Dr Gemma Catney: “Neighbourhood segregation has decreased during the 2000s in the majority of local authorities”
Ethnic group segregation in neighbourhoods has decreased throughout England and Wales for all minority groups over the last decade, a new study from the University of Liverpool has shown.
The research, based on 2011 Census data, found that there is increased residential mixing in both inner and outer London and in other major urban centres.
Segregation decreasing
In outer London, segregation has decreased by 12% for the Bangladeshi population, 11% for Chinese population and 8% for mixed groups. Inner London has experienced a decrease in segregation by the Chinese, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, mixed and other white ethnic groups.
The most ethnically diverse neighbourhoods are in districts which have seen a decrease in segregation for the majority of ethnic minority groups.
Dollis Hill in Brent and Plaistow North in Newham are the most diverse electoral wards in England and Wales, and they are located in districts which have seen a decrease in segregation for nearly all ethnic groups. Diverse areas are not dominated by one ethnic group and should not be understood as segregated, or as becoming more so.
Other large cities such as Leicester, Birmingham, Manchester and Bradford have seen a decrease in segregation for most ethnic groups for example, by as much as 13 per cent for the Indian group in Manchester, and 16 per cent for the African and 13 per cent for the Chinese ethnic groups in Bradford.
The data also shows that rural areas and small cities and towns are becoming more ethnically mixed.
Dr Gemma Catney, from the University of Liverpool’s Department of Geography and Planning, said: “Neighbourhood segregation has decreased during the 2000s in the majority of local authorities and especially in those where ethnic minorities are clustered.
“Segregation decreased for the Caribbean, Indian, Mixed and African ethnic population groups in over two-thirds of districts where these groups are most populous.
“The picture is one of increased residential mixing in the largest cities in England and Wales. An important mechanism for this change is movement from cities to suburban and rural areas, in particular by families.
Process common to all ethnic groups
“Cities are attractive to young people, recent immigrants and students. New arrivals to the UK may only stay a short time in one place, their ‘settlement area’, before leaving the UK or moving away from these areas. This movement away from ethnically diverse urban areas is a process common to all ethnic groups.”
There are a small minority of districts that have seen a large increase in segregation and this has occurred in areas where there are small numbers of people in a particular ethnic group, and not in the areas where ethnic minority groups tend to be largest.
Dr Catney’s research is funded by the Leverhulme Trust.
The analysis appears in a briefing document published by the University of Manchester’s Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity.
See the full briefing ‘Has neighbourhood ethnic segregation decreased?’
