How the Architecture of Housing Blocks Amplifies or Dampens Interethnic Tensions in Ethnically Diverse Neighbourhoods

Abstract

This article explores how the architecture of neighbourhoods influences interethnic tensions in ethnically diverse neighbourhoods. We found that people of Dutch descent living in apartments in four storey walk-ups in ethnically diverse innercity neighbourhoods seem less likely to feel threatened by ethnic diversity than people living in in similarly diverse suburbs characterized by larger housing blocks featuring inner courtyards and galleries. Further analysis reveals that the residents of these suburbs share various types of semi-public spaces and have competing interests in using them, whereas the residents of inner-city neighbourhoods share fewer semi-public spaces and therefore have more scope to choose when and how to engage in interethnic contact with other residents. We also explore residents’ housing histories and examine differences between people who either have more negative or more positive views on diversity with regard to their active participation in various organizations. This last piece of the puzzle will be used to analyse the potential for both negative and positive messages about ethnic diversity to spread. Based on the empirical findings, we will formulate some building blocks that can help to further explain the level of perceived ethnic tensions in ethnically diverse neighbourhoods.

Urban Space and Social Cognition: The Effect of Urban Space on Intergroup Perceptions

“…Moreover, people with certain characteristics might be more likely to self-select into particular urban spaces. For example, residents with a higher level of education are often more likely to participate in organizations at the neighborhood level, such as neighborhood, housing, and other social organizations (Crul, Steinmetz, and Lelie 2020). Research also shows that people who are generally more open to new experiences, or who are more tolerant of diversity, are more likely to actively seek out diverse spaces (Wessel 2009).…”

“…Shared corridors and common spaces of high-rise buildings in Singapore have been found to facilitate positive interactions such as greeting neighbors and sharing household tasks (Wise and Velayutham 2014, 410–15). Similarly, Dutch residents without migration backgrounds living in dense four-story buildings have been found to feel less threatened by ethnic diversity than people living in suburbs characterized by larger housing blocks (Crul, Steinmetz, and Lelie 2020). Research has also pointed out that street furniture in public spaces such as benches or bus shelters can facilitate positive group interactions (Radice 2016).…”

Institutions of Inclusion and Exclusion

“…Another common result that emerges from the articles in this thematic issue is that formal rules are often not enough if one wants to promote that people are full-fledged members of society, or if one strives to combat social exclusion. In order to achieve this, one should take into account, for example, possible conflicts with the dominant expectations among citizens (Benneker et al, 2020;Velterop et al, 2020), the limitations and opportunities arising from the physical environment in which human behaviour takes place (Crul et al, 2020), and the limitations and idiosyncratic institutional logic of different systems (Walker & Thunus, 2020). Conversely, informal ways of provision, however innovative, are not necessarily more inclusive than traditional public or commercial arrangements.…”

“…From an institutional perspective, this sheds light on an often neglected part of societies' rules: the regulatory impact of physical design on human interaction, which links to the New Urbanism school in architecture and to the lively debate on 'nudging' in behavioural economics (Thaler & Sunstein, 2008). Crul et al (2020) study how the socially constructed physical infrastructure can enhance local processes of in-and exclusion, and how this translates into cultural (dis)integration at community level. Using both quantitative and qualitative data (the Dutch TIES survey and a municipal survey, plus interviews) they focus on ethnically diverse working-class neighbourhood in Amsterdam that are rather similar in their ethnic composition but differ in terms of architecture and perceived ethnic tensions.…”