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

• Published in: The Canadian geographer 2012-09, Vol.56 (3), p.339-361
• Main Authors: Ades, Josefina, Apparicio, Philippe, Séguin, Anne-Marie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: America; Bgi / Prodig; Canada; Census; census metropolitan areas; Censuses; Centralization; Cities; Clustering; Concentration; Disadvantaged; Dispersion; Economic aspects; economic segregation; Forecasts and trends; Homogeneity; Income; Income distribution; Life chances; Low income; Low income areas; Low income groups; low-income populations; Market trend/market analysis; Metropolitan areas; Neighborhoods; pauvreté urbaine; population à faible revenu; Populations; Poverty; Regional studies; région métropolitaines de recensement; Segregation; Social inequality; Social interactions; Social isolation; Spatial analysis; Spatial distribution; Suburban areas; ségrégation économique; Trends; Urban poor; Urban poverty; Urban studies
• ISSN: 0008-3658; 1541-0064
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1541-0064.2012.00438.x

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 . Des études récentes sur la pauvreté urbaine au Canada suggèrent une augmentation de la concentration des populations à faible revenu au sein des régions métropolitaines. Ce papier examine les tendances de la distribution intra‐urbaine de la pauvreté dans les huit plus grandes métropoles canadiennes entre 1986 et 2006. Nous considérons les cinq dimensions de la ségrégation identifiées par Massey et Denton (1988) pour explorer les changements dans la distribution spatiale des populations à faible revenu : l’égalité, l’exposition, la concentration, l’agrégation et la centralisation. Ces indices ont été calculés au niveau des secteurs de recensement en utilisant des données de cinq recensements canadiens. Malgré les particularités de chacune des régions métropolitaines, nous avons identifié quelques tendances générales. Les résultats suggèrent qu’en 2006, compa