Changing segregation levels in Pittsburgh’s neighborhoods as a result of deindustrialization.

Abstract

Pittsburgh has changed considerably since deindustrialization, with a shift in industry from steel to medicine and from public to private infrastructure. Segregation patterns form in response to the economic statuses within a region. Exclusionary zoning codes have shaped segregation patterns in Pittsburgh. As these zones become increasingly obsolete with the decline of the steel industry and the subsequent rise in the white-collar economy, the potential for these zones to change increases. This study uses the Dissimilarity Index to measure changes in segregation levels in Pittsburgh’s twenty most segregated neighborhoods as measured in 1970, to 2020. Segregation levels have decreased in all neighborhoods evaluated except one. This reveals that overall, Pittsburgh is desegregating. The results of this study also indicate the effects of private infrastructure, decreasing population, and areas of concentrated poverty on the demographics of a city.

Keywords

• segregation
• deindustrialization
• redlining
• housing ordinances
• housing