Good suggestion by Jonas Attenius and Anders Ygeman: Neighborhoods with mixed housing and different income groups function better socially and economically. Then it is good for integration if natives and new arrivals in the first or subsequent generations live in the same neighborhood for the sake of language development, school results, employment.
Disability in middle class area
I myself grew up as a second-generation academic with divorced parents and periodically had personal learning difficulties at school in Askim, an orderly middle-class area in Gothenburg. The success-hungry children stressed of course, but spurred on all the more. I got the feeling that anything is possible. Over time, through hard work, I became really gifted in studies. In the same way, it went very well for many of the working children in Askim's apartment building where I came to live while growing up.
Poverty racialized
Many have reacted against Ygeman's idea of increased integration by mixing parts of different origins instead of mixing income groups. This was both right and wrong. But the fact is that poor school results and poverty are very racialized today and this is likely due to the strongly ethnically segregated neighborhoods. Of course, the poor Swedes in the past were also often low achievers in school, but segregation probably does not facilitate learning Swedish as a second language and the social structure of a new country.
Rental properties must always be cheap
But it is important that the tenements in better-off neighborhoods that are built to replace the tenements in more vulnerable neighborhoods become so cheap that low-income earners can easily afford to live there.
Business and community life important in all neighborhoods
It's also good that Jonas is focusing on creating more business and community life on the ground floors. It makes the area more vibrant and rich in services and culture. It also reduces the risk of crime if there is order in the area.
It's also good that Jonas advocates pleasant architecture. #integration #citydevelopment #segregation #schoolresults #employment #gothenburg
Jonas Attenius debate article in GP 220803