Factors and Mechanisms of the Formation of Migrant Residential Concentration Areas Around Markets

Abstract

The article presents the results of a study, which focuses on the fact of formation of migrant residential concentration areas in Russian cities with a population of more than 1 million, as well as on the mechanisms that explain this process. The study was conducted using mixed methods in 15 cities. 877 express interviews and 108 expert interviews were carried out. According to the results of the study, migrant residential concentration areas in some of these cities do appear. It happens in residential buildings adjacent to large wholesale clothing or fruit and vegetable markets that often appeared on the urban periphery in the early 1990s. A significant part of workers on these markets were migrants – first from Transcaucasia, and then more and more from Central Asia, who began to rent and buy apartments in the adjacent buildings. Such areas gradually acquired the image of migrant places, and many of the local residents who, other things being equal, would have settled there, now chose other city parts.

The factors contributing to the formation of a migrant residential concentration area are the following: the presence of a large number of migrants in the city; the presence of a large market that has been on the same place for a long time; relatively small number of residential buildings located within walking distance from the market and spatially separated from other residential buildings; low prices for the purchase and rental of real estate there, as well as a high share of dormitories and newly raised residential buildings in this area. In the article, each factor is analyzed separately and an ideal-typical description of the story of the formation of the migrant residential concentration area is created, being illustrated by the case of the Temernik area in Rostov-on-Don. The article concludes with the identification of the limitations of the research design and suggestions for further research.

Acknowledgements.The research behind the article is supported by the Russian Science Foundation (project RSF № 18-78-10086) “Analysis of Ethno-Migrant Enclave Formation in Russian Cities”. We thank for participating in data collection: B. Abrorova, A. Avdashkin, V. Azarova, A. Andreeva, A. Akhmedov, Ya. Boguslavskaya, M. Bratolyubova, E. Vlasov, M. Ermakova, M. Kandinsky, E. Karchagin, R. Kashapov, N. Kononets, I. Terekhova, I. Tokman, D. Kholyavchenko, Yu. Chebotareva, K. Shepetinu, I. Fedorova.