Ethnic Segregation and Residential Mobility: Relocations of Minority Ethnic Groups in the Netherlands

The degree of spatial segregation and concentration of minority ethnic groups in European cities is well documented. However, little is known about the residential mobility between neighbourhoods that brings about changes in the patterns of ethnic segregation. In this paper we analyse the residential mobility of minority ethnic groups from an assimilation perspective, according to which moving out of ethnic into predominantly white neighbourhoods can be seen as an indicator of immigrants’ incorporation into mainstream society. Residential mobility into white neighbourhoods is therefore expected to be a function of socio-economic mobility and acculturation at the individual level. The prospect for the long term is that differences in residential mobility behaviour based on ethnic status should gradually disappear. However, in our comparison between the biggest minority ethnic groups in the Netherlands and the native majority, we find only partial confirmation for the assimilation perspective.