Migrants' settlement patterns in global cities and their determinants: Paris, Singapore, Sydney and Moscow. Part I

Abstract

The article presents the results of a comparative study devoted to the settlement of ethnic migrants and their determinants in the global cities, such as Paris, Singapore, Sydney, and Moscow. The article is based on the relevant literature and field studies conducted in these cities including interviews with experts in the urban studies and migrant integration, observation, in-depth and express interviews in the urban space, for example, in the areas of residential concentration of non-ethnic communities (ethno-migrant enclaves).  The authors propose a theoretical scheme describing the key determinants of migrant settlement in different contexts. The basic factors behind migrant settlements in the global cities are as follows:  socio-economic characteristics of the receiving community, migration policy, characteristics of migration flows, characteristics of vertical social mobility among migrants and their children, social structure of the urban space, local construction of ethnicity, state and urban residential policies, and residential choices of migrants and non-migrants. For each of these cases, factors explaining settlement preferences can be different. The article provides a detailed description of each city and depicts a set of factors relevant for each of these case studies.

Aknowledgements. 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”.