The role of foreigners in fundamental (post)transformation processes in Czech cities

Due to the exceptional migration characteristics of Czechia among the CEE countries and the entire EU, foreigners are becoming an increasingly important and more common element in our cities. This fact implies the growing importance of the foreign population as a factor in the process of shaping the lived space. In the post-socialist context, however, it is a comparatively new phenomenon and the research has been specifically devoted mainly to more general scale levels. There is a lack of more comprehensive knowledge of these issues at the level of urban regions or even more detailed. The aim of the project is to identify and explain the role of foreigners in processes which have been significantly shaping local structures of our cities in recent decades, such as suburbanization and gentrification. Furthermore, we want to compare results with findings from other countries and with assumptions of Western theories, whose applicability in our context may be very limited though. Two most prominent Czech urban areas from the point of view of the diversity and concentration of foreign population – Prague Metro area and Urban region of Karlovy Vary – are designated as case studies. The topic is conceptually situated on the edge of urban geography and migration studies. As a main source of data is assessed unique database of the Foreign Police, including individual records of foreigners in address point accuracy. This database offers considerable potential for research purposes.