Urban diversity, inequality and residential processes

Abstract

Over the past few decades, Lisbon has undergone a process of territorial restructuring. At various moments throughout this transformation, the influx of different immigrant groups added increasing population diversity to the factors already instigating change in the social ecology of the city. To explore the role that immigration has played in transforming the socio-territorial organisation of the city we use a mixed methods approach. First, we map the results of a multivariate factorial analysis based on 2011 census data. Second, we draw on narratives from semi-structured interviews with migrants to explore residential dynamics in a multi-ethnic neighbourhood. We see a fragmented city where migrant emplacement aligns with the more general urban ecology to reinforce existing patterns of inequality and concurrently produce new forms of social and spatial differentiation across scales.