Residential Segregation in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Region: A Longitudinal Analysis Using Scalable Individualised Neighbourhoods

Abstract

This paper studies residential segregation in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area and makes three contributions to the recent debates on segregation. First, both ethnic and socio-economic segregation are studied by comparing isolation index scores for both individual indicators and their interactions. Second, neighbourhoods are defined as scalable individualised units, which allows for comparisons across spatial scales. Third, the paper adopts a longitudinal approach by covering three different time points, which enables us to get a grip on segregation trends. The results indicate that there are notable differences in segregation levels and trends between the applied segregation indicators. Ethnic segregation remained largely stable over the 2003–14 period, whereas the indicators of socio-economic segregation have slightly changed, but all in different directions. Only for tertiary education segregation has increased over the entire period. The Dutch welfare system, the well-dispersed and socially-mixed social housing sector and gentrification help to explain these developments.