Combating residential segregation of ethnic minorities in European cities

This introduction paper to the special issue on combating residential segregation provides an overview of desegregation policies in European countries. Housing diversification is the main desegregation measure in most countries, while housing allocation measures are also implemented in several European cities to disperse ethnic minorities. A comparison of the five countries covered in this special issue (UK, Finland, Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands) reveals that each of them is characterised by a huge gap between an ambitious anti-segregation policy rhetoric and the limited effectiveness of desegregation policies. Housing policies have a limited effect on ethnic concentration, not only because they often contradict each other, but also because they fail to address the main causes of segregation.