'White Flight'? The Production and Reproduction of Immigrant Concentration Areas in Swedish Cities, 1990-2000

Abstract

The article investigates whether processes similar to 'White flight' and 'White avoidance', known from American research on residential segregation, have played a role in the increased concentration of immigrants that has affected many residential areas in Swedish cities during the 1990s. By means of a comprehensive and unique dataset, processes of neighbourhood transition and mobility are described and analysed for a selection of residential areas that have experienced increased immigrant concentration during the 1990s. The results show that 'Swedish avoidance', i.e. low in-migration rates among Swedes, rather than 'Swedish flight', i.e. high out-migration rates, has been the main driving-force behind the production and reproduction of immigrant concentration areas.