Is Urban Desegregation Finally Possible?

According to Carl H. Nightingale, urban centers have been racially divided since Mesopotamia. However global organizations and demographic changes are making the possibility of increased integration a reality.

1 minute read

June 3, 2012, 1:00 PM PDT

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj


Segregating of territory based on class, religion, race, and ethnicity have been officially sanctioned and tolerated for Millenia. These practices are reprehensible not just for their moral failings but also because, "segregating our cities diminishes their promise-it makes them less equal, less democratic, less livable, less safe, and less able to sustain us all."

Nightingale finds reason to be hopeful, however, that global organizations and demographic changes can turn back segregation considerably. "While it is amply true that supporters of white and elite privilege remain in charge of the commanding heights of the world's urban politics, it is just as fully true that more people than ever before have come together to imagine and begin to create explicitly antisegregationist urban futures."

In this article, Nightingale details the political, social, and economic conditions in America, Europe, and beyond that provide hope for increased integration in the future.

Thanks to Daniel Lippman

Monday, May 28, 2012 in Salon.com

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