La polarisation socio-économique interne des quartiers centraux des métropoles françaises de province

Abstract

The strong inequalities in socioeconomic status, but also in income, between the different neighborhoods of large cities are one of the well-documented characteristics of the urban space. Nevertheless, we can also observe a few neighborhoods where households at both ends of the income distribution cohabit, but these are rarer and are almost always located in the central parts of cities. Using two indices constructed from tax and social data and an original method (called poverty and wealth indices), this article identifies these neighborhoods in French provincial big cities and, among these cities, those in which these neighborhoods with strong internal socioeconomic polarization are the most present. The central municipalities with the highest proportions of small housing units and students, but also those with the highest inequalities between rich and poor neighborhoods, are also those in which neighborhoods with strong internal socioeconomic polarization are the most present. Second, a principal components analysis allows us to identify the other socio-demographic characteristics that distinguish these neighborhoods with strong internal socioeconomic polarization from the rest of the central municipalities. In line with what was observed for the whole central municipalities, the neighborhoods with strong internal socioeconomic polarization are characterized by an overrepresentation of small, old housing units and students. The presence in these neighborhoods of low-income students who are fiscally independent from their parents most likely contributes to structuring their internal socioeconomic polarization. Nevertheless, other factors seem to determine internal socioeconomic polarization, since a significant portion of these polarized neighborhoods (especially in Marseille and Nice) do not have any overrepresentation of students.

Keywords

• internal polarization
• socio-spatial segregation
• socio-spatial inequalities
• urban socio-demography