Urban regeneration is a potential cause of local housing wealth inequality
Findings:
- Urban regeneration in Liverpool is associated with sharp spatial inequalities in housing wealth at the local level as sharp step changes exist in the geography of housing wealth.
- Waterside regeneration in Liverpool has involved the replacement of old dock areas with residential buildings and cultural and recreational amenities.This has led to sharp disparities in house prices between neighbouring communities leading to 'social frontiers' in housing wealth.
- Sharp inequalities in wealth and status at the local level can generate resentment and low self-esteem among those who are less well off.
Policy implications:
- Policies will need to focus on ways to increase social mix and prevent this residential segregation from becoming entrenched.
Related publication:
Housing affects inequality in a number of important ways. Differences in house prices across neighbourhoods limit where poor househods can live.
Higher demand for houses in the most desirable neighbourhoods will tend to push up prices in locations with access to good schooling, low crime, access to transport, abundant employment opportunities, and pleasant physical environment. This means that the housing market has a key role in "sorting" poorer households into areas with the worst pollution, schools, crime and employment. We are interested in exploring how the housing market affects inequality and determines life trajectories.