Social mix as inequalities’ solution in cities

Abstract

What is social mix? It is the coexistence in the same space of diverse social, ethnical and generational groups. Its geografical scale can be a building, a block, a neighborhood, a district or a city. How urban planners can create social mix? At neighborhood’s scale, there are 3 manners: building  social housing in rich neighborhoods, high standing’s building in popular neighborhood and create new mixed neighborhood. What are the negative effects relationated with territorial inequalities that social mix can balance? First of all, segregation, marginalization, exclusion and gentrification. What are social mix’s positive effects: economic efficieny and distributive equity. Members of diverse social classes can form a community and obtain benefits from urban, educational improvements and labour opportunities. But we do not have to forget that social mix is a complex phenomenum that must be create with others measures. The goal of this article is demonstrating that we need to create social mix in space, incorporating it in regional planning, particularly in urban planning, to improve the wellbeing and the life’s quality of citizens.