- Title
- Ethnic residential segregation: some comments on a commentary
- Creator
- Watts, Martin J.
- Relation
- Environment and Planning A Vol. 40, Issue 9, p. 2031-2036
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1068/a41100
- Publisher
- Pion Ltd.
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2008
- Description
- Debate continues in the academic literature about the measurement and interpretation of residential segregation. Poulsen, Johnston, and Forrest have been prolific writers in this area with papers exploring the pattern of ethnic segregation in cities, including Sydney, Auckland, and New York. They mainly use two related techniques, namely a fixed typology of areas (within a region) based on their white versus nonwhite population composition and an index of concentration (see, for example, Johnston et al, 2002; Poulsen et al, 2002, 2004). Poulsen and Johnston (2006) are concerned about the misinterpretation of their results concerning the changing levels of ethnic residential segregation in Bradford and Greater London. They use their typology of areas based on ethnic composition in order to convey the "right message". They also reject the use of formal index measurement. I argue that (i) their reliance on a static typology is inadequate and potentially misleading as a vehicle for representing and interpreting changes in segregation over time (or across space); and (ii) index measurement is a succinct means of measuring change, but needs to be supplemented by other summary statistics.
- Subject
- residential segregation; ethnic segregation; index measurement; fixed typology
- Identifier
- uon:5519
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/43406
- Identifier
- ISSN:0308-518X
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