Classifying the Diversity of Urban Diversities: an Inductive Analysis of European Cities

Abstract

This paper provides an empirical classification of migration-related diversities in 166 European cities. The local turn in migration studies has shown that migration-related diversity may take varied forms in different cities. Our understanding of how and why cities differ is lagging behind the wealth of existing conceptualisations. This is partly because most studies look only at one kind of city, in particular, superdiverse global cities. This paper takes a systematic inductive approach to map the diversity of migration-related diversities in urban setting and understand the reasons behind such variations. Applying quantitative classification methods to European cities in France, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy, we search for a new meaningful classification of the urban diversity configurations based on measures of volume, variety and spread of migration-related diversity. Five empirical clusters of cities of migration are found: superdiverse cities, migrant minority cities, new diversity cities, low-migration cities and non-diverse cities. Subsequently, we develop a better qualitative understanding of these clusters by examining typical cities, their economic positioning, migration history, their policy and political structures, as well as their social and geographical position. A thorough classification, we argue, is necessary to have a more differentiated view of the existing urban diversities and go beyond one-size-fits-all solutions for urban governance of migration-related diversity.

Cities of Migration

“…Moreover, in the context of the local turn in migration studies, there has been a burgeoning of studies since the 2000s that surfaced a wide variety in cities of migration. This has turned attention to cities of different sizes and also to cities with different diversity configurations (Flamant et al, 2020;Lacroix & Desille, 2019;Pisarevskaya et al, 2021). This has revealed a diversity of cities of migration beyond what can be captured by a concept like 'global cities' or 'arrival cities.'…”

“…As the referenced studies above suggest, there has been evidence in favour of convergences as well as divergences between cities from various projects. In our recent study on types of cities of migration (Pisarevskaya et al, 2021), we tried to examine policy variation based on local variation in diversity configurations.…”

Measuring residential segregation in multi‐ethnic and unequal European cities

“…The increasing ethnic diversity of Western societies (Long & Zhang, 2010; Zwiers et al, 2018) has generated an important academic debate regarding the importance of the idea of "super‐diversity" and its social and analytical implications (Meissner & Vertovec, 2015; Vertovec, 2007). In this context, it should be noted that the size of the (resident) foreign population in a given city, the associated economic conditions and the migratory trajectory of the surrounding region all play a key role in the degree of ethnic and cultural diversity and the residential segregation patterns (Marcińczak et al, 2021; Pisarevskaya et al, 2021). This undeniable social reality suggests that a dichotomous analysis of segregation (i.e.…”

“…This is where the use of FUAs, as a commuting space and daily living space, makes the most sense (Dijkstra et al, 2019). In fact, these macro analyses between large regional models should prevent us from concentrating exclusively on the study of the most important (or populated) urban centres, and focus rather on the considerable number of cases that permit a refined investigation of the existence of common (or divergent) patterns of segregation at the regional level (Benassi, Iglesias‐Pascual, et al, 2020; Marcińczak et al, 2021; Pisarevskaya et al, 2021).…”

SDG-11 and smart cities: Contradictions and overlaps between social and environmental justice research agendas

“…Authors researching urbanization (Plieninger et al, 2016 ), migration economics (Pisarevskaya et al, 2022 ), culture (Panzera et al, 2021 ) and technologies (Marvuglia et al, 2020 ) all converge on cities as the site of contestation for social justice (Harvey, 1997 , 2009 ). The dominant public discourse on SDG 11 typically focuses on physical infrastructure projects in cities, including environmental benefits and risks (Hölscher et al, 2019 ).…”