Segregation and Concentration of Poverty: The Role of Suburban Sprawl

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Segregation and Concentration of Poverty The
Role of Suburban Sprawl

• Paul A. Jargowsky
• University of Texas at Dallas and
• Centre de Sciences Humaines

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Basic Argument

• Rapid suburban development (or Sprawl) in the
  US undermines the Central Cities
• The development pattern increases economic
  segregation by concentrating the poor in the
  inner cities
• It also helps to maintain high levels of racial
  segregation despite the elimination of de jure
  controls on black residential location

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Suburban Autonomy

• US Suburbs are independent political units
• Little or no external control on growth and
  development
• New suburbs in competition with each other, as
  well as older suburbs and central city
• Incentives favor rapid growth geared towards
  low-density, automobile-dependent neighborhoods
  serving high-income households, mostly white

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Washington DC Metro Area
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Washington DC Metropolitan Area Population by
State
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Washington DC Metro Area, 1900-2000, Population
Change by County
Percent Change, 1900-1910
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Washington DC Metro Area, 1900-2000, Population
Change by County
Percent Change, 1910-1920
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Washington DC Metro Area, 1900-2000, Population
Change by County
Percent Change, 1920-1930
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Washington DC Metro Area, 1900-2000, Population
Change by County
Percent Change, 1930-1940
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Washington DC Metro Area, 1900-2000, Population
Change by County
Percent Change, 1940-1950
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Washington DC Metro Area, 1900-2000, Population
Change by County
Percent Change, 1950-1960
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Washington DC Metro Area, 1900-2000, Population
Change by County
Percent Change, 1960-1970
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Washington DC Metro Area, 1900-2000, Population
Change by County
Percent Change, 1970-1980
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Washington DC Metro Area, 1900-2000, Population
Change by County
Percent Change, 1980-1990
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Washington DC Metro Area, 1900-2000, Population
Change by County
Percent Change, 1990-2000
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Metropolitan Areas with Central City Population
Declines, 1990-2000

• Of the 100 Largest
• Metropolitan Areas
• 30 had central city declines (for example, those
  to the left)
• 51 more had central city growth less than
  suburban growth

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Suburban Growth Is Not Neutral

• Robert Park (1926) social distances are
  translated to physical distances
• In US, class is more uncertain, increasing
  pressure to separate
• Middle- and upper-income households have
  relocated further and further towards the
  periphery of urban space
• Sharp contrast to the suburban development
  patterns of many other nations, e.g. India, France

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Percentage of Blacks and Poor Persons, 2000, in
Suburbs by Growth Rate, 1990-2000
Population Change (), Black and
1990-2000 Black Poor Poor Decline 22.4
14.2 6.1 0 to 25 12.1 11.9 2.8 25 to 50
8.5 9.7 1.5 50 to 100 9.9
7.8 1.3 100 or more 5.3 6.8 0.6 (Includes
all suburban places in metropolitan areas.)
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Sprawls contribution to Concentration of Poverty

• Rich move to the newest suburbs
• Middle class moves to older suburbs
• Poor are left behind in low-density, declining
  neighborhoods
• The social and economic decay of these
  neighborhoods frightens the middle class, and
  creates a vicious cycle

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Poverty Level Detroit Neighborhoods, 1970-2000
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Poverty Level Detroit Neighborhoods, 1970-2000
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Poverty Level Detroit Neighborhoods, 1970-2000
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Poverty Level Detroit Neighborhoods, 1970-2000
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Detroit the Bigger Picture
The large poverty area in 1970.
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Detroit the Bigger Picture
and in 1990
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Population Changes, 1970-1990 The MSA Hollows Out
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The Process Continues, 1990-2000
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Change in Poverty Rates, 1990-2000Detroit MSA
The central city did better, but the inner-ring
suburbs did not.
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Dallas
1970-1990
1990-2000
Paul A. Jargowsky, University of Texas at
Dallas November 1, 2002
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Cleveland
Change in Poverty Rates
1970-1990
1990-2000
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St. Louis
Change in Poverty Rates
1970-1990
1990-2000
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Modeling Sprawls Contribution to Racial
Segregation

• Identify all neighborhoods (census tracts) that
  grew between 1990 and 2000 (net new housing
  units)
• Count all whites and blacks who moved into
  growing tracts
• Ask the question what if suburban development
  had been racially neutral?
• To be racially neutral, such growth would have to
  be mixed income across broad areas.

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Two Methods to Model Sprawls Effect on
Segregation

• Fixed proportion method assign 1990 movers to
  growing census tracts in proportion to their
  share of total movers into new housing.
• Random moves method randomly assign white and
  black movers to growing census tracts until all
  new slots are filled.

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Results for 10 Metropolitan Areas with Largest
Black Population
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Implications

• Exclusivity racial and economic exclusion from
  growth zones
• Increases economic segregation
• Help to maintain high levels of racial
  segregation
• Lower density greater physical and social
  distance between groups
• Political fragmentation
• Balkanization of fiscal base
• Interacts with segregation to limit access to
  high-quality education and other public amenities

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Policy Directions

• Housing construction is highly regulated to
  protect health and safety
• Need to also regulate the growth process
• Pace of peripheral growth should be tied to
  metropolitan growth rate, so it does not
  undermine existing areas
• Each suburban community must build a full range
  of housing types
• Public transportation needed to improve access to
  geographically dispersed opportunities

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Conclusion

• Housing construction is near permanent
• Once built, becomes the architecture of
  segregation
• Individual local decisions have significant
  externalities
• Regulation of suburban growth is needed to
• Break down racial and economic segregation
• Protect the long-term health of the community
• Promote the geographic access to public resources
  necessary for equality of opportunity