Spatial Assimilation Theory Research Articles

Trapped in Place? Ethnic and Educational Heterogeneity in Residential Mobility and Integration of Young Adults in Brussels

Spatial assimilation theory asserts that immigrants’ socioeconomic progress leads to residential adaptation and integration. This association has proven robust in USA and European urban areas through much of the twentieth century, but drastic change of ethnic and class compositions yet persistent (neighbourhood) inequality in the urban landscape urge us to reconsider the dynamic interaction between stability and change. In this study, we investigate to what extent education shapes residential mobility differently for young adults with varying ethnic and social origins. Focussing on Brussels, we use multinomial logistic regressions on linked longitudinal population-based censuses from 1991 and 2001 and register data for the period 2001–2006. Analyses show that dispersal away from poor inner-city neighbourhoods appears least likely for the offspring of poor low-educated non-Western households, regardless of their own educational attainment. While our approach roughly confirms traditional arguments of socio-spatial integration, it also reveals how educational success generates opportunities to escape poor neighbourhoods for some but not for others. With this, it points at the subtle ways in which factors and mechanisms in traditional spatial assimilation theory affect residential behaviour of young adults over their life course, at the intersection of specific locales, ethnic groups, social classes and generations.

Spatio-temporal evolution of Chinese migration in Melbourne, Australia

ABSTRACT This paper examines the changing spatial and temporal patterns of residential choices across different waves of migrants from the mainland China between 1941 and 2011. Moran’s I and GetisOrd Indices are computed to validate the spatial assimilation theory to identify the prevalence of spatial clustering of Chinese migrants at a local area level. The spatial autocorrelation indicates the spatial segregation of Chinese migrants during the first three migration waves. This segregation propensity, however, has marginally declined in the recent wave. Getis hotspot analysis nevertheless shows no significant locational shift in the spatial clusters of Chinese migrants. This indicates the existence of path dependency, whereby the recent wave of immigrants from China exhibits spatial segregation behaviour similar to those manifested by earlier waves. Key spatial migrant clustersaresustained over time. The mapped outputs show that Chinese migrants congregate at the higher end of the housing market, particularly in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. The analysis, therefore, rejects the conventional wisdom that migrants tend to spatially assimilate over time and they create urban ghettos or refuge for sheltering disadvantaged communities.

Spatial Assimilation at a Halt? Intergenerational Persistence in Neighborhood Contexts among Immigrant Minorities in Norway

Spatial assimilation theory claims that immigrants’ acculturation and socioeconomic progress will lead to converging neighborhood attainment relative to non-migrant natives. Recently, it has been argued that equalization of local services and life chances across neighborhoods in egalitarian welfare states may delay spatial assimilation by reducing immigrants’ incentives to move out of low-income areas with many (co-ethnic) immigrant neighbors. In this article, we extend this argument to study whether neighborhood equalization also contributes to intergenerational persistence in neighborhood contexts among descendants of immigrants in Norway. Using administrative data, we find that immigrant descendants as adults often remain in neighborhood contexts that resemble their childhood neighborhoods, characterized by relative economic disadvantage and comparatively few ethnic majority residents. Intergenerational persistence in neighborhood contexts is strongest among descendants of immigrants from Pakistan, the Middle East, and Africa. The remaining immigrant–native gaps in spatial economic inequality largely reflect differences in individuals’ education and earnings, family background, and childhood neighborhood context, but these factors matter less for ethnic neighborhood segregation. For both economic and ethnic dimensions of neighborhood attainment, childhood neighborhood context is the factor that matters most in accounting for immigrant–native gaps, whereas individual socioeconomic attainment is the least important. Overall, our findings point to a pattern of “uneven assimilation” among immigrant descendants, where spatial assimilation is slow despite rapid socioeconomic progress across immigrant generations in the egalitarian Norwegian welfare state.

Immigrants’ earnings and neighbourhood economic wealth: the conditioning role of citizenship

ABSTRACT Do higher earnings translate into better living conditions for immigrants? While spatial assimilation theory argues that residential patterns reflect economic assimilation, place stratification theory states that immigrants face structural obstacles in their search for better housing, including housing market discrimination. Existing scholarship does not facilitate distinguishing between these contrasting perspectives as analyses typically compare across immigrant groups and natives. By contrast, we focus in this paper on legal status discrimination within the immigrant population in the Netherlands, by testing whether citizenship acquisition provides a positive signal towards housing market actors and moderates the effect of income on residential mobility. We analyse this relation using administrative microdata and using fixed-effects models to control for selection into naturalisation due to unobserved time-invariant heterogeneity. We find that the relation between income gains and immigrants' propensity to live in wealthier neighbourhoods is stronger for naturalised immigrants. These results corroborate the place stratification argument and suggest that naturalisation may help reduce nationality based discrimination.

Toward Coexistence of Immigrants and Local People in Japan: Implications from Spatial Assimilation Theory

We investigate the validity of spatial assimilation theory (SAT), which predicts geographical dispersion of immigrants from ethnically concentrated areas to non-concentrated areas as time elapses. This can be tested by analyzing the concentration tendency among immigrants who arrive in Japan from overseas and relocate within the country. Using spatial models, we find that immigrants from overseas tend to move to ethnically concentrated regions in Japan, which is in line with SAT. By contrast, this trend substantially weakens with their subsequent domestic relocation, and it differs by national group. The results reveal slow assimilation among nationals from countries characterized as being low-income or culturally dissimilar from Japan. Based on these findings, we discuss potential deficiencies in a new immigration policy (2018), which has been designed to increase the number of immigrants and compensate for a labor shortage in Japan.

New Faces, New Neighbors? How Latino Population Growth and Lending Expansion Shapes the Neighborhood Racial and Ethnic Composition for White and Latino Homebuyers

Fueled by increased socioeconomic status (SES), geographic mobility, and access to lending, Latino home buying expanded during the recent housing boom. However, less is known about the types of neighborhoods Latino homebuyers accessed during this time. To address this gap, we explore how SES, mortgage type, and the metropolitan racial and ethnic context affected the racial and ethnic composition of neighborhoods for new white and Latino homeowners. We use data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act to explore these processes in 317 U.S. metropolitan areas from 2000 to 2010. Overall, we find evidence supporting both spatial assimilation theory and place stratification theory: while increased SES and loan amounts led to more white neighbors for both white and Latino homebuyers, subprime loans and the racial and ethnic context of metropolitan areas continue to constrain neighborhood attainment for Latinos.

An econometric analysis of Hispanic migration in the United States

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the spatial redistribution pattern of Hispanics driven by internal migration tendencies in the United States, using American Community Survey (ACS) Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) data. We formulate three econometric models to study the internal migratory behaviour of Hispanics. More importantly, to uncover potential congestion and spillover effects, we introduce a novel variable into migration research, namely, the Neighbouring Hispanic Community. Our findings indicate that domestic migration of Hispanics leads to agglomeration of Hispanics, with the strongest agglomeration occurring in the states bordering the most concentrated states. While the congestion effect tends to weaken the agglomeration in the most concentrated states, the Hispanic-sparse states do not tend to receive Hispanics. The underlying force of potential dispersion is congestion and spillover from the highly concentrated states to their nearby states. Incorporating personal attributes into the analysis has provided some support for the spatial assimilation theory.

Understanding the Neighborhood Concentration of Affluent Black Households in the 1990s

This study examines the intersection of race, class, and place by exploring the neighborhood concentration of affluent black households in the United States during the 1990s using Census 2000 data. It adds to the literature seeking a more nuanced understanding of the black community. The author assesses the theories of spatial assimilation and place stratification in understanding the processes associated with the neighborhood-level concentration of affluent black households. Regression analyses reveal that, in general, such concentrations are positively associated with black neighborhood socioeconomic status and negatively associated with white status. Furthermore, neighborhood quality and demographic factors are important for understanding the geography of affluent black households. Additionally, the metropolitan characteristics of residential segregation, racial composition, and regional location affect the neighborhood concentration of affluent black households. Findings suggest place stratification theory provides greater explanatory power than spatial assimilation theory for understanding the neighborhood concentration of affluent black households.

Modelling the spatial dynamics of Mainland China-born migrants in Australia

ABSTRACTOver the past two decades, migration from Mainland China (MC) to Australia has become increasingly significant. In contrast to previous migrant waves, post-2000 MC-born migrants in Australia are more likely to be highly skilled and/or financially independent, and often migrate under skilled, business and investment visa programs. Though scholarship has explored various facets of MC-born migrants’ settlement in Australian cities, the spatial dynamics of settlement, and change over time associated with these shifts in socio-economic profile, have remained unexplored. This paper draws on three census periods, and employs a local indicator of spatial autocorrelation together with a geographically weighted regression. We conclude that the settlement patterns of MC-born migrants in Australia do not follow the ‘straight-line’ assumptions of spatial assimilation theory, nor are they tied explicitly to socio-economic factors in the majority of capital cities. Instead, the settlement patterns of MC-born migrants vary by city: Sydney and Melbourne display the most spatially segmented settlement patterns; while Adelaide and Perth exhibit increasing levels of concentration as the number of MC-born migrants grows. Results indicate that while MC-born migrants are somewhat likely to cluster at the early stage of group formation, within-group spatial patterns are articulated by social attributes as the group grows in size and significance in a metropolitan context.

Exiting distressed neighbourhoods: The timing of spatial assimilation among international migrants in Sweden

AbstractDifferent theoretical frameworks offer competing explanations for the settlement patterns and residential mobility of international migrants. Some highlight migrants' neighbourhood preferences, whereas others emphasise structural constraints in the housing market. This paper aims to test three theories on migrants' socio‐spatial mobility—the theories of spatial assimilation, place stratification, and ethnic preference—by investigating the extent to which migrants move away from distressed immigrant‐dense neighbourhoods in the Swedish cities of Stockholm and Malmö, as well as the timing of that mobility. Applying discrete‐time event history analysis to unique Swedish longitudinal register data, the paper reveals considerable differences in the residential mobility patterns between migrant groups and between the two cities. It also finds that newly arrived migrants are more likely to move away from distressed areas compared with long‐established ones. These results cast doubt on the spatial assimilation theory, indicating evidence for the place stratification theory. The paper contributes to an enhanced understanding of the determinants of residential segregation in Swedish metropolitan areas.

Ethno-Racial and Nativity Group Differences in U.S. Intercounty Migration and Move Distances

This paper examines nativity differences in intercounty migration and move distances for U.S. Asian, Black, Hispanic, and White ethno-racial groups drawing on confidential micro-data samples from the 2007–2011 multiyear ACS. Human capital and spatial assimilation theory guided the research. The analysis shows that net of group differences in individual characteristics, all foreign- and native-born minority groups were significantly less likely to move counties than native-born non-Hispanic Whites. The differential was greatest for foreign-born Hispanics. If nativity is not considered, Asians have a higher rate of intercounty migration than non-Hispanic Whites. The findings for ethno-racial nativity differences in move distances indicated that native born Asians and Hispanics moved comparable distances as native-born Whites but that was not the case for native-born Blacks. All the foreign-born groups moved significantly shorter distances than native-born non-Hispanic Whites. We found that the correlates of migration are consistent with human capital and spatial assimilation theory. Compared to non-migrants, migrants have more education and English language fluency, and are more likely to be men, never married, younger, school attendees, and non-citizens. Longer distance movers are younger, more educated, and residents in mixed nativity households. The examination of racial differences within 13 national origin groups found evidence of racial effects on migration and migration distance for only a few groups. Non-Whites from five of 13 origins had higher rates of county migration than Whites, but those differentials disappeared after controlling for individual characteristics. Non-Whites from Mexico, Honduras and the Dominican Republic migrated significantly shorter distances than did their White co-ethnics.

Somali Refugee Resettlement and Residential Patterns in Nashville, Tennessee

This research aims to cast scholarly light on the burgeoning Somali community in Nashville, Tennessee, by examining the residential patterns of Somali refugees. Using a mixed-methods approach that includes in-depth interviews, focus groups, and volunteer agencies, this study reveals that Somali refugees face particular barriers that directly influence the residential processes of Nashville’s Somali refugee community. Some of these barriers are rooted in the Somali community’s interpretation of Islam forbidding the provision or acceptance of loans with interest (ribā) from banks and other lenders, leading many Somalis to feel they are unable to participate in common Western banking practices. These types of barriers can limit both homeownership and entrepreneurial endeavors. Such complex cultural factors shaping Somali refugee resettlement challenge the deterministic model of spatial assimilation theory and underscore the need for more nuanced, group-specific research to understand the residential patterns and spatial outcomes of new refugee and immigrant communities in metropolitan areas in the U.S. South. The findings from this study are of value to local policymakers and community-based organizations interested in crafting legislation and establishing services that help Somali refugees better adapt to their host society.

White and Latino Locational Attainments: Assessing the Role of Race and Resources in U.S. Metropolitan Residential Segregation

This study examines White-Latino residential segregation in six U.S. metropolitan areas using new methods to draw a connection between two dominant research traditions in the segregation literature and empirically analyze prevailing conceptual frameworks. Based on microlevel locational attainment analyses, we find that for Latinos, acculturation and socioeconomic status are positively associated with greater residential contact with Whites and thus promote lower segregation consistent with predictions of spatial assimilation theory. However, standardization and decomposition analysis reveals that a substantial portion of White-Latino segregation can be attributed to White-Latino differences in the ability to translate acculturation and socioeconomic assimilation into co-residence with Whites. Thus, consistent with predictions of place stratification theory, evidence suggests that spatial assimilation dynamics are limited by continuing race-based factors leading to the expectation that segregation will persist at moderate to high levels even after Latinos reach parity with Whites on social and economic resources that shape locational attainments. Therefore, we offer two conclusions. First, contemporary White-Latino segregation is due in part to group differences in social and economic resources that determine locational attainments and that this component of White-Latino segregation will continue to be significant so long as Whites and Latinos differ along these social and economic characteristics. Second, while spatial assimilation dynamics can promote partial reductions in White-Latino segregation, we expect segregation to continue at moderate to high levels because place stratification dynamics limit Latino residential integration even when Latinos and Whites are comparable on relevant resources.

White-Latino Residential Attainments and Segregation in Six Cities: Assessing the Role of Micro-Level Factors

This study examines the residential outcomes of Latinos in major metropolitan areas using new methods to connect micro-level analyses of residential attainments to overall patterns of segregation in the metropolitan area. Drawing on new formulations of standard measures of evenness, we conduct micro-level multivariate analyses using the restricted-use census microdata files to predict segregation-relevant neighborhood outcomes for individuals by race. We term the dependent variables segregation-relevant neighborhood outcomes because the differences in average outcomes for each group on these variables determine the values of the aggregate measures of evenness. This approach allows me to use standardization and components analysis to quantitatively assess the separate contributions that differences in social characteristics and differences in rates of return make towards determining the overall disparity in residential outcomes – that is, the level of segregation – between Whites and Latinos. Based on our micro-level residential attainment analyses we find that for Latinos, acculturation and gains in socioeconomic status are associated with greater residential contact with Whites, in agreement with spatial assimilation theory, which promotes lower segregation. However, our standardization and components analyses reveals that a substantial portion of White-Latino disparities in residential contact with Whites can be attributed to differences in rates of return; that is White-Latino differences in the ability to translate acculturation and gains in socioeconomic status into more residential contact with Whites. This is further elaborated upon by assessing the changes in contact with Whites for Whites and Latinos after manipulating single variables while holding all others constant. This can be interpreted as the role of discrimination which is emphasized by place stratification theory. Therefore we conclude that while members of minority groups make gains in residential outcomes that reduce segregation by attaining parity with Whites on social characteristics as spatial assimilation theory would predict, a substantial disparity will persist as Latinos cannot translate those gains into greater contact with Whites at the rate that Whites can. At the aggregate level of analysis, this means that White-Latino segregation remains substantial even when groups are equalized on social and economic characteristics.

Spatial Integration of Immigrants in Nordic Cities: The Relevance of Spatial Assimilation Theory in a Welfare State Context

This article investigates the relevance of spatial assimilation theory in Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo, and Stockholm. An important backdrop is the “Nordic model of welfare”: We assume that welfare generosity decreases the speed of spatial integration. The study uses non-Western immigrants as a target group and natives as a reference group. We register location in 2000 and 2008, and analyze integration in terms of neighborhood status and residential segregation. The results show, in all cities, a lack of aggregate upward mobility in the spatial hierarchy. We also find a negligible effect of upward earnings mobility on upward spatial mobility. Upward spatial mobility increases integration in ethnic terms, but other factors work in the opposite direction and contribute to prevailing segregation. The results as a whole strengthen the purported association between welfare state characteristics and spatial integration. Deviant outcomes, particularly in Helsinki, are explained by immigration history and housing market structure.

Regional Differences in Affluent Black and Affluent White Residential Outcomes

This study compares the residential outcomes of affluent black and affluent white households using data from the 1990 and 2000 censuses and pooled data from the 2005–2009 American Community Survey. Results indicate that affluent black households are highly segregated from their white economic peers. Furthermore, affluent black households live in neighborhoods of lower average quality compared to affluent white households. Affluent black households are least segregated from affluent white households in the South, but the greatest equality in neighborhood‐quality outcomes occurs in the West. The South, however, shows the greatest improvement in both average neighborhood quality for affluent black households and a substantial reduction in affluent black–affluent white segregation over the entire study period. The authors find that place stratification theory better describes the residential geography of affluent black households than does spatial assimilation theory.

Spatial assimilation? The development in immigrants’ residential career with duration of stay in Denmark

Many studies have shown that immigrants’ residential situation differs from that of natives and that factors other than housing needs and financial situation influence immigrants’ options and choices concerning housing and neighbourhood. Research has indicated that immigrants might have a stronger preference for renting due to insecurity about their future situation and that especially newly arrived immigrants tend to live in immigrant-dense, so-called multi-ethnic, neighbourhoods. However, the spatial assimilation theory claims that in the course of time immigrants will move to other kinds of housing and neighbourhoods. In this paper, the residential careers of immigrants in the first years after their arrival are examined and compared with Danes. The hypothesis tested is that over time the housing situation of immigrants gets closer to the comparable one for Danes. It is a longitudinal study based on data from 1985 to 2008 on non-Western immigrants in Denmark. The results show that non-Western immigrants steadily increased their presence in social housing and multi-ethnic neighbourhoods during their first 10 years of stay; then, their presence stagnates; and after 15 years, it declines. Part of the initial increase in the frequency of living in multi-ethnic neighbourhoods was not due to individual choices among immigrants but could be ascribed to the increasing number of multi-ethnic neighbourhoods over time. The study confirms spatial assimilation, also when controlling for degree of economic integration, but the change was not dramatic over the 24 years covered by the study.

Do Immigrants’ Preferences for Neighbourhood Qualities Contribute to Segregation? The Case of Oslo

Ethnic residential segregation is often explained with the claim that ‘immigrants don’t want to integrate—they prefer to stick together with co-ethnics’. By contrast, mixed neighbourhoods are seen as crucial for achieving social cohesion. In line with spatial assimilation theory there is a normative assumption that people interact with those living nearby. From interviews on neighbourhood qualities and locations valued by Oslo residents of Turkish, Somali and Polish backgrounds, we raise questions about the validity of two assumptions: that most immigrants want to live in the same neighbourhoods as co-ethnics; and that they want to live close to co-ethnics because they do not want to integrate. For reasons of socialisation, main preferences were for mixed neighbourhoods that included ethnic Norwegians. Whereas the preference for people of other immigrant backgrounds was linked to possibilities for socialisation, the preference for ethnic Norwegians in the neighbourhood was linked to possibilities for social integration. Co-ethnic networks could be maintained on the city level. Importantly, housing moves tended to be guided by other factors than population composition in the area.

Double Jeopardy: Why Latinos Were Hit Hardest by the US Foreclosure Crisis

Recent research has demonstrated that Latinos have been hit hardest by the US foreclosure crisis. In this article, I combine place stratification and spatial assimilation theory to explain why Latinos suffered a devastating double blow during the foreclosure crisis. Using a national sample of borrowers who received risky mortgage loans during the boom and following them through the crisis, I find that Latinos were most likely subject to high-cost subprime lending and especially risky low-/no-documentation lending as Latino suburbanization and immigration peaked along with national home prices. As a result, while Latino borrowers were no less likely to lose their homes to foreclosure than blacks prior to the crisis or in the Rust Belt, they were significantly more likely to lose their homes after the crisis began and in the Sand States of Arizona, California, Florida, and Nevada. Taken together, the results demonstrate the risk of rising Latino immigration, suburbanization, and homeownership during the stages of the housing boom and foreclosure crisis.

A Longitudinal Study of Migration Propensities for Mixed-Ethnic Unions in England and Wales

Most studies investigating residential segregation of ethnic minorities ignore the fact that the majority of adults live in couples. In recent years there has been a growth in the number of mixed-ethnic unions that involve a minority member and a white member. To our knowledge, hardly any research has been undertaken to explicitly examine whether the ethnic mix within households has an impact on the residential mobility of households in terms of the ethnic mix of destination neighbourhoods. Our study addresses this research gap and examines the tendencies of mobility among mixed-ethnic unions in comparison with their co-ethnic peers. We used data from the Longitudinal Study for England and Wales. Our statistical analysis supports the spatial assimilation theory; ethnic minorities move towards less deprived areas and to a lesser extent also towards less ethnically concentrated areas. However, the types of destination neighbourhood of minority people living in mixed-ethnic unions varied greatly with the ethnicity of the ethnic minority partner.