How ethnic mix changes: Typologising neighbourhood population dynamics of ethnic groups

This chapter argues that there is a return to concerns about ethnic difference, ethnic conflict and ethnic residential segregation in cities. In the context of changing residential ethnic mix, static conceptualisations of neighbourhoods do not help to understand the social meaning of neighbourhoods. It is argued that neighbourhoods are dynamic and in constant flux, and that categorisations of neighbourhoods should be based on dynamic factors. The ethnic make-up of a neighbourhood is determined by constant demographic processes of births, deaths, in-migration and out-migration. This chapter contributes to the literatures about ethnic neighbourhoods by examining neighbourhoods in terms of their demographic functions. It suggests that neighbourhoods can be thought about in terms of their population change, and the mechanisms of that change. The chapter contributes to debates about the demographic function of neighbourhoods by examining how population dynamics of ethnic groups vary within and between areas, and whether areas play the same demographic role for all ethnic groups. The chapter has three specific aims: first, to describe the geography of population dynamics of ethnic groups in neighbourhoods; second, to provide a conceptualisation and operationalization of ethnic group population dynamics of neighbourhoods; and third, to present an indication of how population dynamics relate to social cohesion.