Urban Neighborhoods and Economic Opportunities – URBOPP

Our project aims at analyzing the drivers of urban segregation in France over the past 50 years, and its long-term consequences on the different generations of individuals settling in or transiting through low-income neighborhoods. France is particularly interesting to study these questions, as it is a frontrunner country both in experiencing neighborhood dynamics induced by large immigration flows, and in developing urban policies to mitigate the effects of such dynamics. Furthermore, the period 1960-2020 covers defining historical moments that led to a subsequent transformation of French cities: the large (im)migration waves triggered by French decolonization, the construction of unprecedented suburban housing compounds commonly known as “Grands ensembles”, and the strong de-industrialization and globalization processes in the aftermath of oil crises. These historical shocks offer a unique opportunity to leverage exogenous drivers of residential choices and aggregate neighborhood composition, and to provide a causal assessment of the impact of neighborhoods on individuals’ opportunities.
To do so, we will leverage microdata tracking the home-place history of a large panel of individuals over 50 years (Echantillon Démographique Permanent or EDP), along with their matched census information, so as to identify “tipping points” arising from potential discontinuities in urban segregation patterns. Our project will be organized around four main axes of research:
• Urban segregation and labor market shocks;
• Urban segregation and immigrants’ trajectories;
• Place-based policies and urban segregation;
• Neighborhood evolution over 50 years.
Our results will not only give new insights on the effect of neighborhoods on individuals’ life chances, but will also help design policies to reduce inequalities, as we also plan to test the effectiveness of place-based urban policies to help low-income residents step out of spatial poverty traps.