Segregation: Heritage and Limits of an Ecological Category

This work aims to investigate the concept of segregation developed by the Ecological School of Chicago with the objective of analysing its strengths and limits for the contemporary understanding of this phenomenon. The study of modern residential dynamics of foreigners cannot ignore the Chicago School’s contribution. The model, derived from biology, describes segregation as the “natural” product of the processes of invasion and succession, and conceives the city as the outcome of competition-for-space mechanisms. After a brief assessment of the Chicago School’s theoretical approach, the first part of this paper focuses on its most relevant contributions on segregation. In particular, Robert E. Park, studying the cycle of racial relations, argues that segregation is an intermediate step towards the assimilation of foreign groups. Louis Wirth studies the Jewish ghetto in the United States, focusing on the double meaning of this specific urban form. Ernest W. Burgess provides a detailed analysis of segregation in American cities, starting from the idea of the radial extension of urban boundaries. The second part of the paper focuses on contributions from contemporary scholars on the ecological category of segregation, and sheds light on those aspects of the School’s conceptual heritage, which are still useful for the modern analysis of the phenomenon.