Vancouver
is famous around the world for its diversity and incomparable cultural
atmosphere. Though it’s true that Vancouver may have more ethnic variety than
any other Canadian city, it’s quickly becoming more segregated than it ever has
been before.
A
recent study conducted by the University of British Columbia entitled Divisions
and Disparities: Socio-Spatial Income Polarization in Greater Vancouver,
1970-2005 shows that segregation by race and income in Vancouver is on the
rise. The study, which was released exclusively to the Huffington Post, uses census data to
analyze the trends in economic and racial division over a period of 35 years.
UBC
geographers David Ley and Nicholas Lynch, who carried out and authored the
study’s research, agree that the inequality in Vancouver is a serious problem.
Lynch, who co-authored the study with Ley, says his concerns lie with the
vulnerability of more racially and financially segregated neighbourhoods: “The
value of our research, and the reason why this is such a troubling issue, is
that we can trace the transformation of Greater Vancouver’s income landscape
across a relatively long time period, something that other research has failed
to do. Based on our findings, it is increasingly clear that the region has been
dividing along lines of income and race, and there is little reason at this
point to suspect that it will abate in the near future,” he explains.
“We
can expect that with a business-as-usual approach, the pressures on both the
middleclass and recent immigrants will rise, and lead to greater disparities in
the region. What this means is that at the local level, specific neighbourhoods
throughout the region are falling behind adding greater vulnerability and
inequality into the urban household sector,” he adds. “If nothing is done to
alleviate the pressures on these neighbourhoods, then we may see that these
neighbourhoods become even more geographically and socially isolated.”
According
to the article in the Huffington Post, Ley and Lynch’s study used a previously created
method of determining income levels, developed by David Hulchanski. Hulchanski,
who is a professor on the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto,
released his “Three Cities Within Toronto” report in 2010, outlining the
changing geography of Toronto in terms of income. Using Hulchanski’s methods,
Ley and Lynch separated Vancouver into three income categories, “City Number
One”, “City Number Two”, and “City Number Three”.
City
Number One accounts for 30 per cent of the total grid, and is described as
upper-class residents, mostly consisting of the neighbourhoods that are located
around the western side of Vancouver, such as Kitsilano and Shaughnessy, along
with the entire municipalities of North and West Vancouver. These areas are those
with the average highest incomes in the study. During the 35 years that the
study looked at, the incomes of residents in this area enjoyed an average 15
per cent increase in their income over the average Vancouverite.
City
Number Two consists of middle-class Vancouver residents. Neighbourhoods in City
No. Two make up half of the city grid and their incomes are either 15 per cent
above or below the average. These neighborhoods can be found scattered
throughout the city, but serve as dividers between the wealthier northern and
western neighborhoods and the poorer neighborhoods in the east and south,
according to the researchers.
The
third, and least-wealthy, of the neighborhoods is City Number Three. These
neighborhoods were classified as being less than 15 per cent below Vancouver’s
average income, and are mostly located in South and East Vancouver, along with
Surrey. The number of immigrants residing in City No. Three has increased
significantly, rising from 24 per cent to 51 per cent. Interestingly, there are
no neighbourhoods on the North Shore that can be classified as City No. Three.
When
analyzing the three cities, it is apparent not only that there is an economic
divide, but that there is a racial element to the increased segregation as
well, and that they may go hand-in-hand: “In City No. One, we have primarily
people who are Canadian-born and primarily white or European origin. In City
No. Three, we have primarily immigrants and primarily people of color,”
explains Ley.
Additionally,
Ley has noted that it’s not just racial groups that are segregated in
Vancouver: “There are certain lifestyle groups who tend to be segregated. We
think of Abbotsford and the Fraser Valley as something of a bible belt; we
think of the West End as something of a gay area. So there’s segregation that
occurs any way you want to cut up society,” says Ley.
While
the trends over time show visible minorities becoming poorer, Ley notes that
there is a significant amount of variation in the wealth of immigrants that
come to Canada. “For example, there are very wealthy immigrants that come from
China and Hong Kong, but also very poor immigrants from Vietnam, who came in
the 1980s,” says Ley. The study in Toronto revealed similar trends, though
there, they are even more pronounced than in Vancouver.
Toronto
and Vancouver are not the only places in which studies that examine segregation
have been done. According to a study released by The Manhattan Institute for
Policy Research in January of this year, although there is still racial
segregation in some US suburbs, residential segregation by race is the lowest
it has ever been. However, it is concerning to compare Canada’s backward slide
financial and racial division to the small strides made in the United States’.
However,
according to Ley, there are both positive and negative aspects to this racial
division: “I think if segregation occurs by choice, it can serve a useful role.
Neighbourhood enclaves can provide starter jobs, and people can cope because
three are others around them that speak the same language. “Segregation, I
think, offers advantages,” says Ley. “However, if people are unable to leave
segregated neighbourhoods, I think it does limit their life chances. It limits
their ability to speak English, for example, which is a high predictor of
economic success.”
Lynch
points out that an increase in segregation is still overall an unwelcome
development. “To be honest, there are no real positives about our findings.
Over the 35-year period, it is becoming increasingly clear that Greater
Vancouver is getting worse, not better, in terms of patterns of polarization
and inequality,” he says. “Together, the magnification of these two factors has
no real benefits for local neighbourhoods and their residents, especially
concerning what we like to consider as developing a healthy and livable city.”
Ley
believes that increased poverty results in decreased social stability: “Cities
that are polarizing and unequal tend to have concentrated poverty, and as
result experience heightened levels of crime, insecurity, and housing crises,”
he says. “These are not places that tend to foster social, cultural, and
economic diversity.”
“In
the end,” he concludes, “Vancouver may well become a city split between ‘haves
and have-nots’, a situation that can only lead to increased difficulties for
all.”
//Victoria Fawkes, staff writer
//Photograph by Jason Jeon
//Victoria Fawkes, staff writer
//Photograph by Jason Jeon
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