Research project Segregation of urban amenities in Sweden

Most research on segregation considers the clustering of certain groups in residential areas, schools, or workplaces. However, the notion of segregation is intimately related to how people interact with one another, and the opportunities they have to be exposed to diverse others. This may not only depend on immediate neighbours, nor on peers at school or work. In this project, thus, we propose to study segregation from a different and frequently overlooked angle: access to urban amenities that promote social interactions.

The purpose is to study the patterns and consequences of different access to amenities for different groups, by specifically focusing on ethnic minorities vs. natives in Sweden. Amenities are not just valuable in themselves: access to different interaction-promoting amenities can also offer exposure to more diverse peers. This can foster social integration, mitigating the effect of segregation in other domains. We leverage a combination of geo-coded register data, opensource maps, and longitudinal surveys to gain unique insights on the proposed topic. We will use quantitative methods and quasi-experimental settings to be able to draw causal inference. Our results are of great importance for Swedish society at large as they will bring new insight to policy debates on how to facilitate the revival of struggling neighbourhoods.