The evolution and stability of multi‐ethnic residential neighbourhoods in England

Bibliographic Data

ID8962316
AuthorsGemma Catney (0000-0002-9799-6355, Geography, School of Natural and Built Environment Queen's University Belfast Belfast UK, corresponding author), Richard Wright (0000-0002-9884-7343, Department of Geography Dartmouth College Hanover NH USA), Mark Ellis (0000-0002-0435-1348, Department of Geography and Center for Studies in Demography Ecology University of Washington Seattle WA USA)
Year2020
Volume46
Issue2
Pages330-346
Publication date2020-09-29
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueTransactions of the Institute of British Geographers (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-2754 • E-ISSN: 1475-5661
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/tran.12416
PMID34354298
OpenAlexW3089673519
LanguageEN
Citations received17
References cited53

This paper analyses the most ethnically diverse spaces in England. We define multi-ethnic neighbourhoods as spaces where no one group is in a majority and at least five ethnic groups have representation. Around 4% of all English neighbourhoods (Lower Layer Super Output Areas) met these criteria in 2011. Often mislabelled as "segregated" spaces, the growth of ethnically diverse neighbourhoods helps benchmark increased inter-ethnic contact, yet we know very little about their spatial extent and the dynamics of their expansion. We use Census data for 1991, 2001, and 2011 to consider how neighbourhood-level diversity has changed during a period of substantial increase in ethnic diversity at the national scale. To what extent did these highly diverse areas grow, and what is the geography of that growth? Which types of areas did these neighbourhoods transition from? For example, were multi-ethnic neighbourhoods formerly low or moderately diverse, and which groups dominated these locales? We also consider if multi-ethnic neighbourhoods are here to stay, or if they are compositionally unstable. We reveal a surprising aspect in England's neighbourhood transitions: multi-ethnic neighbourhoods are highly stable, and increasingly so. Some 88% of neighbourhoods that were multi-ethnic in 1991 retained their high-diversity status in 2001, while over 95% of 2001 multi-ethnic neighbourhoods remained highly diverse by 2011. This is a different story to that of the USA, where high-diversity neighbourhoods have received more scholarly attention, and where these neighbourhoods have high attrition rates, functioning as stepping stones to another type of space. We explore the demographic and housing dynamics associated with this stability

Census · Cultural diversity · Diversity (politics · Economic geography · Ethnic group · Geography · Neighbourhood (mathematics · Population · Sociology · Anthropology · Demography · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies

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