Patterns of Residential Segregation and the Gypsy Minority in Budapest

Abstract

The socio-economic structure of a city, and the spatial allocation of different social groups, can be interpreted as the spatially objective reflection of their complicated system of social relations. As the house or apartment has the highest value among the available durable consumer goods, and as the different social groups try to express social distances through their spatial segregation, we believe that the changes in the spatial segregation of these groups within cities can be interpreted as one of the indicators of changes in basic structural inequalities. Thus the analysis of residential segregation can help us to understand these factors better. This study deals with the patterns of residential segregation of the most disadvantaged ethnic group, the gypsy minority, in Budapest. The proportion of this group in the capital city was about 2% (about half the Hungarian average) in 1987, when the present research was carried out. However, due to the recent economic crisis, unemployment and the decreasing standard of living, especially in the most backward eastern regions of the country where most of the gypsies live, the migration of this minority group to urban centres, and especially to Budapest, has been increasing. Besides categorizing the different forms of housing that gypsy families live in, the paper describes their significantly different patterns of socio-economic and ethnic residential segregation.

Housing Estates in the Czech Republic after Socialism

“…As a consequence, the first small ethnic enclaves have emerged and ethnically based segregation has become more obvious in post-socialist cities (Ladányi, 1993;Gentile and Tammaru, 2006). The increasing numbers of Roma people, Vietnamese, Ukrainians and Russians are typical examples of the new ethnic diversification of the Czech housing estate population (Drbohlav et al, 2007).…”

Sustainable Land Development In An Urban Context

“…One of the causes for the conflicts rooted in the problems of the everyday city life was the lack of the sufficient analysis of social needs (parking against the law; illegal disposal of waste and rubble). Unfortunately, to some extent, "Eastern European miserablist literature" established in the mid nineties has, due to its stereotypical descriptions, much undermined constructive attempts to evaluate the real circumstances where decision-makers have to act amid unfavorable institutional and cultural legacies and harsh economic realities (LADÁNYI 1993, HEGEDÜS et al 1994, KOVÁCS 1998, SILHANKOVA et al 2011.…”

The Housing Market Dynamics of Two Budapest Neighbourhoods

“…On the other hand, Ladányi's (1989Ladányi's ( , 1993) results on residential segregation in Budapest showed how the up-market areas situated in downtown Pest and on the Buda-side were large and continuous, whereas the deprived areas were smaller and formed a more patchy structure. However, the ethnic segregation of Roma families is the exception; Ladányi clearly showed how this minority group was spatially concentrated in certain areas of the city.…”