6 Inequality and Social Change in Cities Free Online FlashCards

What does urban inequality mean?

Urban inequality is unequal access to resources and opportunities such as income, secure housing, education, jobs, transportation, health, and political influence.

How do race and class shape housing opportunities differently?

Class shapes what households can afford, while racial discrimination and historical policies have also shaped where people can live, buy homes, and build wealth.

What is residential segregation?

Residential segregation is the separation of social groups across neighborhoods. It can be shaped by income, housing costs, discrimination, zoning, and access to credit.

What did the 1968 Fair Housing Act do?

The 1968 Fair Housing Act made many forms of housing discrimination illegal, though residential segregation remains a durable feature of many metropolitan areas.

How can neighborhoods affect residents’ opportunities?

Neighborhoods differ in schools, public services, environmental conditions, job networks, and political influence, linking place to opportunity.

What makes inequality structural?

Structural inequality arises from institutions, rules, markets, and accumulated decisions, not simply from individual choices.

What is neighborhood disinvestment?

Disinvestment is the withdrawal of public resources or private capital, which can leave residents with deteriorating housing, fewer services, and limited access to employment.

What is gentrification, and what tension can it create?

Gentrification is neighborhood change involving an influx of higher-income residents and investment into a previously lower-income area. It can bring improvements while raising costs for existing residents and businesses.

How is displacement different from gentrification?

Displacement occurs when housing costs or neighborhood conditions force people to move, or prevent people from moving into an area they could once afford. It is related to, but not synonymous with, gentrification.

What are two forms of displacement?

Physical displacement can involve eviction or demolition; economic displacement can occur when rent increases make a household’s home unaffordable.

What is cultural displacement?

Cultural displacement occurs when residents who remain experience changes to familiar businesses, institutions, and social networks.

Why is displacement difficult to measure?

Population change alone does not reveal why people moved, so measuring displacement can be difficult.