Residential segregation and mobility of foreign citizens: analysis of neighbourhoods, housing trajectories, and neighbourhood effects

Project aims:

• The first objective is to examine residential segregation via an innovative method using individual scalable neighbourhoods in Czechia.
• The second objective is to examine the residential mobility of significant minorities with respect to location, age, gender, and housing.
• The third objective is to delve into the role of neighbourhood contexts shaping residential behaviour.

For more information go to soc.cas.cz.

Work packages:

• WP 1) Preparation of data, secondary data collection and analysis
• WP 2) Analysis of segregation indexes
• WP 3) Analysis of residential mobility trajectories
• WP 4) Analysis of neighbourhood contexts
• WP 5) Interviews with local informants
• WP 6) Interviews with migration experts

For more information go to soc.cas.cz.

The list of project outcomes is listed at Starfos: https://starfos.tacr.cz/en/project/GA19-03211S#project-results

Immigrants in large Czech cities 2008–2015: the analysis of changing residential patterns using population grid data

This article contributes to the discussion of the segregation of immigrants by presenting evidence from a new destination country of international migration. It explores residential patterns of immigrants, defined by citizenship, and their development in selected large Czech cities. The analysis is focused on six main immigrant groups. New register data provided by Alien Police of the Czech Republic are utilized for the computation of geospatial grid data. The changes in population distribution are measured by the dissimilarity index, which is commonly used in segregation research. The main result indicates a major trend of decreasing spatial dissimilarity between the Czech majority and immigrant groups. The steady and slow inflow of immigrants does not lead to distinct patterns of segregation in the country – with a few specific exceptions.

DOI: 10.37040/geografie2020125030343

Basic trends in the deployment of foreigners in the Czech Republic 2008-2015: Residential segregation from the perspective of individualized neighbourhoods of various size

The number of foreigners living in the Czech Republic is on the rise and questions related to their coexistence refer to several domains such as the labour market, housing, social integration and the security policy of the government. Public administration, self-administration, specialists and the lay public are interested in whether the new inhabitants are benefi cial to Czech society and how they integrate into it. One possible indicator of dysfunction in the integration process is residential segregation, in other words a situation in which foreigners live in a signifi cantly different way and a different place from the dominant society. This article presents new data on the deployment of foreigners as collected by means of the population grid and using the method of nearest neighbourhoods to measure residential segregation. Independent from the administrative division of the territory, this method takes into account spatial proximity. The use of neighbourhoods of varied areas makes it possible to follow various development trends at the micro, meso and macro levels. As for the results, in overall terms residential segregation is decreasing: the rising number of foreigners results in greater regularity in their deployment rather than creating locations of high concentration. These results have important implications for planning in public administration. First, it pays off to continue to observe trends in migration and spatial deployment of foreigners, as it is important for public administration to infl uence the attitudes of the public to migrants. Second, the research has shown that it is necessary to collect specifi c information on the number and deployment of foreigners in the Czech Republic because of the specifi c services demanded by a foreign population (particularly in basic education and consultation for orientation in Czech society) that can help to incorporate migrants in the majority society and support the positive impact of migration for the Czech Republic.

www: https://www.uur.cz/default.asp?ID=5107

Transformation of “Russian” Karlovy Vary: Current trends in migration, foreign investment and tourism

In the last three decades, Karlovy Vary has been the main destination for Russians in Czechia (besides Prague) in terms of residential, investment and tourist attractiveness. This has affected many aspects of its life. Presence of foreign inhabitants, businessmen and tourists change the composition of the population according to citizenship, property structure of real estates, their physical condition and use, or international tourism and the related orientation of local economic activities. However, the current situation may have been significantly affected by two important events – the world economic crisis (2008) and the Russian aggression against Ukraine (2014). The paper aims to investigate the development of internationalization, investment strategies of foreigners and international tourism in the city with a time distance from the mentioned events. It is based on the analysis of statistical data and long-term field research. The results suggest that significant changes have been happening during the studied period, e. g the decline in the number of Russian-speaking residents, tourists and investors.

www: https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=TICiYnMHRz

Inclusion of Immigrants into the Czech Labour Market: Policies, Practices, Barriers and Future Challenges of Integration

In line with the main idea of the book, this chapter deals mostly with the structural or socio-economic dimension of integration, with a special focus on labour market inclusion. The integration of immigrants in the Czech labour market is viewed from an institutional and organizational perspective. The main emphasis of the chapter is on immigration from outside the EU. The author first provides an outline of the general trends in labour migration since the beginning of the century and analyzes the impact of selected labour market–related migration and integration policies and practices. Based on an analysis of policy documents, official statistics and available sociological research, the text discusses some major challenges to the successful integration of immigrants in the Czech labour market, with a special focus on the main actors and institutions involved in the process. In her analysis of the integration process, the author discusses the regulatory (or rather restrictive) role of Czech employment offices, the symbolic (or rather ineffective) role of trade unions and, last but not least, the crucial role of Czech NGOs working with non-EU immigrants. The latter are seen as key facilitators of migrant integration and not only in terms of their operative function (e.g. working in the field and assisting immigrants) but also in advocating for immigrants’ rights.

www: https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F68378025%3A_____%2F20%3A00541150

For more information go to soc.cas.cz.

2019

Immigrant Residential Segregation in a Country After Transition. Multiple Scale Comparison of New and Established Immigration Countries.
Ivana Křížková, Martin Šimon
8th CAT-ference: Comparing Cities after Transition, Session V: Migrant inclusion and segregation in cities, urban marginalities, 25 -29 September 2019, Belgrade (Serbia).

Among the various forces reshaping post-socialist societies, (documented) international migration has been a truly novel process after transition. Impacting different parts of the region to a different extent, the process made Czechia stand out as an outlier in the recent growth of the new ethnic diversity in post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe. With the politicisation of the debate on immigration throughout Europe in the recent years, understanding the extent of immigrant spatial segregation in the country, its international comparison and theorising its causes and consequences would seem imperative. This task, however, was long constrained by data availability and the related methodology. Using newly available geocoded data and advanced methods widely used in the current segregation research, the present paper fills this gap by a double comparison. First, it analyses trends in residential segregation of immigrants in Czechia on different spatial scales. Second, it juxtaposes these trends to their counterparts in some established European immigration countries to assess to what extent they resemble/differ from each other.

Immigrants in the City of Prague: New and old patterns of socio-spatial differentiation.
Renata Mikešová, Yana Leontiyeva, Martin Šimon
IMISCOE 2019, Standing Committee / Research Initiative: Diversity, Migration and Social Cohesion, 26 – 28 June 2019, Malmo (Sweden).

The capital city of the Czech Republic has significantly changed in last 30 years. As many other former communist countries, Czech Republic’s experience with immigration is relatively short. Though, as of today, at least 15% of inhabitants of Prague are immigrants from all around the world. It is three times the national average. Prague attracts many well-educated and economically active migrants, who often move here for a longer time with their families. At the same time, the city also attracts a number of immigrants with lower socio-economic status, employed in secondary labour market in so called 3D jobs, and at risk of poverty and marginalization. It seems that housing conditions of immigrants and their residential integration is a vital topic not only for Czech researchers but also for local policy makers. The aim of this paper is to present spatial differentiation of immigrants in Prague and to explore socio-spatial patterns of this process. This paper is based on data from a unique survey on foreign nationals from non-EU countries living in Prague commissioned by the Prague City Hall in 2017. The survey data were confronted with the results of secondary analysis of previous studies and also with the available data from the official register. The survey included several work- and housing-related questions allowing not only to identify the location and type of residence of immigrants but also their commuting routes and overall socio-economic conditions. Presented data suggest that immigrants in the city of Prague are not (yet) segregated. Although there are certain patterns based on citizenship that are much more related to the socio-economic status of immigrants.

Mezinárodní migrace jako faktor proměny společnosti a prostoru:rezidenční segregace cizinců v českých krajských městech.
Ivana Přidalová, Martin Šimon, Adam Klsák
Konference Společnost a prostor, Univerzita Palackého, Olomouc, 3.4.2019.

2020

Residential mobility of immigrants in Czechia: exploratory analysis of register data.
Martin Šimon, Ivana Křížková
European Population Conference (EPC) 2020 (24-27.6, Padova, Italy); – canceled due to COVID-19.

Understanding mobility of immigrant populations is vital for economic inequality and social cohesion policies in many European countries. Immigration plays an increasing role in labour market in Czechia due to long term its low unemployment and continuing labour force shortage. However, research of immigrant populations has been limited to 2011 census data and small scale surveys. Recently, multiple years of individual register-based data were made available for researchers enabling them to study age, gender, housing and citizenship structure of immigrants with an unprecedented detail. In this paper we present exploratory analysis of the new data source focused on migrants from Ukraine and Vietnam as two larges minorities in Czechia. We compare migration intensity between groups and explore the links between migration and residential segregation in cities. In conclusion, we evaluate our findings with respect to previous knowledge about residential mobility of immigrants and relate it to other such studies across Europe.

Learning new urban diversity: trajectories of ethnic segregation in post-socialist cities.
Martin Šimon, Ivana Křížková, Adam Klsák, Renáta Mikešová, Yana Leontiyeva
European Urban Research Association (EURA) 2020 (15-17.6.2020, Oslo, Norway) – canceled due to COVID-19.

New immigration countries in post-socialist Europe have different mix of migrants and different structure of housing stock than old immigration countries. Although cities in both areas face similar challenges stemming from rising population diversity, there is a limited knowledge of trajectories of ethnic segregation in the Central and Eastern Europe, especially beyond capital cities. To address the gap, this paper presents development of segregation of six main immigrant groups in the 13 second-tier cities and in the capital city of Prague in Czechia from 2008 to 2018. A new register-based data source allows a detailed measurement of segregation using spatial grid and multi-scalar methods, overcoming the reliance of previous segregation analyses in the country on census snapshots and administrative units. The findings illustrate overwhelming decrease of spatial segregation of immigrants with a few exceptions and discuss key reasons enabling such development. The paper provides a new perspective on residential segregation of immigrants in post-socialist cities and discuss its implications for urban research.

Crime count and crime harm in a post-socialist city: how does the law of crime concentration at places apply?
Martin Šimon, Jana Jíchová.
EuroCrim 2020 (10-11.9. 2020, Bucharest, Romania – online)

Migranti ve vybraných městech Česka 2008–2015: analýza změny prostorového rozmístění s využitím populačního rastru. / Immigrants in large Czech cities 2008–2015: the analysis of changing residential patterns using population grid data.
Martin Šimon, Ivana Křížková, Adam Klsák, Yana Leontiyeva, Renáta Mikešová
Výroční konference ČGS 2020 ‐ Geografie pro udržitelný rozvoj měst a regionů / Czech Geographical Society (ČSG) 2020 (8-10.9.2020, Pilsen, Czechia).

Cílem tohoto posteru je prezentovat výzkum, který přispívá do diskuze o segregaci migrantů předložením aktuálních poznatků z Česka – tedy země s poměrně krátkou historií intenzivní zahraniční imigrace. Rezidenční vzorce (a jejich vývoj) migrantů, definovaných na základě občanství, jsou zkoumány ve vybraných velkých městech Česka. Analýza je zaměřena na šest početně největších imigračních skupin, které do země přicházejí. Pro výpočty v populačním rastru využíváme registrových dat poskytovaných Cizineckou policií. Změny v distribuci populace jsou měřeny indexem odlišnosti, který je v oblasti výzkumu segregace široce aplikován. Hlavní výsledky naznačují postupný trend zmenšování prostorové odlišnosti mezi majoritou a zkoumanými imigračními skupinami. Stabilně se zvyšující počet příchozích migrantů nevede ‐ až na několik výjimek ‐ k výrazným segregačním tendencím v populaci.

2021

Residential segregation of Non-European migrants: East and West Europe compared using individualised neighbourhood method.
Ivana Křížková, Martin Šimon
AAG 2021 (virtual).

Comparative research aiming to explain differences in segregation on national level is highly desirable for public policy in increasingly diverse countries including new immigrant destinations. Current debates on ethnic segregation in Europe remain oriented towards the experience in countries where the long-term availability of population register data is met with policy interest in rising immigration, such as North-West Europe. However, newly emerging data sources allow for additional comparisons that have a potential to deliver valuable insights. This study explores residential segregation in Western and Eastern Europe using the novel individualised scalable neighbourhood method based on anonymised geocoded register data. To achieve this aim, we extend the comprehensive study of residential segregation in North-West Europe by ResSegr project to the Eastern European post-socialist context, namely to Czechia, the main immigrant-receiving country of its region. The results indicate overall similarity of residential segregation of Non-European migrants in North-West European countries and in Czechia across spatial scales when measured by index of dissimilarity for individualised neighbourhoods. However, the decomposition to neighbourhood concentration and neighbourhood representation indices challenges this result. Non-European migrants are less concentrated in Czechia than in North-West Europe on all scales. Lower over-representation and higher under-representation in neighbourhoods in Czechia than in North-West Europe provide an evidence, that large-scale neighbourhoods with a considerable Non-European migrant concentration known from North-West European countries are close to non-existent in Czechia. In the conclusion, we draw implications for neighbourhood research and policy and question the pertinence of the term segregation in European context.

Residential segregation of Non-European migrants: East and West Europe compared using individualised neighbourhood method.
Martin Šimon, Ivana Křížková
PAA 2021 (virtual).

Comparative research aiming to explain differences in segregation on national level is highly desirable for public policy in increasingly diverse countries including new immigrant destinations. Current debates on ethnic segregation remain oriented towards the experience of established immigration countries like the North-West European ones. However, newly emerging data sources allow for additional comparisons that have a potential to deliver valuable insights. We explore residential segregation in Western and Eastern Europe using the novel individualised scalable neighbourhood method and anonymised geocoded register data. We extend the comprehensive ResSegr study of residential segregation in North-West Europe to the Eastern European post-socialist context, namely to Czechia, the main immigrant-receiving country there. The results indicate overall similarity of residential segregation of Non-European migrants in North-West Europe and in Czechia across spatial scales when measured by index of dissimilarity for individualised neighbourhoods. However, the decomposition to neighbourhood concentration and neighbourhood representation indices challenges this result.

Inclusion of Migrant Background Pupils in Elementary Schools in the City of Prague: Recent Practices and New Pandemic-Related Challenges.
Yana Leontiyeva, Renata Mikešová
IMISCOE 2021 (virtual).

The paper explores how the elementary schools in Prague before and during the pandemic outbreak develop and practice activities aimed at foreign pupil’s (age 6 to 15) inclusion. The research combines quantitative and qualitative approaches, including o􀁏cial statistical data about school participation of children with other than Czech mother tongue, online questionnaires with school management and follow-up interviews with teachers, parents and NGOs about the perceived needs of non-Czech pupils and the activities addressed to them. Beside the comprehensive analysis of general school policies and practices of the pre-pandemic situation the authors focus on how the outbreak has created new challenges for the inclusion activities devised for pupils with different mother tongue.

Migration and residential mobility of foreign citizens in Prague and the Central Bohemian Region.
Ivana Křížková, Adam Klsák, Martin Šimon
50. výroční konference České demografické společnosti, 15.–17. září 2021, Ostrava | Ostravská univerzita.

Příspěvek se zaměřuje na stěhování a rezidenční mobilitu cizinců v Praze a Středočeském kraji. Dokumentuje (1) výši a změny intenzity stěhování cizinců ve středních Čechách na základě tokových dat z registrů migrace za obce a MČ Prahy a (2) vývoj rezidenčních trajektorií cizinců mezi typy prostředí v obcích Středočeského kraje a městskými zónami Prahy na základě komparace geokódovaných stavových dat poskytnutých ŘSCP. Analyzujeme cizineckou populaci jako celek a vybrané početné skupiny pobývající na území středních Čech v období 2005–2018. Rezidenční mobilita cizinců zde do značné míry souvisí s věkem, cizinci se nejčastěji stěhují do mírně etnicky diverzifikovaných území – výsledky pro skupiny se však různí. Největší pravděpodobnost rezidenční mobility byla zjištěna u cizinců žijících v méně stabilním prostředí dělnických ubytoven, studentských kolejí, hotelů a hostelů. V závěru diskutujeme implikace výsledků pro sociálně-prostorovou diferenciaci Prahy a Středočeského kraje.

Residential segregation in Prague and Central Bohemian Region 2012–2018: a multiscalar approach using individualized neighbourhoods.
Martin Šimon, Ivana Křížková, Adam Klsák
50. výroční konference České demografické společnosti, 15.–17. září 2021, Ostrava | Ostravská univerzita.

Cílem práce je popsat a porovnat rezidenční segregaci cizinců v Praze a Středočeském kraji v letech 2012–2018. Prostorové rozmístění cizinců měříme pomocí nové metody individualizovaných multi-měřítkových sousedství, která umožňuje porovnat rozložení menšinové a většinové populace na různých měřítkových úrovních a nezávisí na administrativně-správním členění území. Dílčí pozornost je věnována kategorizaci cizinců do skupin, kde srovnáním cizinců ze slovanských a neslovanských zemí a cizinců z EU a mimo země EU měříme dopady kulturní blízkosti a právního postavení na rezidenční segregaci. Analýza vychází z podrobných údajů o cizinecké populaci z dat MVČR. Výsledky ukazují všeobecný trend poklesu rezidenční segregace v Praze a Středočeském kraji v letech 2012 až 2018. Rezidenční segregace kulturně blízké skupiny je nižší než kulturně vzdálenější, občané EU jsou prostorově méně segregovaní než ostatní. V závěru hodnotíme přínos zvolené metody a diskutujeme důsledky nových poznatků.

Spatial Patterns of the Foreign Population in Prague and the Central Bohemian Region: The State 10 Years after the Financial Crisis.
Adam Klsák, Ivana Křížková
50. výroční konference České demografické společnosti, 15.–17. září 2021, Ostrava | Ostravská univerzita.

Příspěvek se zabývá prostorovými vzorci rozmístění cizinců v Praze a středních Čechách, přičemž se zaměřuje nejen na současný stav, ale také na jejich vývoj ilustrovaný několika časovými řezy. Hlavním zdrojem dat je databáze Cizinecké policie ČR (data za roky 2008-2017) a jako prostorový rámec aplikujeme originální zonaci Prahy/typologii obcí Středočeského kraje. Cizinci jsou podle občanství rozděleni do šesti skupin (čtyř individuálních a dvou agregovaných), u nichž jsou následně s využitím kartografických vizualizací vyhodnocovány prostorové vzorce a identifikovány charakteristické lokality pobytu. Doplňkově byla pro jednotlivé skupiny vypočítána úroveň segregace pomocí indexu odlišnosti. Z výsledků jsou patrné rozdíly v rezidenčních preferencích a možnostech jednotlivých skupin, stejně jako odlišné lokality zvýšené koncentrace. I přes zjevné náznaky rozvoje suburbanizačního trendu u cizinců lze konstatovat, že jejich populace ve zkoumané oblasti zůstává většinově městky orientovaná.

Žáci cizinci a žáci s odlišným mateřským jazykem (OMJ) na pražských základních školách.
Renáta Mikešová, Yana Leontiyeva, Martin Šimon, Blanka Tollarová
50. výroční konference České demografické společnosti, 15.–17. září 2021, Ostrava | Ostravská univerzita.

Migranti jsou nezanedbatelnou součástí populace hlavního města, tvoří 15 % obyvatel Prahy. Jejich znalost češtiny a schopnost se v češtině vzdělávat má klíčový význam pro integraci do majoritní společnosti. Poster se zabývá žáky cizinci a žáky s odlišným mateřským jazykem (OMJ) na základních školách v Praze, zejména jejich počtem a rozmístěním v rámci Prahy, ale i zkušenostmi s jejich vzděláváním. Žáci s OMJ nejsou oproti žákům cizincům ve statistikách podchyceni a neexistují přesná data o počtech dětí, kteří vstupují do vzdělávacího systému s nedostatečnou znalostí českého jazyka. Z výzkumu vyplývá, že rozmístění žáků cizinců a žáků s OMJ do škol vykazuje nízké známky prostorové segregace/separace. Existuje však variabilita mezi školami v počtu žáků s OMJ i v přístupu k jejich jazykové podpoře.

For more information go to soc.cas.cz.