Special issue editors' introduction: dynamics and diversity: housing careers and segregation of minority ethnic groups

Research into European minority ethnic groups has produced a large body of knowledge on the segregation and concentration patterns of these groups and their housing conditions. Most of these studies have shown that housing conditions and housing market options in many European countries differ for native-born households and minority ethnic groups. Also that minority ethnic groups generally live concentrated in a few urban areas, in most cases in those areas that do not have the best quality of housing and environment. In only a few studies is the internal heterogeneity of minority ethnic groups stressed, and only occasionally have the dynamic aspects of concentration patterns and housing conditions been researched. In introducing this special issue on diverse and dynamic aspects of housing and segregation, we focus firstly on what we have learned from previous studies of segregation in the European context and on the questions that have yet to be answered. We then discuss the information provided by studies on the housing conditions and housing careers of minority ethnic groups, again in the European context. Here we also try to identify some major open questions. In the third part, we focus on an explanation of patterns and possible dynamics in this area.