Territorial Review Copenhagen - Region Hovedstaden

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ensuring that these 38 000 dwellings have adequate facilities that meet
building codes.
Figure 1.26. Copenhagen's layout
Despite declining unemployment rates in recent years, there are a
number of neighbourhoods in Copenhagen with concentrated poverty and
unemployment, often concentrating large numbers of refugees and
immigrants. These distressed areas house a large percentage of residents
who are disconnected from labour markets and dependent on cash benefits
or state support. In these enclaves, residents lack the social networks to
connect them to employment, hampering their cultural and economic
assimilation into Danish society. In at least four Copenhagen
neighbourhoods, including Mjølnerparken, Aldersrogade,
Tingbjerg/Utterslevhuse and Akacieparken, at least half of the residents are
unemployed. Nevertheless, spatial segregation in Copenhagen is relatively
limited from an international perspective and does not approach the level of
ghettoisation of other major cities. The segregation index in Copenhagen is
lower than in most UK cities and in Antwerp (Musterd, 2005). 34 In terms of
ethnic segregation, immigrants from non-Western countries are overrepresented
in the southwestern suburbs and under-represented in the
affluent suburbs north of Copenhagen, where immigrants from Western
countries are over-represented.
A substantive net migration out of the city of Copenhagen into
neighbouring areas has occurred over the last 25 years. This outmigration
benefits homeowners, who typically spend less in these areas; in April 2007,
BRF Kredit reported that families earning DKK 500 000 gross a year would
have 37% more for disposable income if they chose to live in Western
Sealand instead of Copenhagen. 35 The centrifugal force of the regional
housing market has had cascading effects, prompting migration from the
outer ring of Copenhagen to areas in the exurbs. This outmigration has
accelerated during the last decade (see Figure 1.27). This has been the case
for migration from the city to surrounding areas within the Capital Region