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Ethnic Housing Segregation and the Roma/Gypsy Population: a Portuguese perspective
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Orientador(es)
Resumo(s)
Questions of spatial segregation and over-representation of ethnic minority groups with weak
connections to the labour market are central to the political and policy agenda across Europe and
academic studies in the fields of housing and urban regeneration. In some countries, the spatial
concentration of ethnic minorities is considered in itself an indicator of socio-spatial disadvantage,
accentuating pathological discourses related to ethnic communities but in turn providing more resources
for these areas. In other countries, where policies have a less preventive character and only intervene
during phases of advanced urban decline, the existence of ethnic enclaves and concentrated poverty has
led to housing demolition and rehousing, in many cases with controversial results. The relevance of the
link between ethnic segregation and integration is known. On the one hand, people create and modify
places, on the other hand, spaces in which people live and work affect their social relations, and individual
fortunes (eg educational attainment, income levels, reputation). The over-representation of ethnic groups
in some areas has been considered a problem where it hinders opportunities of social integration, and
when it amplifies processes of stigmatization and the inter-generational transmission of disadvantage.
However, it has also been recognized that the concentration of ethnic communities may actually be an
advantage for developing relationships of solidarity and the preservation and affirmation of cultural
identities. This paper aims to contribute to this debate. It focuses upon the ethnic housing segregation of
the Gypsy/ Roma population in Portugal, and asks if ethnic clustering on a number of housing estates is
the result of a voluntary impulse towards aggregation (therefore perceived positively by residents), or the
result of a lack of choice (thus an ‘institutionalized’ or deliberate political choice to put the Gypsy/Roma
people at distance). In the first part, I review the literature on the factors that underlie the social
construction of ethnic segregation; in the second part, I review literature that presents the empirical results
of research conducted in different locations of Portugal but has in common processes of rehousing of the
Gypsy/Roma population in urban areas. I compare these results with those I obtained in field work in Porto
where I interviewed Gypsy/Roma people regarding their preferences given models of concentrated
housing relocation or more dispersed neighbourhoods. Focusing upon the Portuguese case, I offer some
answers to the following research questions: Is the spatial segregation and concentration of the
Gypsy/Roma population on a number of housing estates a voluntary choice or a of lack of choice given
institutionalized political decisions taken by local authorities or bureaucrats? How does the Gypsy/Roma
population feel about segregation and concentration? Do they wish to live in segregated areas, have they
been able to choose between more concentrated or dispersed patterns? What are the consequences? Do
they believe that spatial segregation reproduces inequality and separation?
Descrição
Palavras-chave
housing policy Gypsy/Roma population ethnic segregation
Contexto Educativo
Citação
Alves, S (2017) Ethnic Housing Segregation and the Roma/Gypsy Population: a Portuguese perspective. In Ferreira, J. A., Simões, J. M., Morgado. S., Marques da Costa, E. (eds.), Spaces of Dialog for Places of Dignity: Fostering the European Dimension of Planning. Lisbon AESOP Annual Congress'17: book of proceedings, pp. 1472-180. Lisboa: Universidade de Lisboa