Housing Policy Impacts on Ethnic Segregation Patterns: Evidence from Dusseldorf, West Germany

Abstract

Ethnic residential segregation has been of long-standing concern in cities throughout the world. Policy-makers are faced with decisions that potentially have a profound impact on these segregative patterns. This study illustrates the applicability of a recently developed analytical model of ethnic segregation and relocation in urban housing markets to housing policy evaluations. Using 1981 data for the city of Diisseldorf, West Germany, the effects of two housing policies are analysed: the first hypothesises an increase in housing supply, and the second simulates the effects of an urban renewal project. The results suggest that the accounting model is well suited to this type of analysis, and, as such, offers invaluable insights into spatial and compositional demographic shifts in response to housing policies.