Colleagues Eva Andersson and Bo Malmberg were interviewed in different media based on their studies on segregation and urban unrest in Sweden.

Below is the abstract of their study which will appear in the next issue of Urban Geography (volume 34, issue 7, p. 1031-1046) and some media links.

Segregation and unrest in Sweden

Bo Malmberg, Eva Andersson and John Östh

In 2009 Sweden experienced a wave of urban unrest concentrated in areas with large foreign-born populations. This episode was seen by many as reflecting a trend towards increased ethnically-based residential segregation. This is in line with an argument often made in scholarly discussion that a high level of residential segregation increases the risk of urban unrest. In this paper we add to the existing literature by investigating whether ethnic residential segregation is statistically associated with episodes of urban unrest in Sweden. Our measure of urban unrest is based on the number of car burnings that were reported to the police during the 2002-2009 period. We have chosen this measure because car burnings have been a prominent feature of episodes of rioting in Swedish cities. Our finding is that municipalities and metropolitan districts with high levels of residential segregation have high rates of car burnings. Other factors of importance are a high proportion of young adults (15-24 years old) and a high proportion of households on welfare. We also have evidence indicating that small scale segregation presents less risk than large scale concentration. Thus, our study lends support to the idea that lower levels of residential segregation can help to reduce the risk of urban unrest.

A selection of media attention:

Eva Andersson on Swedish radio (in English)

USA today on riots in Stockholm

Bo Malmberg on German television

Hem & Hyra on segregation and riots (in Swedish)

A report from L'essentiel (in French)