The impact of gentrification on social and ethnic segregation

Socio-spatial inequalities are related to changes in urban housing markets, often described and debated in terms of gentrification. While related, gentrification and segregation are conceptually different. This chapter provides a conceptual overview of how the two spatial processes are related. Additionally, we will gauge how and to what degree gentrification processes at the neighbourhood level, defined as changes in housing value, contribute to changes in social-economic and ethnic segregation in five Dutch cities (2004–2016). Our findings indicate that housing value increases in low-status neighbourhoods and value stagnation in high-status areas may lower social-economic segregation, but this is outweighed by the increasing deprivation in low-status neighbourhoods and increasing incomes in high-status areas. Also, new housing developments exacerbate segregation levels. For ethnicity, segregation levels are decreasing (except in Den Haag), yet here new housing developments also contribute to segregation. We conclude with a reflection on the multifaceted relationship.