Socio-Spatial Segregation

Abstract

In the last few decades, income inequality has globally grown. Over two-thirds of the urban population lives in cities where the income gap has widened. Especially in urban areas this has resulted in socio-spatial segregation.
This is also visible in Vlissingen, a coastal city in the Netherlands. The differences between residential neighbourhoods are huge (over 18.000 euros) when looking at the average income per person per year. This results in socio-spatial segregation between neighbourhoods. Socio-spatial segregation describes the concentration and residential separation of different social groups. The focus of the thesis is on poor social groups.

Socio-spatial segregation leads to negative (neighbourhood) effects that affect the living environment en opportunities of poor social groups, such as economic and educational disadvantages, unemployment and crime. Therefore socio-spatial segregation is a problem that needs to be reduced.

The outcome of the graduation project is a combination of design interventions on the city scale to reduce segregation between neighbourhoods and design interventions on the neighbourhood scale of the most deprived neighbourhood of Vlissingen (Bloemenbuurt) to improve the living environment and opportunities of poor social groups. To do so, the main goal of the project is to create an urban design for integration. More specifically, the urban design needs to stimulate diversity and interaction to counteract segregation. Theory about diversity and interaction have led into guiding principles that are needed to reduce socio-spatial segregation. These guiding principles are used in the final urban design for both the city and neighbourhood scale and consist of; indistinguishable side by side tenures, clear hierarchy between private and public, urban parks, mixed use neighbourhoods, walkability, accessible public transport, connected neighbourhoods, activity in public spaces, and eyes on the street. Together with the participation of inhabitants and general urban planning conditions it forms the input for the design.

Thus, this thesis aimed at reducing socio-spatial segregation between neighbourhoods and improving the living environment and opportunities of poor social groups, through design interventions that take into account the guiding principles about diversity and interaction, the general urban planning conditions, and the participation of people living in Bloemenbuurt.