Selective living ‘widens social divisions’
Class divisions may be inadvertently being made worse by websites helping house hunters to find the best places to live.
Research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation finds internet based neighbourhood information systems (IBNIS) allowing people to select their “ideal” neighbourhood on the basis of income, schooling and crime rate is making communities less diverse.
Co-author Roger Burrows of York university described the systems, widely used in the US, as “social sorting technology”, which widened the gap between rich and poor areas.
His research, carried out with academics from the universities of York and Durham, finds the technology on sites such as www.upmystreet.co.uk, www.homecheck.co.uk and www.statistics.gov.uk, allowed the rich to select who they wish to rub shoulders with.
As well as widening the rich-poor gap, Mr Burrows warns the technology could have implications for how resources such as policing levels are allocated to different areas.
