Inequalities In Cities Flashcards
Inequality in cities
Driven by political and economic forces
Inequality and urbanization are linked
Methodological individualism
Place doesn’t matter , increasing levels of racial and economic segregation
Focus on individual
Neighbourhood effects research
Observe relationships at the neighbourhood level - attributed them wrong at the individual level.
Response to methodological individualism
Identify the effects of neighbourhoods over and above individual factors
Individual (person)
Race
Class
Gender
Personality traits
Contextual: what effect does the context you live in have on you
Quality schools
Transportation
Crime
Pollution
Emergent: what effect do you have on your neighbourhood
Local economy
Public health
Crime
Community (good education = slower connections to neighbors)
Community level
Characteristics of the neighbourhood effect the status of the neighbourhood and the people within it
Neighbourhood facts (USA)
Differ significantly in terms of socioeconomic status and racial segregation
Is socioeconomic status and high racial segregation tend to also have several associated social problems
Concentration of both poverty and affluence is increasing
Concentrated disadvantage
The experience of poverty is much worse when everyone living around you is also poor
-when surrounded by more people = influential
Social isolation
Residents of poor networks lack access to social networks and institutions that could provide them with links to the mainstream economy and society.
Social organization
Neighbourhood poverty is linked to a breakdown of mutual trust among residents which prevents them from maintaining order and cooperation in their neighbourhoods
Resource theories
Poor neighbourhoods lack important institutional resources (daycare, grocery stores)
Food desert
They don’t have access to healthy food because there are no grocery stores near by
Environmental theories
Residents suffer greater Heath problems which may affect other areas of their life
Are Canadian cities much less segregated than American cities?
Yes but are increasing
Are Canadian cities becoming more unequal among themselves?
Yes
Wealthy people move away from poor
Hulchanski: three cities within Toronto: city 1
Central city
Average income 20% above average
Small minority in older neighbourhoods
15% of toronto’s neighbourhoods
Central older suburbs
NOW
spreading from the central suburbs to the downtown core
Hulchanski: three cities within Toronto: city 2
The suburbs
20% within average income
66% of toronto’s neighbourhoods
Built extremely fast
Spread out among the new suburbs
NOW
essentially exists as a barrier between cities 1 and 3
Hulchanski: three cities within Toronto: city 3
The inner city
Average incomes 20% below CMA average
19% of toronto’s neighbourhoods
Concentrated in the inner city
Decaying core of the city (belt line, east village)
Zone in transition
NOW
The suburbs are for the poor now , spread out in the new suburbs
