Segregation, the uneven distribution of individuals across physical spaces, is often explained as the result of individual decision-making within a specific domain. Yet these choices unfold within institutional, spatial, economic, and historical constraints that shape available opportunities.

In this talk, Selcan Mutgan first shows how school preferences and opportunity structures jointly shape school segregation using agent-based models calibrated with full-population individual-level data. She then explores residential mobility trajectories of families with children, highlighting differences across income groups.

Together, the results demonstrate how interdependent, sequential processes are key to understanding how segregation patterns evolve.