Will housing mix create social mix, and will social mix create social opportunity? This question is central in American and European urban debates. In Europe, however, there is a big gap between the political debates and actions regarding these issues and empirical research. In an effort to partly fill this gap, the authors critically evaluated the question above, applying a large-scale longitudinal Swedish data set covering the period 1991 to 1999 and available at the individual level for the entire population. The first part of the article reviews the various policies that are used in different European countries. The second part addresses the empirical analysis.
Social mix can be observed in many post-reform Chinese cities, yet the topic has so far remained scarcely researched. Using central Shanghai as a focus, this research asks how socially mixed neighbourhoods have emerged, what is their internal structure, and how have locally-based social interactions been affected by the emergence of social mix. Based on a neighbourhood of 5 housing estates and other relevant examples, this study shows that mixed neighbourhoods have emerged from an unplanned and uncoordinated interplay among new market-driven commodity housing developments, counter-market retention mechanisms on traditional estates, government-led socially-orientated housing projects, residents' resistance to redevelopment, and the lingering socialist legacy of welfare housing and unclear property rights. Significant differences were found in residents' socioeconomic attributes, living conditions, tenure and housing expenditure between the traditional, new middle-income, and new upmarket housing. The process of housing redevelopment and the creation of social mix have diminished locally-based social interactions. Residents' intra-estate interaction is the strongest in traditional estates, lower in the middle-income estate and minimal in upmarket estates. The level of inter-estate interaction in the mixed neighbourhood is weak. The emergence of social mix has brought about a divergence in lifestyles and lifeworlds among the changed set of residents, which is reflected in the spheres of mobility, residential stability, shopping, and children's education. The level of inter-estate interaction has reduced from the past when the neighbourhood was more socially homogenous. Findings suggest that social mix and a weakening of local social interaction will likely continue, and these will demand more scrutiny considering China's development agenda on social harmony. Findings here concur with Western studies on mixed communities that social mix does not lead to social mixing. New policies and programmes to foster social interaction should be explored.
There is interest within the social exclusion debate about the extent to which people in deprived social housing estates are socially isolated & their material disadvantages reinforced by exclusion from job opportunities & inward-looking & negative social norms. One approach to this problem has been the introduction of a social mix through the development of new housing for owner-occupation. Through interviews with & diaries kept by residents in three Scottish estates, this article charts residents' networks & assesses the potential for owner-occupation to 'reconnect' existing residents with society beyond the local neighborhood. The article concludes that owners & renters in regeneration areas largely inhabit different social worlds & that the introduction of owner-occupation makes little difference to renters' networks. Policy implications include the need to meet the housing aspirations of homeowners in these areas, & the effects of promoting large-scale commercial developments based on heavy car use in towns & cities. 1 Table, 7 Figures, 37 References. Adapted from the source document.
English There is interest within the social exclusion debate about the extent to which people in deprived social housing estates are socially isolated and their material disadvantages reinforced by exclusion from job opportunities and inward-looking and negative social norms. One approach to this problem has been the introduction of a social mix through the development of new housing for owneroccupation. Through interviews with and diaries kept by residents in three Scottish estates this article charts residents' networks and assesses the potential for owner-occupation to 'reconnect' existing residents with society beyond the local neighbourhood. The article concludes that owners and renters in regeneration areas largely inhabit different social worlds and that the introduction of owner-occupation makes little difference to renters' networks. Policy implications include the need to meet the housing aspirations of homeowners in these areas, and the effects of promoting largescale commercial developments based on heavy car use in towns and cities.
International audience ; Since the 1980s, the issue of social mix has become a public policy category in France. Enshrined in legislation, yet remaining controversial, it represents a major premise on which housing policies have been reconfigured. The concept of social mix is essentially based on who lives where, but it is also evoked in the context of urban renewal schemes for social housing estates, as well as in relation to new-build developments. A study of the bases of social mix policies conducted in Paris since 2001 in the context of the embourgeoisement of the capital shows the fundamental role of social housing stock. The City Council has become involved in policy decisions about both the location and the allocation of social housing. Particular attention has been paid to the middle classes in the name of the principle of 'balancing the population'. In order to measure the effects of the policy, this article relies on an analysis of two City of Paris schemes that have the stated intent of creating social mix. One of these schemes consists of redeveloping a working-class neighbourhood, Goutte d'Or, while the other involves the new acquisition of social housing in various more affluent neighbourhoods in the capital. This comparative study of the population shows that, whether in a neighbourhood poised for gentrification or in a more affluent neighbourhood, this policy has major effects on forms of local social cohesion, setting in motion individual trajectories and reshaping social and/or ethnic identities.
International audience ; Since the 1980s, the issue of social mix has become a public policy category in France. Enshrined in legislation, yet remaining controversial, it represents a major premise on which housing policies have been reconfigured. The concept of social mix is essentially based on who lives where, but it is also evoked in the context of urban renewal schemes for social housing estates, as well as in relation to new-build developments. A study of the bases of social mix policies conducted in Paris since 2001 in the context of the embourgeoisement of the capital shows the fundamental role of social housing stock. The City Council has become involved in policy decisions about both the location and the allocation of social housing. Particular attention has been paid to the middle classes in the name of the principle of 'balancing the population'. In order to measure the effects of the policy, this article relies on an analysis of two City of Paris schemes that have the stated intent of creating social mix. One of these schemes consists of redeveloping a working-class neighbourhood, Goutte d'Or, while the other involves the new acquisition of social housing in various more affluent neighbourhoods in the capital. This comparative study of the population shows that, whether in a neighbourhood poised for gentrification or in a more affluent neighbourhood, this policy has major effects on forms of local social cohesion, setting in motion individual trajectories and reshaping social and/or ethnic identities.
International audience ; Since the 1980s, the issue of social mix has become a public policy category in France. Enshrined in legislation, yet remaining controversial, it represents a major premise on which housing policies have been reconfigured. The concept of social mix is essentially based on who lives where, but it is also evoked in the context of urban renewal schemes for social housing estates, as well as in relation to new-build developments. A study of the bases of social mix policies conducted in Paris since 2001 in the context of the embourgeoisement of the capital shows the fundamental role of social housing stock. The City Council has become involved in policy decisions about both the location and the allocation of social housing. Particular attention has been paid to the middle classes in the name of the principle of 'balancing the population'. In order to measure the effects of the policy, this article relies on an analysis of two City of Paris schemes that have the stated intent of creating social mix. One of these schemes consists of redeveloping a working-class neighbourhood, Goutte d'Or, while the other involves the new acquisition of social housing in various more affluent neighbourhoods in the capital. This comparative study of the population shows that, whether in a neighbourhood poised for gentrification or in a more affluent neighbourhood, this policy has major effects on forms of local social cohesion, setting in motion individual trajectories and reshaping social and/or ethnic identities.
International audience ; Since the 1980s, the issue of social mix has become a public policy category in France. Enshrined in legislation, yet remaining controversial, it represents a major premise on which housing policies have been reconfigured. The concept of social mix is essentially based on who lives where, but it is also evoked in the context of urban renewal schemes for social housing estates, as well as in relation to new-build developments. A study of the bases of social mix policies conducted in Paris since 2001 in the context of the embourgeoisement of the capital shows the fundamental role of social housing stock. The City Council has become involved in policy decisions about both the location and the allocation of social housing. Particular attention has been paid to the middle classes in the name of the principle of 'balancing the population'. In order to measure the effects of the policy, this article relies on an analysis of two City of Paris schemes that have the stated intent of creating social mix. One of these schemes consists of redeveloping a working-class neighbourhood, Goutte d'Or, while the other involves the new acquisition of social housing in various more affluent neighbourhoods in the capital. This comparative study of the population shows that, whether in a neighbourhood poised for gentrification or in a more affluent neighbourhood, this policy has major effects on forms of local social cohesion, setting in motion individual trajectories and reshaping social and/or ethnic identities.
AbstractSince the 1980s, the issue of social mix has become a public policy category in France. Enshrined in legislation, yet remaining controversial, it represents a major premise on which housing policies have been reconfigured. The concept of social mix is essentially based on who lives where, but it is also evoked in the context of urban renewal schemes for social housing estates, as well as in relation to new‐build developments. A study of the bases of social mix policies conducted in Paris since 2001 in the context of the embourgeoisement of the capital shows the fundamental role of social housing stock. The City Council has become involved in policy decisions about both the location and the allocation of social housing. Particular attention has been paid to the middle classes in the name of the principle of 'balancing the population'. In order to measure the effects of the policy, this article relies on an analysis of two City of Paris schemes that have the stated intent of creating social mix. One of these schemes consists of redeveloping a working‐class neighbourhood, Goutte d'Or, while the other involves the new acquisition of social housing in various more affluent neighbourhoods in the capital. This comparative study of the population shows that, whether in a neighbourhood poised for gentrification or in a more affluent neighbourhood, this policy has major effects on forms of local social cohesion, setting in motion individual trajectories and reshaping social and/or ethnic identities.Résumé Depuis les années 1980, la notion de mixité sociale est devenue, en France, une catégorie de l'action publique. Légiférée, bien que discutée, cette notion représente un postulat majeur des reconfigurations des politiques du logement. Cette notion essentiellement fondée sur le plan résidentiel, est aussi bien évoquée dans le cadre des opérations de renouvellement urbain des ensembles d'habitat social que dans des opérations de construction neuves. L'étude des fondements des politiques de mixité, menées à Paris depuis 2001, dans le contexte d'embourgeoisement de la capitale, montre le rôle fondamental du parc de logement social. La municipalité intervient tant sur sa localisation que sur la politique d'attribution. Une attention toute particulière est accordée aux couches moyennes au nom du principe de l''équilibre de peuplement'. Pour mesurer les effets de cette politique, cet article s'appuie sur 'analyse de deux opérations conduites par la ville de Paris au nom de la mixité sociale. L'une de ces opérations consiste en la rénovation d'un quartier populaire, La Goutte d'Or, l'autre en la nouvelle acquisition de logements sociaux dans des quartiers aisés de la Capitale. L'étude comparée du peuplement montre, qu'il s'agisse d'un quartier en attente de gentrification ou d'un quartier aisé, les effets importants de cette politique sur les formes de cohésion sociale locale, induisant une mise en mouvement des trajectoires individuelles et une recomposition des identités sociales et/ou ethniques.
In recent years, urban neighborhoods in many Western nations have undergone neighborhood restructuring initiatives, especially in public housing developments. Regent Park, Canada's oldest and largest public housing development, is a neighborhood currently undergoing 'neighborhood revitalization' based on the social mix model. One tenet of this model is the idea that original public housing residents are benefiting from interactions with middle class residents. Based on qualitative interviews and ethnographic observations with original housing residents as well as new middle–class homeowners, we examine whether cross–class interactions actually occur "on the ground" in Regent Park. By examining an iteration of the model that differs with respect to the direction of resident movement—that is, the revitalization of Regent Park involves more advantaged residents buying into the once low–income neighborhood, as opposed to providing lower–income residents with housing vouchers to move out of the community (and into more affluent neighborhoods across the city)—our study provides a unique contribution to the existing research on social mix. In particular, our research examines whether the direction of this resident movement has any distinct or demonstrable impact on: (1) the daily perceptions, attitudes, and actions of original and new residents, and (2) the nature of cross–class interactions. Second, unlike the vast majority of studies done in Europe and the United States, which are conducted "postrevitalization," we examine the effects of neighborhood revitalization as the process unfolds.
