Gentrification and school segregation in Oslo: middle-class strategies and educational inequalities in an egalitarian context

Roberta Cucca and Ingar Brattbakk

Chapter 6 in Gentrification and Schooling in Global Cities, 2026, pp 121-141 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter examines how gentrification intersects with school segregation in Oslo, a city often portrayed as egalitarian but characterised by persistent socio-spatial divides. Combining quantitative analyses of changing school catchment areas with qualitative insights from gentrified and gentrifying neighbourhoods, the chapter shows that neighbourhood upgrading does not necessarily translate into more socially mixed schools. Processes of white and socio-economic flight, selective opting out, and forms of school colonisation contribute to maintaining or reproducing segregation even within an egalitarian public school system. Importantly, the chapter also highlights the strategic agency of minority-background families – an underexplored dimension in much of the international literature – whose school choices both reflect and reshape local educational landscapes. By situating the Oslo case within broader debates on urban inequality and parental strategies, the chapter argues that the educational consequences of gentrification vary across contexts and stages, underscoring the need for further research on school segregation in transforming urban environments.

Keywords: Gentrification; School Segregation; Parental Strategies; Socio-Economic Flight; Oslo (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035346677
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