Are new patterns of low-income distribution emerging in Canadian metropolitan areas?

Recent studies on urban poverty in Canadian cities suggest a growing spatial concentration of poor populations within metropolitan regions. This article assesses trends in the intra-urban distribution of the poor population from 1986 to 2006 in eight of Canada's largest cities. We consider five well-known dimensions of segregation, as identified by Massey and Denton (1988), in order to examine changes in the spatial distribution of poor populations within metropolitan areas: evenness, exposure, concentration, clustering, and centralization. These indices were calculated for low-income populations at the census tract level using data from five Canadian censuses. Although each metropolitan area has distinctive characteristics, we were able to identify some general trends. The results suggest that, in 2006 compared to 1986, low-income populations lived in more spatially concentrated areas, which were, at the same time, socioeconomically more homogeneous and more dispersed throughout the metropolitan area. In addition, we observed that over the last twenty years areas of poverty have been located, for the most part, in neighbourhoods adjacent to downtown cores. Nevertheless, we found that poverty has mostly increased in suburban areas located outside inner-city neighbourhoods. Growing socioeconomic homogeneity and dispersion of low income areas in metropolitan areas reveal new spatial patterns of urban poverty distribution. These findings should be cause for concern as social isolation in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods could affect the life chances and opportunities for the residents of those areas. Assiste-t-on a l’emergence de nouvelles formes de distribution de la population a faible revenu dans les grandes metropoles canadiennes? Des etudes recentes sur la pauvrete urbaine au Canada suggerent une augmentation de la concentration des populations a faible revenu au sein des regions metropolitaines. Ce papier examine les tendances de la distribution intra-urbaine de la pauvrete dans les huit plus grandes metropoles canadiennes entre 1986 et 2006. Nous considerons les cinq dimensions de la segregation identifiees par Massey et Denton (1988) pour explorer les changements dans la distribution spatiale des populations a faible revenu : l’egalite, l’exposition, la concentration, l’agregation et la centralisation. Ces indices ont ete calcules au niveau des secteurs de recensement en utilisant des donnees de cinq recensements canadiens. Malgre les particularites de chacune des regions metropolitaines, nous avons identifie quelques tendances generales. Les resultats suggerent qu’en 2006, comparativement a 1986, les populations pauvres resident dans des espaces plus restreints qui sont a la fois plus homogenes socioeconomiquement et plus disperses au sein du territoire metropolitain. Nous avons aussi observe que meme si durant les vingt dernieres annees, les secteurs de concentration de la pauvrete sont principalement localises dans des zones adjacentes aux centres-villes, la pauvrete a surtout augmente dans des secteurs situes a l’exterieur des quartiers centraux, dans certaines zones de banlieue. Ces constats revelent de nouvelles formes de distribution spatiale de la pauvrete urbaine. Ces resultats sont preoccupants dans la mesure ou les populations pauvres se trouvent davantage concentrees dans des zones de pauvrete, ce qui pourrait affecter negativement les opportunites qui s’offrent a elles.

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