants and private residents, towards a different form of social mix and inclusion. Contrary to intentions, the revised form of social mix at Carlton was perceived as a means to harness market capital and attract higher income residents to the inner city.

How Neighbourhood Social Mix Shapes Access to Resources from Social Networks and from Services

Social mix policies have become controversial. Claims about the harms caused by neighbourhood effects have been challenged while counter-claims have been made about the potential benefits for low-income households from living in poor communities. This paper examines two aspects of this debate: whether deprived communities provide greater access to social networks and hence resources in the form of gifts, and whether they provide worse access to resources in the form of services. Data come from the largest survey of poverty ever conducted in the UK—the Poverty and Social Exclusion UK Survey 2012. Results do not support either position in the debate. They do not suggest that access to services is worse in deprived neighbourhoods for all services, but only for a minority. While people in deprived neighbourhoods report marginally greater contact with family and slightly higher levels of social support, there is no evidence of greater levels of exchange of gifts or reciprocity through social networks.

Social mix and housing policy: Local effects of a misleading rhetoric. The case of Milan

The article focuses on different uses of the concept of social mix and on emerging criticalities of its use as a planning principle by discussing the results of empirical research on recent housing projects in Milan, Italy. Although the concept of social mix is generally represented as a tool to improve the living conditions of disadvantaged social groups, the praise for social mix in new housing projects may also be driven by the will of targeting the needs of specific medium–low income groups considered functional to urban growth, and by the increase of real estate values that it may provide. In urban contexts affected by a severe shortage of rental housing, social mix strategies may foster the exclusion of lowest-income groups from access to social housing and favour their segregation. Especially with reference to southern European cities, social mix risks becoming a catchword with paradoxical effects in local policy agendas and the topic of mixed communities becoming employed as a socio-political lever for developer-led, profit-making developments.

Social mix and the role of design: Competing interests in the Carlton Public Housing Estate Redevelopment, Melbourne

The social mix policy approach has become a common reaction to the multiple-disadvantage increasingly present in public housing estates in western cities. This approach and its social effects on socially-mixed communities have been studied widely; however the physical form or arrangement of models that such communities are formulated around have been largely missing from this discussion. The importance of design principles as well as the barriers to their implementation in mixed-tenure communities has been largely overlooked. We investigate these factors in a case study of the Carlton Public Housing Estate Redevelopment in Melbourne, Australia, using an analysis of in-depth interviews with public housing tenants, private residents and service providers. The findings show how the implementation of design ‘principles’ was contingent on political and economic decisions made by government and private enterprise stakeholders. Perceptions of whether the physical design of the redevelopment contributed to the lack of successful social mix varied between tenants, government officials, private developers and private residents. We conclude that partly due to the way that economic interests compromised the implementation of preferred design principles undertaken in the Carlton Redevelopment Project (Stage 1), neither housing tenure mix nor social interaction has been successfully experienced by public and private residents in the estate.

Social Mix and the Problematisation of Social Housing

ABSTRACTSocial housing in Australia is at a significant juncture. High levels of housing stress, increasing levels of socio-spatial polarisation and reduced government funding are posing complex policy challenges. Social mix policies are one response to these challenges, arising from the problematisation of social housing estates as socially excluded. This problematisation is examined through case studies of two Sydney social housing renewal projects: Telopea and Riverwood North. Drawing on interviews with government, private-sector and not-for-profit housing practitioners, the paper identifies two distinct discourses of social exclusion within this problematisation—culture of poverty discourse and equity discourse—that shape the implementation of social mix. These discourses reveal that implementing social mix is more complex than simply managing the cohabitation of residents in different tenures. Rather, the practice of social mix is embedded within discourses about the nature and causes of social exclusion. These discourses, in their turn, inform the multiple and sometimes conflicting aspirations pursued through social mix policies.

Social Mix Policy and Migrants in Large French Cities

Social Mix Policy and Migrants in Large French Cities

Possibilities of building a mixed city – evidence from Swedish cities

During the late twentieth century, the notion of residential mix became an important public policy in Sweden as well as in many other European countries, Australia and North America. The aim of these policies has primarily been to counteract residential segregation through regeneration of neighbourhoods. The Swedish policy provides an interesting case, as it differs in important respects from policies in other countries. The aim of the Swedish policy has been not only to change the social and physical structure of disadvantaged neighbourhoods, but also to create cities that are socially mixed in their entirety. However, the question is whether this universal aim of achieving mixed cities has been translated into urban planning and the actual construction of mixed neighbourhoods. Is the Swedish social mix policy a policy for the entire city or only a rhetorical goal? The present article shows that there is in fact a trend towards residential mix, as the number of tenure-mixed neighbourhoods has increased. However, contrary to the policy aim, new construction and tenure conversions have not always contributed to a greater mix, as there are also counteracting processes at work. The article furthermore shows that there are significant geographical variations in the implementation of the social mix policy.

“Sharing space without hanging together”: A case study of social mix policy in Milan

At the turn of the new millennium the reform of the Italian constitution (2001) marked a change from national to local welfare. Housing policies shifted from central state provision towards a multi-level local governance organised into partnerships between regions, municipalities, third sector and private investors. Lombardy, and specifically Milan, has attempted to implement in the local housing policy agenda the principles and goals stemming from the European debate. Especially the notion of social mix has become a keyword in the Milanese housing policy, both for new social housing developments, and for regeneration programmes targeting existing social housing estates. Social mix is increasingly seen as a means to avoid segregation and to enhance social cohesion, however not much attention has been devoted so far to evaluate the effects of social mix policies on the inhabitants’ lives. This paper will focus on the Villaggio Grazioli project, a recent example of social mix policy in Milan. The aim of the paper is to investigate the relation between social mix and social cohesion at a neighbourhood level. At first sight, the residents experience a strong feeling of social cohesion. However, a deeper analysis shows that some social groups are still excluded from the local community. Social mix in itself is not sufficient to create social cohesion. A greater role is played by active policies aimed at making residents interact and hang together.

Understanding Urban Practitioners' Perspectives on Social-Mix Policies in Amsterdam: The Importance of Design and Social Space

Throughout recent decades, socially-mixed neighbourhoods have become a key element of urban policy and debate. This paper argues, with Amsterdam as an empirical case, that the design, layout and everyday use of social space—including public and private space—is of key importance in understanding the experiences and perspectives of social-mix policies amongst ‘urban practitioners’, such as planners, architects and management personnel. While the promotion of ‘liveability’, through the management of social problems, is often highlighted as a key element of social-mix policies, the findings presented indicate the degree to which the mixing of different groups according to ethnicity, race and social class presents a number of new challenges for liveability and management within both public and private space. Furthermore, it is argued that these challenges play a significant role in dictating the scale at which social mixing takes place, from the urban block to the street and at the neighbourhood level. It is concluded that a greater amount of attention is needed to such factors in understanding the dynamics of social interaction in public and private communal space when seeking to understand the everyday realities of socially-mixed neighbourhoods.

K. Arthurson: Social mix and the city. Challenging the mixed communities consensus in housing and urban planning policies

The number of publications on social mix and housing and city planning are adding up to an insurmountable quantity. Nevertheless, the issue stays hot, that is the least one can say. All over the world governments still try to solve social problems by mixing populations. Major journals and edited volumes (see e.g. Bridge et al. 2012) recently took stock of the policies and the debates and contested used methods and evaluated policies goals and results. So what do we need more? Indeed, a book that shows us the wood for trees. And that is exactly what Kathy Arthurson, who wrote already extensively on the issue, did with her small book ‘Social Mix and the city. Challenging the mixed communities consensus in housing and urban planning policies’. With the book she also updated the widely quoted seminal article of another Australian scholar, Wendy Sarkissian (1976). The central question Arthurson wants to tackle is how to interpret the recent reviewed enthusiasm for social mix policies in late 20th and early 21st century Australia. She seeks to enhance the current understanding of the political and intellectual agenda’s for social mix by considering its comparative and historical context and the purpose for which it is used. It is critical to unravel these different conceptualizations and uses because policies can be driven by different agendas, and if the underlying beliefs and assumptions are not placed in their historical context, we may be doomed to repeat past errors (p. 3). Arthurson proceeds in 2 parts and 9 chapters. In the first part, from chapter 2 to 5, Arthurson sets out the historical context of social mix. In chapter 2 she traces the origins of the concept of social mix back to town planning in Britain from the mid-19th century and touches its later implementation in the US. Fundamental questions that are addressed include: what are the historical foundations of the idea of social mix, what problems was it initially constructed to address and who constructed these problems? (p. 6). In chapter 3 Arthurson explores the growth in support for social mix policies and the ways in which they were conceptualized in the era after World War 2 (period 1950–1970). In particular this chapter focusses on the Australian case, including the criticisms and questioning of the value of the concept at that stage.