Restructuring of Housing and Ethnic Segregation: Recent Developments in Berlin

Abstract

In Germany, and particularly in Berlin, the fall of the Wall in 1989 and the years following reunification were accompanied by a large influx of immigrants. These 'new' migrants in Berlin are added to the long-resident guestworker population in the western part of the city. This paper investigates the housing situation of the increasing population of foreigners before and after unification as well as the changing segregation of ethnic minorities. After a comparison of the different housing systems in East and West Berlin and their consequences for ethnic segregation in the 1980s, the main elements of the housing transformation since 1990 are identified and related to the changing residential patterns of foreigners. The patterns of four selected nationalities with divergent migration motives are analysed in more detail. The paper draws attention to differences between East and West Berlin as well as to recent convergences between the two parts of the city.

Far away from home: the housing question and international students in Australia

“…As with many migrants around the world (for a review, see Kemper, 1998;White, 1998), accommodation issues pose a serious challenge to international students whose knowledge of the housing market in Sydney is not, on average, as good as local students. Indeed not many of them are familiar with the real estate terms in Australia (International Student Development Taskforce, 2009, pp.…”

Network Analysis of Commuting Flows: A Comparative Static Approach to German Data

“…Workers who live and work on opposite 'sides' of Berlin seem to have increased in the 9-year period, which seems to be a reasonable and somehow expected finding, considering that the data for the first year conceived, 1995, were collected only 5 years after reunification. Therefore, it makes sense to expect a gradual redistribution of residential and business location choices on both sides of Berlin, This might be particularly true for relocations into the formerly Soviet side of the city, where rents are, or were, supposedly cheaper (see, for example, Kemper 1998). As explained in the previous section, the two Berlin districts are kept separate in this data set.…”

Special issue editors' introduction: dynamics and diversity: housing careers and segregation of minority ethnic groups

“…Among the many examples, some of the more recent ones are as follows: Boal (1998) for Belfast and other studies in Musterd and Ostendorf (1998), Peach (1998) for London; Brevik (2001) for Oslo; Van Kempen and van Weesep (1997) and for The Netherlands; Ladányi (2001) for Budapest; Giffinger (1998) for Vienna; Kemper (1998) for Berlin; Murdie and Borgegard (1998) for Stockholm and various studies in Marcuse and Van Kempen (2000) and Marcuse and Van Kempen (2002). Some times the comparisons are international: e.g.…”