ABSTRACT
Europe emerged from war in 1945 with its cities and much of its housing and industrial infrastructure in ruins. The survival of racial segregation, throughout the colonial world, into the late twentieth century, would not have gone unnoticed in Europe. It was precisely during this period that significant numbers of immigrants arrived. Racism, it is suggested, permeates the entire housing process, directly and indirectly influencing every aspect of it, whether in owner occupation, the privately rented sector or social housing. Ghettoization, is defined by L.J.D. Wacquant to mean: ‘involuntary, permanent, and total residential separation premised on caste as the basis for the development of a parallel social structure’. ‘The ghetto’ is depicted as a dangerous, alien and politically subversive place implanted at the heart of European society, and posing a threat to the very survival of the nation itself. The survival of racial segregation, throughout the colonial world, into the late twentieth century, would not have gone unnoticed in Europe.
