Reordering, inequality and divergent growth: processes of neighbourhood change in Dutch cities

Neighbourhood socioeconomic change is often related to structural processes that transform urban income compositions. In the Netherlands, restructuring of the welfare state and the housing market are examples. The paper examines the role of structural processes in neighbourhood income change in four Dutch cities (1999-2014) by decomposing total change into contributions of three factors: reordering of neighbourhood hierarchies; increasing inequality; and income growth. Results show regional variation in change components. Amsterdam and Utrecht stand out in contributions of growth; Amsterdam and the Hague in contributions of inequality. All cities' core neighbourhoods are upgraded through reordering, a pattern often masked by increasing inequality.