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

Abstract

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.

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

“…The literature contains a large variety of results, with some studies showing evidence of each of the theories as well as the coexistence of multiple theories, depending on the ethnic group (Bolt & van Kempen, ; Skovgaard Nielsen, ). A growing number of comparative studies have also revealed differences in patterns of spatial assimilation between different cities and countries (Bolt & van Kempen, ; Bolt et al, ; Edgar, ; Logan, Alba, & Zhang, ; Wessel, Andersson, Kauppinen, & Skifter Andersen, ).…”

Residential Settlement Patterns among Immigrants in Atlanta Metropolitan Area, Georgia

“…In sum, there is an agreement in the literature that a split labor market exists that in part drives settlement decisions and hence substantial differences in residential location patterns among ethnic and immigrant groups (Alvarez ; Wessel and others ). Moreover, the literature agrees that several interrelated social and economic variables, including level of education and income, and country and region of origin influence settlement patterns (Poppe ; Farrell ; Furuseth and others ).…”

Natives’ opinions on ethnic residential segregation and neighbourhood diversity in Helsinki, Oslo and Stockholm

“…Other parts of our comparative Nordic project provide such overviews (see, for example, country overviews in Andersson, R., et al, 2010;Skifter Andersen et al, 2016;Wessel et al, 2016). This section provides some basic data concerning the demographic and socio-economic structure of neighbourhoods having different proportions of non-Nordic immigrants.…”