Settlement Patterns and Residential Choices of the Chinese-Born Immigrants of Paris and Seine-Saint-Denis Department

Abstract

This article uses 2015 census data to describe and analyse the settlement and residential practices of the Chinese-born in the Île-de-France region, particularly in Paris and Seine-Saint-Denis, where the majority of them live. It first shows that their habitat now extends beyond the previously identified residential enclaves and highlights the neighbourhoods in which they are most overrepresented. It then examines the rationale for their location. Three main results emerge from the analyses. On the one hand, more Chinese-born people now live outside areas of commercial centrality characterised by social marking of space than within their boundaries. On the other hand, the places where they work are not confined to these areas of commercial centrality. Finally, the workers’ residential locations respond to rational logic, favouring the acquisition of housing in areas close to their workplaces.