The Changing Geographies of Ethnic Diversity in England and Wales, 1991–2011

Abstract

While ethnic diversity is traditionally an urban characteristic, new spaces of diversity are emerging. This challenges our current understandings of the geographies of ethnic diversity and forces us to consider the more intricate spatial patterns and processes of ethnic group population change. Ethnic diversity, now a key feature of contemporary society in Britain, is an issue of public, policy, political, and academic interest; the 2011 Census provided an opportunity to update our knowledge of how diversity has grown, and in what ways. This paper explores the new geographies of ethnic diversity in England and Wales, mapping the evolving landscape of diversity over two decades. The paper makes use of measures of diversity and clustering for small areas (wards) for consistent geographies for 1991–2011, and for the most recent decade using a district level urban–rural area classification. There is evidence of a spreading out of ethnic diversity from urban centres towards areas traditionally less diverse. Spatial mixing has increased – the period also saw a growth of minority ethnic groups in areas outside own‐group clusters. The increased share of all ethnic groups (White British and minority) in less urban areas challenges claims of ‘White flight’ from diversity. Increased ethnic diversity is clearly an important feature of contemporary population change, and the coming years are likely to see continued mixing between people and within places – and in new locales. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Exploring a decade of small area ethnic (de-)segregation in England and Wales

“…The 2011 Census revealed a growth of ethnic diversity in England and Wales in the early 2000s (Catney, 2015), and this paper shows how this has been accompanied by greater residential 'integration'. Spatial unevenness was measured here for the smallest Census areas using the commonly applied Index of Dissimilarity.…”

Ethnic Disparities in Neighbourhood Selection: Understanding the Role of Income

“…British analyses largely support the main predictions of this framework (Cantle and Kaufmann, ). Census data show that ethnic segregation is falling as minorities disperse and mix residentially with White Britons in non‐traditional locales (Rees and Butt, ; Peach, ; Catney ; ). Although this may be partly due to patterns of immigration and natural increase (Rees et al ., ), Rees and Butt (: 185) observed that socially selective mobility became important between 1991 and 2001 as advantaged ethnic minority households joined ‘the general population pattern of suburbanization and metropolitan deconcentration’.…”

“…Yet the popular narrative that Britain is ‘sleepwalking’ towards pernicious levels of segregation where people from different backgrounds lead ‘parallel lives’ has been extensively challenged (Finney and Simpson, ; Peach, ; Poulsen et al ., ). Census data show that ethnic diversity is increasing in many locales as minorities decentralize from metropolitan gateways to non‐traditional locations (Peach, ; Rees and Butt, ; Catney, ; ). Furthermore, survey analysis indicates that neither the ethnic composition of neighbourhoods nor proxy measures of White Flight or ethnic avoidance have a major impact on moving desires or behaviour (Clark and Coulter, ; Kaufmann and Harris, ).…”

The stability of geodemographic cluster assignments over an intercensal period

“…Although geodemographic classification have received criticism (e.g. Goss 1995), they have developed and sustained a reputedly robust pedigree (Birkin et al 2002) in both the public and private sectors (Longley 2005), with numerous successful areas of application including health (Petersen et al 2011), retail (Thompson et al 2012), education (Singleton et al 2012), planning (Batey and Brown 2007) and policing (Ashby and Longley 2005).…”