Abstract
Anecdotally, everyone knows that homes in the enrolment zones of ‘good’ schools are worth more. While this is commonly acknowledged and accepted in our ‘egalitarian’ society, the societal ramifications remain understudied.
Sought-after schools, valued for their perceived educational advantages and social status, drive demand for housing within their enrolment zones. Consequently, property values increase because those who reside within these zones are guaranteed a place, whilst those who do not are generally excluded. This has become influential over the way in which households are sorted based on socio-economic factors which, in turn, has created a socio-economic privilege associated with access to sought-after schools due to the matching of households to schools. The exclusivity of these schools and the associated privileges, reinforced by the processes which create them, further enhance their desirability and societal influence.
These intertwining dynamics perpetuate cycles of advantage and disadvantage which shape the social landscapes of our cities and schools, systematically entrenching them with inequalities related to the unequal distribution of opportunity, resources, educational quality, social capital, and privilege over space. While these inequalities are partially understood within the confines of the school gates, this study builds upon current understandings and highlights how they have permeated into society in the form of social norms, expectations and neighbourhood effects. By adopting a lens influenced by spatial justice, it uncovers structural divisions of advantage and disadvantage across broader societal landscapes.
New Zealand’s recently implemented intensification directions hold the potential to disrupt the dynamics between sought-after schools, society and spatial injustice. Aimed at improving housing affordability, intensification has also been promoted internationally as a tool to foster socially diverse and mixed urban areas. Despite this potential, this study uncovers a paradoxical labyrinth of contradictions which portrays that rather than alleviating school and neighbourhood exclusivity, intensification will only intensify them. This discovery emphasises the need to rethink how intensification is being implemented in New Zealand to take advantage of an opportunity to seek spatial justice and achieve a fairer society.