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Unwished Ghettoes

Summary/Abstract: The article builds upon the current political context in Bulgaria, where the politicians and mass media openly disseminate hate speech against Roma people and Roma quarters blaming them for many social issues. However, the article argue that this is not a “Romany culture” but “a culture of poverty” and in the first part draws parallels both in the spatial features and in the social deviations with many other slums, shanty towns and “ghettoes” in Brazil, France, Germany, Spain, UK and USA. The second part discusses the history and origins of the segregated ethnic neighbourhoods in Bulgaria, starting with the Ottoman urban planning principles, through the socialist ethnic policies to the recent days secondary segregation and the paradox of exodus: what you try to escape the ghetto, soon you realize the ghetto moves with you. The conclusions are rather lessons learned and relate to two positive examples of tackling urban segregation, coming from the town of Kavarna and Stara Zagora city, where the proper urban planning breaks both the prejudices and the circle of marginalization.

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