Abstract
In this article we study ways in which the relationship between housing and integration of migrants are being justified and legitimated in policy documents from the cities of Arnhem and Nijmegen. Making use of a critical frame analysis, we are particularly interested in the assumptions made with regard to the preferred population composition of neighborhoods, images of ‘normality’ and ‘the ideal society’. Based on the analysis of a set of policy documents (such as the most recent coalition agreement, housing policy document and several neighborhood plans of each city) and a pilot study that includes interviews with local administrators and residents of twelve neighborhoods, we found that most problems that are being related to residential segregation in neighborhoods are defined in socio-economic terms. In general, the data show that the mixing of people with different socio-economic positions is thought to be the solution to this problem. References to migrants are mainly indirect: many documents mention that a large part of the poor people are migrants. The issue of integration is mostly dealt with in documents that focus on so-called ‘problem neighborhoods’. We conclude that the desirability of diverse neighborhoods in terms of types of housing and groups of people is widespread. Yet, the assumptions on which these ideas are built remain largely implicit.
