A Window Into the European City: Exploring Socioeconomic Residential Segregation in Urban Poland

Abstract

In this paper, we build on a long research effort aimed at identifying the specific conditions, functional and structural characteristics of urban areas, that produce different levels of residential segregation across cities. We explore segregation levels in Poland's 87 largest cities, cities with more than 50,000 residents, by measuring indices of dissimilarity relating to socioprofessional status. We then proceed by examining core structural determinants of the revealed segregation levels, including city size, and housing market characteristics. The results suggests that the structural characteristics of urban regions are indeed significant predictors of the level of socio-spatial disparities in urban Poland. As expected, larger cities are more segregated than the smaller ones; higher shares of public housing also appear to contribute to more pronounced socioeconomic spatial divisions. Intriguingly, the share of new housing stock alone is not related to strong residential segregation.

The Construction of the Visible and Invisible Boundaries of Microsegregation: A Case Study from Szeged, Hungary

“…This transitional zone where old (pre-WWII) and new (post-1990) housing are intermixed consists of two parts, namely the northeastern tracts, where the Franciahögy residential park is located, and the southern tracts, where old tenement blocks are mixed with new, upmarket infills. This type of development is also well-documented in other post-socialist countries [47,58]. Franciahögy was the first gated residential complex to be constructed in Szeged between 2000 and 2007 when this form of housing started to mushroom in Hungary at the turn of the new millennium [59].…”

“…The main advantage of cities at the top of the urban hierarchy is that they are not only destinations for domestic but also international (global) migration, providing various opportunities for distinct (visible) forms of segregation. The size and diverse societies of global cities make them popular locations regarding (micro)segregation research, whereas research on segregation, especially on the micro forms of the phenomenon, in cities at lower levels of urban hierarchy, is largely missing [47].…”