Pulaski

On this occasion, Michael, I'll agree with you. The breakdown for London is as follows:-

White: 59.7%
Black: 13.3%
Asian: 18.4% (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi: 12.0%, Chinese: 1.5%, Other Asian: 4.9%)
Other: 3.4%
Mixed: 5.0%

Nutmegger

And are these ethnicities really living in mingled proximity? This isn't a rhetorical question -- I haven't been to London for many years and don't know the answer.

Sally Redux

I don't know about New York but in LA, the availability of land has meant that 'white flight' has always taken place. In London, inner areas get gentrified; that doesn't seem to happen here, although I believe there are some attempts with downtown, a very dead and faded area.

Pulaski

I don't know, and don't even know how you could reduce the degree of integration to a single easy to compare statistic, but I suspect the degree of "ghettoization" in most countries around the world is broadly similar. Certainly in London and most cities I am familiar with in the UK and the US, ethnic groups generally live in certain neighborhoods in each city, often centered around a church, mosque, or other community focal point, or occasionally an industrial area.

Nutmegger

That is my feeling too -- but I see it these days as being based in economic, rather than racial considerations in the majority of instances.

Michael

Actually I'm a little surprised that London is only 59.7% white. In New York City, San Francisco, and San Jose, I can't go to work, walk down the street, or move into a neighborhood without being in close proximity to non whites but I don't sense the same in London.

Pulaski

The next time you're in London, walk north from the Tower of London for 5-10 minutes to Aldgate, and the Mile End Road, and you'll swear you're in Lahore! Even the street names are dual language, English and a Pakistani alphabet (I don't recall which one). Turn onto Brick Lane and about every third store is a curry house, and they're very good, and dirt cheap to boot! .... Or take a Jack the Ripper walking tour, because it is the same area, and interestingly in Victorian times it was a predominantly Jewish area! Even Bloom's the somewhat famous kosher restaurant on Aldgate has closed, though it hung on until 1996.

scrubbedexpat099

Actually I remember the area before it became Asian and I do not go back as far as the Victorian area. I used to work in Aldgate in the early 70's.

Dirt cheap may be relative, my preference was the Lahore down Commercial Road, but that has gone a bit swanky.

Pulaski

The Lahore Kebab House, in that little side street just off Commercial Rd? .... I ate there a number of times in the mid 90's!

Yorkieabroad

Ha, that was a regular of ours too, in the late 80s/early 90s.....think it must have been a different place that Boiler was talking about, cos swanky it was not!

scrubbedexpat099

I used to go there with a friend who said the Daal was better than his Mum could make, a big thing.

It was certainly a bit of a rat hole, last time I was in there was nearly 2 years ago, much much bigger ground floor, colour TV's, very different.

BillyLondon

The diversity is there in the city like you pointed
out. But the neighbourhoods are seggregated in ny. In London it's much more integrated.

Michael

I wouldn't call Westchester NY or Greenwich CT a suburb of NYC any more than I would call Dover or South Hampton a suburb of London.

Pulaski

Westchester adjoins the Bronx, and is substantially a dormitory for NYC, so it IS a suburb of NYC. Commuting from Greenwich is much more challenging to commute from, and is perhaps comparable to, say, Brighton, Swindon, or Cambridge.

Michael

Westchester is at least 25 miles from the Bronx and about 40 miles from Manhattan but I suppose since White Plains is considered part of the NYC greater metropolitan area, then Westchester could possibly be considered a suburb of NYC. Actually I found commuting from Greenwich to NYC pretty easy and has a good train schedule.