Why Black‐Majority Neighbourhoods Are The Epicentre Of Population Shrinkage In The American Rust Belt

Bibliographic Data

ID10832907
AuthorsJ Hackworth (0000-0001-9407-7137, University of Toronto, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume112
Issue1
Pages44-61
Publication date2021-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueTijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0040-747X • E-ISSN: 1467-9663
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/tesg.12419
OpenAlexW3032786739
LanguageEN
Citations received18
References cited48

Despite a clear association between the most African‐American neighbourhoods and overall population shrinkage in Rust Belt cities, few have explored the theoretical challenges that this poses. First, if racial prejudice is the key ingredient for this relationship, why would this result in overall population loss and not simply a reduction of White residents? Second, why if stigmatisation generates the pre‐conditions for in‐migration and investment – as the gentrification and urban ecologies literatures suggest – why would Black neighbourhoods not be the epicentre of population growth? This paper explores these questions through a theoretical synthesis of the residential choice, shrinking cities, and racial prejudice literatures. I rely on an intra‐city examination of neighbourhood change in Cleveland, Detroit and Pittsburgh. I argue that three factors in shrinking Rust Belt cities limit the application of more general neighbourhood change paradigms: (i) the persistence of racial prejudice; (ii) abundant housing supply; and (iii) housing stock characteristics

Demographic economics · Economic growth · Economics · Gentrification · Geography · Neighbourhood (mathematics · Political science · Population · Prejudice (legal term · Sociology · Demography · Housing Market and Economics · Law · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies · Urbanization and City Planning