Professor Danny DorlingUniversity of SheffieldKeynote 6th July 2010, 1 Kemble Street, LondonLaunch of Report; Green Space and Race: the connections between health, ethnicity and inequality

How does green space inequality compare to other inequalities?

Professor Danny DorlingUniversity of Sheffield

How does green space inequality compare to other inequalities?

Thanks to Ben Hennig for map (equal population European topography)

Picture courtesy of Mike from D-fuse: www.dfuse.com

Hallam

Highgate

It’s always the same places!

Picture from Thomas, B. and Dorling, D. (2007) Identity in Britain, Policy Press.

North/South

Oxford NW

Same patterns

Picture from Thomas, B. and Dorling, D. (2007) Identity in Britain, Policy Press.

Community green: using local spaces to tackle inequality and improve health

Intervention on people help the chances for

individuals, but may widen gaps

Interventions on places can be much longer

lasting and help far more people

Just as a land-value-tax cannot be escaped by

emigration (it is a good way to target the rich) so

creating green space in inner cities is a good way

to target poverty

Tokyo – not looking green

Tokyo – looking green

Community green

“…people living in deprived areas have five times less parks and general public space than the most affluent 20 per cent of areas. If you live in an area where more than 40 per cent of the population are people from black and minority ethnic groups, you will have 11 times less public green space than areas you will have 11 times less public green space than areas where fewer than 2 per cent of their population are people from where fewer than 2 per cent of their population are people from minority ethnic groupsminority ethnic groups.”

How unusual is this? The best-off fifth of people in Britain now earn and receive 7.2 times the income of the worse-off fifth (6.9 in 1997). Is it any surprise that the best-off have access to 5 times more parks and other green space?

Source: Injustice, why social inequality persists

Living above the 4th floor

Of all the statistics revealed by the 2001

census, the starkest showed that in

England, the majority of children living on

the fifth floor or above were not of white

ethnicity.

Of all the statistics that have been

revealed since, the greatest surprise is that

the number of school children who had to

share their bedroom with an adult or

sibling over the age of 10 and of the

opposite sex rose from 8% in 1999 to

15% by 2005.

Source: Injustice: Why social inequality persists, Policy Press,2010, page 117. Photography by Mary Shaw

Poor housing and ethnicity

In the UK, in the eight years

between 1998-2006: “…the

number of statutory homeless

households fell by slightly

over 8% while the number of

non-white BME homeless

households increased by

14.5%.

Roberts, R. and W. McMahon (2008). Debating race, ethnicity, harm and crime. London, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies. Pages 17 and 18

Homes and homelessness

There was a striking increase in

the number of homeless

African/Caribbean households of

between 25% and 42%.

The unequal distribution of

squalor continues – “33% of

Pakistanis and Bangladeshis

living in unfit dwellings compared

to 6% White”

Roberts, R. and W. McMahon (2008). Debating race, ethnicity, harm and crime. London, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies. Pages 17 and 18

Poor mental health and racism

llti age 16+ 2001 %10 - 1314 - 1617 - 1920 - 2223 - 30

llti age 16+change %2 - 56789 - 11

“For men and women, the rates of admission for BME groups were over three times higher than average. In the ‘other Black’ group, admission rates were ten times higher than average”

2007

Sources:

http://www.sasi.group.shef.ac.uk/publications/2009/EHC_Dorling_response.pdf Dorling and Thomas, “People and Places”

Living behind bars

The1991 census revealed that, in crude terms, a man was twelve times more likely to be in prison if he were black.

By 2005, BME people accounted for approximately 24% of the male prison population and 28% of the female prison population.

Sources: www.worldmapper.org and Dorling, D. (1995) A New Social Atlas of Britain, Chichester: Wiley.

Living with fear and others’ fear

“Over a third of minority groups

reported experiencing overt racism in

Britain in 2005. At least five times as

many racially motivated crimes

occurred as were reported.”

In 2007, 30% of “movers and shakers”

in London would not vote for a

Mayoral candidate who was a Muslim.

“Lembit Opik: I’ll stand in race for Mayor if London wants me”

Sources: Lewis, M. and N. Newman (2007). Challenging Attitudes, Perceptions and Myths. Report for the Commission on Integration and Cohesion. London, The Commission on Integration and Cohesion. (page 6). Evening Standard. London. Tuesday 13 November, 2007: pp.8-9

Discrimination in racism

“Black pupils are five times less likely to be registered as ‘gifted and talented’.”

Education policy, 2006

"I felt my teachers saw me as far more threatening "

Kwame Kwei-Armah, Actor

"Black boys' performance is due to institutionalised racism"

Courtenay Griffiths, Barrister

"Some of my best friends were racists"Ekow Eshun, Artistic Director, ICA

Ball, S. J. (2008). The Education Debate. Bristol, Policy Press. (page 172-173, quoting in turn from the Independent on Sunday’s release of an unpublished Department for Education and Schools report in December 2006.

Quotations published in the Independent on Sunday in response.

2010 headlines – no let up

70% rise in number of black and Asian people

stopped and searched. Black people are now

seven times more likely to be stopped than white

people. (2008/9 compared to 2004/5)

June 17th

Black pupils are routinely marked down by

teachers. “Teachers' assessment of children's

ability is undermined by stereotyping, says

research” which compared latest SAT results to

informal assessments.

April 4th

Sources:http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2010/jun/17/stop-and-search-police and Asthana, A., T. Helm and T. McVeigh (2010). The Observer. London. April 4th.

Inequality/deprivation underlies and reflects most of British life

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Children subject to protection orders, per 10,000 (2008 orange, +2009 black)

Sources: CABE report and forthcoming, Areas are local authorities ranked by same measure

Community green should still shockdespite what we already know

The inequality it reveals is high and unusually high even compared to prejudice as measured in schooling, crime, housing, jobs and health…

Nowhere in the UK compares to São Paulo, Brazil …

… but are we now as unequal as Los Angeles in the 1970s?

Source: a face map by Eugene Turner, 1977

How does green space inequality compare to other inequalities?

Thanks to Ben Hennig for map (equal population European topography)

Tokyo – looking very green

Tokyo – looking white

Tokyo – glass and green

Sheffield – looking very white

Sheffield – enjoying the snow

Sheffield – winter weather

Professor Danny DorlingUniversity of SheffieldKeynote 6th July 2010, 1 Kemble Street, LondonLaunch of Report; Green Space and Race: the connections between health, ethnicity and inequality

How does green space inequality compare to other inequalities?