Migratory movements and dynamics of neighbourhoods in Brussels
Notes de la rédaction
This is the press release related to the article from Gilles Van Hamme, Taïs Grippa and Mathieu Van Criekingen, published on March 21th 2016. Read the article.
The dynamics of neighbourhoods are at the centre of social and political concerns in big cities, in particular in Brussels. In order to deal with the growing social and territorial divide between poor and rich neighbourhoods, since the beginning of the 1990s, the political response on behalf of the regional authorities has favoured targeted action in the poor territories of the city, in particular through Neighbourhood Contract programmes.
These policies are based on the idea that the geographical concentration of social difficulties reinforces these difficulties, in particular as regards access to employment, through discrimination or social and territorial stigmatisation. Favouring social mix in poor neighbourhoods is thus seen as a possible means of alleviating poverty. But the evaluation of the impact of territorialised policies cannot be limited to a monitoring of social indicators over time, as the evolution of statistical sectors depends on the future of ‘sedentary’ populations during the period under study as well as the population movements with respect to the rest of the city, country or world. Given the intensity of the migratory processes in Brussels, it is essential to adopt a truly dynamic approach.
In the 97th issue of Brussels Studies, Gilles Van Hamme, Thais Grippa and Mathieu Van Criekingen, geographers at Université libre de Bruxelles, have sought to better understand local dynamics by focusing on migratory movements at neighbourhood level. Based on data from Banque Carrefour de la Sécurité Sociale (BCSS), their approach has allowed them to measure the social dynamics as well as evaluate the weight of migratory movements in these dynamics.
Their work has led them to make five observations. Firstly, a significant proportion of inhabitants leave the poor territories of the city. Secondly, a large proportion of them move to the adjacent territories which are less poor, towards the west or the northeast of the Region. Thirdly, immigration is concentrated in the dense central parts of the city, and those from poor or intermediate countries settle in the poorest neighbourhoods of these central parts. Fourthly, even if residential migrations towards the suburbs do not show signs of slowing, migrations from the poor area only represent a small fraction of them. Fifthly, the rich southeast quadrant of the city appears to be largely outside these migratory dynamics, as it is neither a destination for immigrants from abroad, nor for those coming from the poor neighbourhoods.
The poorest territories in the city – the ‘poor area’ – (from Schaerbeek to Forest through Molenbeek) are at the crossroads of diverging migratory movements, marked in particular by the arrival of new immigrants from poor or intermediate countries and the departure of resident populations. Nevertheless, the analysis also shows that these neighbourhoods may not be reduced to having a transit function, given that a significant proportion of their population remains there.
Faced with this critical situation in the centre and west of the Region, it should be noted that the southeast (Uccle, Watermael-Boitsfort, Auderghem, Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, etc.) experiences lower demographic growth due to moderate migratory pressure, and a lower birth rate due to an older age structure. The authors feel that this observation calls for a proactive response in terms of housing policies in the southeast of the Region as well, and especially in the suburbs, as the dynamics of neighbourhoods in Brussels must be understood at metropolitan level. This would be a means of ensuring that the central neighbourhoods do not have to deal with demographic pressure on their own, and that the social and spatial divide is not widened further.
References
Van Hamme, Gilles, Grippa, Taïs and Van Criekingen, Mathieu,“Migratory movements and dynamics of neighbourhoods in Brussels”, Brussels Studies [Online], General collection, No 97, March 21th 2016. URL: https://journals.openedition.org/brussels/1338
Contact
Benjamin Wayens, Senior Editor: bwayens[at]brusselsstudies.be



