A strategy for unifying a divided city? Comparative analysis of counter-segregation policies for three deprived mass housing districts in Europe

Segregation is a common problem for many European states where mass housing areas, constructed between 1960 and 1980, now have fallen into decay and stigmatisation and face alienation from the rest of the city. The paper was aimed to investigate how city authorities could cope with downsides of segregation and, more specifically, unify segregated districts with the remainder of the city. This taken as a general idea, it was scrutinised on the examples of three cities, sharing similar characteristics, e.g. population and industrial past. The counter-segregation policies implemented (or planned to be implemented) in Gellerup (Arhus, Denmark), Rosengard (Malmo, Sweden) and Herzogenried (Mannheim, Germany) were studied and eventually compared. The presented findings were based on the analysis of official documents and empirical data gathered via interviews and are restricted by certain limitations which occurred due to the lack of time and resources