Voluntary and involuntary Segregation
The forces that contribute to urban spatial segregation are many and vary from place to place. This
Complexity stems from a combination of opportunistic and voluntary forms of segregation
For example, legal frameworks can cause segregation or it can be stimulated by increased land and housing prices in certain urban neighborhoods, resulting in lower-income groups being driven out. In other cases, social groups may actually seek segregation to strengthen social identity, as is often the case with immigrant groups. At the other end of the scale, fear of violence is often used to justify the creation of fortified upper and middle-income residential and commercial enclaves from which the poor are excluded, and where private security companies fill the gap in security and governance. It is undeniable that, worldwide, cities have become more segregated in recent years, as the legal market for affordable, accessible and habitable housing in many countries has proven incapable of meeting the needs of the poor.
Impacts
Thus, many of the world’s cities have ended up with internally differentiated, dispersed and potentially unstable residential patterns. The carving out of ethnic-cultural enclaves along socio- economic lines in cities threatens the very foundations of urban culture. Urban spatial segregation no longer simply expresses socio-economic differences, but has become the spatial embodiment of societal fragmentation and reconcilable” inequality. Connections between land and housing markets and between revenues and local services cause spatial variations in access to transportation, education and health care - as well as air quality and neighborhood infrastructure. Thus, poorer enclaves may, for instance, only offer sub-standard schools, which in turn further limit the life chances of already poor children
Combating segregation
Segregation poses questions as to whether people from different cultures, ethnicity and socio-economic groups can mix or not. In other words: Is the city a collection of small, separate worlds, or is it an arena for cultural interaction and exchange? There is much more to understand spatial segregation and the life chances of urban residents. In policy terms it might be more effective to eliminate quality of life differences between neighborhoods rather than aiming to achieve social mix by changing the regulatory framework. Combating social problems in segregated areas requires a multi-disciplinary approach. For example, there is no single guaranteed public policy route for improving the life-chances of poor minority children when it seems that the socio-economic status of the family is consistently more influential on educational performance than the school itself Recent urban research suggests that national and local political conditions can influence the scale of inequality in any given city. Cities with a tradition of popular action and extensive networks of CBOs are better able to deal with segregation than polarized cities dependent on private investment and conservative policies. Through participation in community organizations, minority groups can partake in local political discussion as an intercultural arena for the formal negotiation of difference. Civic life requires settings in which people meet as equals, without regard to race, class, or national origins
