Exploring residential segregation in cities through collective political capabilities: a normative contribution

Abstract

This paper investigates the phenomenon of residential segregation, its harms and processes, and addresses the critical questions of how it contributes to capability deprivation and whether capability approaches focused on the individual level can adequately assess such deprivation. We argue that residential segregation not only creates physical barriers and erodes social bonds between communities but also disrupts important power dynamics between and within social groups in ways that lead to their reproduction. First, we articulate an understanding of residential segregation as a structural injustice. Second, we utilize the collective capabilities approach as our normative framework to pinpoint the political harms it causes. Finally, we explore how the harms of residential segregation can also give rise to and foster forms of solidarity, which can be valuable for contesting residential segregation and creating social change.