If Residential Segregation Persists, What Explains Widespread Increases in Residential Diversity?

Recent stud ies have identified increas ing res i dential diver sity as a near-uni versal trend across the United States. At the same time, a wide range of schol ar ship notes the per sis tence of White flight and other mechanisms that repro duce res i den-tial segre gation. In this arti cle, we attempt to rec oncile these findings by argu ing that current trends toward increased res i dential diversity may sometimes mask pop u la-tion changes that are more con sis tent with racial turn over and eventual resegregation. Specifically, we show that increases in diver sity occur nearly identi cally across neigh-borhoods where White pop u lations remain stable or decline in the face of non-White pop u lation growth. Our findings demon strate that, particu larly in its early stages, racial turn over decouples diversity and inte gration, leading to increases in diver sity with out corre spond ing increases in res i dential inte gration. These results suggest that in many neighborhoods, diver sity increases may be tran si tory phenomena driven primarily by a neighborhood's location in the racial turnover pro cess. In the future, stalled or decreas-ing levels of diversity may become more common in these areas as segre gation persists and the pro cess of racial turn over continues.

Automated summary

Recent studies have found that increasing residential diversity is a common trend in the United States. However, there is still persistent white flight and residential segregation. This article argues that the current trend of increased diversity may sometimes hide population changes that are consistent with racial turnover and eventual resegregation. The study shows that diversity increases occur in neighborhoods where the white population remains stable or declines, indicating a decoupling of diversity and integration.