The Dream Revisited
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About the Dream Revisited
The Dream Revisited presents a series of thoughtful debates on issues related to racial and economic segregation in neighborhoods and schools. It is a project of the NYU Furman Center and edited by Ingrid Gould Ellen and Justin Steil.
The Dream Revisited discussions bring together leading academics, researchers, practitioners, advocates, and government officials for thoughtful debates about the challenges associated with segregation and new thinking needed to help address those challenges. The series aims to inform thought leaders on strategies for remedying racial and economic inequality that moves beyond polarized, entrenched positions and engage in a more creative and concrete exploration of how to best reduce economic and racial inequality through neighborhood change.
The series launched on Martin Luther King Day in 2014.
To learn about new discussions on The Dream Revisited, join the NYU Furman Center mailing list.
About the Editors
The Dream Revisited: Integration in the 21st Century
The simple dichotomy of poor black cities and affluent white suburbs can no longer capture the reality of segregation in metropolitan areas in the United States. Metropolitan areas are now home to an increasingly multiethnic population as well as a significant minority middle class, spread across a range of urban and suburban communities. Despite the diversification of our population and our geographies, however, residential segregation based on race and on income continues to characterize both our schools and our living environments.
Both residential and school segregation based on income have risen significantly over the past two decades, at the same time as the gap between rich and poor Americans has reached levels not seen since the early 1900s. There is growing evidence that, contrary to the cherished U.S. ideal of social mobility, disparities in wealth are ever more difficult to overcome and likely to be transmitted from one generation to the next.
Levels of segregation between African Americans and whites declined steadily from 1980 to 2010 in most metropolitan areas, but still remain high. Latino-white segregation levels declined slightly over the same period, while segregation between Asian Americans and whites remained largely unchanged. Measures of Latino and Asian American isolation, however, have increased since 1980.
This segregation matters in concrete terms in part because access to neighborhood amenities is also unequal—African Americans and Latinos live among more disadvantaged neighbors, have access to lower performing schools, and are exposed to more violent crime than whites. That unequal access to neighborhood resources is correlated with residential segregation, which in turn is correlated with negative effects on well-being: indeed, as levels of metropolitan segregation increase, the gap between whites and African Americans on measures of health, employment, educational outcomes, access to financial services, and opportunities to build wealth also rises. In a landmark article that continues to be confirmed by more recent research, David Cutler and Edward Glaeser found that after controlling for socio-economic status and other factors, “a one standard deviation reduction in segregation eliminates approximately one-third of the difference between blacks and whites” in high-school graduation rates, unemployment, earnings, and single parenthood.
There has been far less research documenting the effects of segregation on non-black minorities, however, and little work on the overall costs of segregation to society. Further, despite years of research on these issues, it is not always clear what mechanisms connect segregation to inequality or what interventions can increase access to opportunity. Should the goal be more equal opportunities to choose among a full range of housing and neighborhoods options? Mathematically racially integrated neighborhoods? Access to equal opportunities in neighborhoods that are predominantly minority? Is the solution greater enforcement of existing fair housing regulations? The removal of local zoning and regulatory obstacles to more integrated communities? A more robust and better designed housing voucher program? Greater investment in low-income communities of color?
The purpose of this blog is to create a forum for thoughtful debate on the causes and consequences of racial and economic segregation in neighborhoods and schools.
The first post asks what “integration” means, the extent to which integration itself is the goal (or under what circumstances attempts to integrate neighborhoods would be desirable or undesirable), and why.
References
Tables 1 and 2:
De la Roca, J., et al., Race and neighborhoods in the 21st century: What does segregation mean today?, Regional Science and Urban Economics (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2013.09.006
March 2019
Discussion 26: Local Control, Affordable Housing, and Segregation
This debate explores how local control in land use decision-making may influence the availability of affordable housing and contribute to economic and racial segregation. Featuring four essays from legal scholars, practitioners, and advocates, the new discussion weighs the potential benefits and drawbacks of “scaling up” the zoning process, and moving land use decision-making towards the city, state, or regional level.
October 2017
Discussion 25: Health and Segregation
The twenty-fifth discussion debates the significance of residential segregation as a social determinant of health and explores potential policy responses.
July 2017
Discussion 24: Policing and Segregation
The twenty-fourth discussion examines the links between policing practices such as “stop and frisk” and race and class segregation and explores potential policy responses.
March 2017
Discussion 23: Race, Segregation, and Politics
The twenty-third discussion explores the impact of persistent racial segregation on political discourse and electoral outcomes in the United States.
December 2016
Discussion 22: The Stubborn Persistence of Racial Segregation
The twenty-second discussion explores the role of residential choices in sustaining segregation within American cities.
September 2016
Discussion 21: Suburban Poverty & Segregation
The twenty-first discussion explores the increasing diversity of suburbs and increasing levels of suburban poverty and debates the challenges of supporting poor households’ economic self-sufficiency beyond the central city.
July 2016
Discussion 20: Making Vouchers More Mobile
The twentieth discussion examines the benefits of defining fair market rent by zip code, to make it easier for families to move to higher-opportunity neighborhoods, and weighs potential unintended costs.
May 2016
Discussion 19: Public Housing and Deconcentrating Poverty
The nineteenth discussion debates what we should do about high-poverty, distressed public housing developments in light of recent research from the Moving to Opportunity Program about the costs of concentrated poverty.
February 2016
Discussion 18: Segregation & the Financial Crisis
The eighteenth discussion debates the extent to which segregation exacerbated the unequal effects of the mortgage-driven financial collapse of 2007 and ways to address racial disparities in mortgage lending.
November 2015
Discussion 17: Community Preferences and Fair Housing
The seventeenth discussion debates the extent to which preferences in neighborhood residents in accessing new affordable housing promote or betray the goal of truly inclusionary communities.
November 2015
Discussion 16: A New Approach to Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing
The sixteenth discussion reacts to HUD’s renewed commitment to the new requirement of the Fair Housing Act to “affirmatively further fair housing.”
July 2015
Discussion 15: Moving Up or Moving Out
The fifteenth discussion explores the most effective ways to address concentrated poverty, focusing on policies that target both people and place.
June 2015
Discussion 14: Housing Subsidies & Inclusive Communities
The fourteenth discussion examines the policy issues underlying Texas vs. The Inclusive Communities Project: how government officials should balance the use of Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) allocations to create affordable homes in low-poverty neighborhoods with the use of LIHTC allocations to catalyze economic development in high-poverty neighborhoods.
April 2015
Discussion 13: The Future of the Fair Housing Act
The thirteenth discussion debates the significant of disparate impact liability under the Fair Housing Act, in light of the Supreme Court’s deliberation in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project.
March 2015
Discussion 12: The Poor Door Debate
The twelfth discussion weighs the controversy about “poor doors” in the context of a debate over the costs and benefits of mixed-income housing in high-cost markets.
January 2015
Discussion 11: Explaining Ferguson Through Place and Race
The eleventh discussion in The Dream Revisited explores how metropolitan development patterns shaped by race and class set the stage for the events in Ferguson, MO.
November 2014
Discussion 10: Balancing Investments in People & Place
The tenth discussion in the Dream Revisited debates the appropriate balance between investments to help low-income households move to neighborhoods that offer greater access to opportunity and investments to improve the quality of life in low-income neighborhoods.
November 2014
Discussion 9: Residential Income Segregation
The ninth discussion in The Dream Revisited analyzes segregation by income and debates the significance of the increasing isolation of the affluent.
October 2014
Discussion 8: Neighborhoods, Opportunities, and the Housing Choice Voucher Program
The eighth discussion in The Dream Revisited explores how the federal Housing Choice Voucher program can most effectively improve social, educational, and economic opportunities for voucher recipients.
September 2014
Discussion 7: Comparative Perspectives on Segregation
The seventh discussion in The Dream Revisited explores what can be learned by looking at racial and economic segregation through a comparative lens.
August 2014
Discussion 6: Implicit Bias and Segregation
The sixth discussion explores how implicit bias contributes to residential segregation and whether or not awareness of implicit biases can heighten a sense of moral urgency.
July 2014
Discussion 5: Place-Based Affirmative Action
The fifth discussion explores proposals to re-imagine affirmative action by focusing on neighborhood disadvantage instead of race.
May 2014
Discussion 4: Neighborhood Gentrification
The fourth discussion explores the relationship between gentrification, neighborhood integration, and public participation.
April 2014
Discussion 3: Ending Segregation: Our Progress Today
The third discussion in The Dream Revisited asks why we haven’t made more progress in reducing segregation.
Discussion 2: Economic Segregation in Schools
The second discussion on The Dream Revisited explores economic segregation in our schools and argues for its continued relevance today.
January 2014
Discussion 1: Why Integration?
The first discussion in The Dream Revisited asks what we mean by “integration” and why it may be a necessary strategy to acheive racial and economic equality.