The Impact of Increased diversity on the Residential Landscape of a Sunbelt Metropolis: Racial and Ethnic Segregation Across the Atlanta Metropolitan Region, 1990–2010

Abstract

Los paisajes residenciales a través del sur urbano han sido significativamente alterados en los últimos años por la creciente diversidad racial y étnica evidente en toda la región. Atlanta, Georgia representa una región urbana que recientemente ha sido identificada como una nueva puerta de entrada de inmigrantes, al haberse convertido en el hogar de una amplia gama de comunidades étnicas atraída al crecimiento y la diversificación del mercado de trabajo de esta área. Este estudio investiga el impacto que el incremento de diversidad ha tenido en los niveles de segregación residencial entre grupos raciales y/o étnicos en el núcleo de la región de Atlanta desde 1990 a 2010. El análisis empírico incluyó la medida de dos dimensiones de segregación evidente entre los blancos no hispanos, los afroamericanos, los hispanos y los asiáticos. Las medidas de segregación residencial se separaron para investigar los impactos relativos del cambio de composición en toda la región y del cambio redistributivo intra-urbano sobre la segregación entre los cuatro grupos. Durante las dos décadas, Atlanta exhibió muy modestas formas de integración residencial, sin embargo, en algunos contextos la región realmente se volvió más segregada en áreas residenciales. Los resultados sugieren que los blancos no hispanos, los asiáticos y los hispanos exhibieron cierto grado de auto-selectividad étnica (o racial) que sirvió para concentrar estos grupos en áreas residenciales, aunque estas fuerzas fueron parcialmente anuladas por otras que operaban a escala metropolitana y de vecindad. La evidencia además sugiere que las experiencias residenciales entre las minorías se vieron fuertemente impactadas por el comportamiento redistributivo de los blancos. Los resultados llevan a la conclusión de que Atlanta continua siendo una región urbana altamente segregada, aunque cada vez más diversa.

Residential Settlement Patterns among Immigrants in Atlanta Metropolitan Area, Georgia

“…Immigrants, looking for areas with lower costs of living and growing job opportunities (viewed by some as a “economic boom”), have joined native‐born migrants in moving to New Sunbelt locations (including Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia) (Strait and Gong ). This has turned urban areas in those states (such as Atlanta) into destinations for foreign‐born populations, and those states into a “New Melting Pot” (Strait and Gong ; Frey ).…”

“…Not only Atlanta MSA is as an international gateway and diverse community, as part of the “New Sun Belt”, it is a location newly favored by immigrants who are bypassing traditional gateway cities such as coastal urban areas, Chicago, and Houston (Frey ). Immigrants, looking for areas with lower costs of living and growing job opportunities (viewed by some as a “economic boom”), have joined native‐born migrants in moving to New Sunbelt locations (including Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia) (Strait and Gong ). This has turned urban areas in those states (such as Atlanta) into destinations for foreign‐born populations, and those states into a “New Melting Pot” (Strait and Gong ; Frey ).…”

“…This paper contributes to that niche, examining differential settlement patterns for foreign‐born populations in the Atlanta Metropolitan Statistical Area. As immigration to the United States has changed and new cities are now destination cities for immigrants—including Atlanta—this paper advances the literature examining these changes with relatively up‐to‐date ACS data set (Strait and Gong ; Frey ). Using Census tracts as the level of analysis, this paper examines the spatial distribution patterns of immigrants by place of birth (region and country of origin), and considers how social and economic variables (local job market, language spoken, and education) correlate with those settlement patterns.…”

Neighborhood Dynamics of Race and Ethnicity in the 21st Century: Residential Segregation and Poverty Concentration within Chicago, Illinois; 2000-2010

“…(Vertovec 2007). Chicago, being simultanously both diverse and highly segregated, could be offered as evidence that diversity and segregation are not binary opposites of one another in terms of how they manifest across urban space (Holloway et al 2012;Strait and Gong 2015). Findings reported here provide compelling geographical evidence that race and ethnicity still matter in Chicago, even if they continue to matter in slightly different ways.…”

“…We focus attention on how the aforementioned changes have manifested across the residential landscape within the core of Chicago, Illinois, a diversifying urban region that has witnessed transformations that exemplify those exhibited across the urban United States. We argue that it remains paramount to understand how city-wide diversity translates to the actual residential experiences of different racial and ethnic groups within places like Chicago, particularly in light of research suggesting that neighborhood geographies of US metropolitan areas can simultaneously be both diverse and segregated (Holloway et al 2012;Strait and Gong 2015). In meeting its purpose this project builds upon a growing literature that has analyzed changes in residential segregation at the neighborhood level, and has considered its relationship to degrees of poverty concentration exhibited among different racial and ethnic groups (Firebaugh and Strait 2001Strait , 2002Strait , 2006aStrait , 2006bStrait and Gong 2008, 2015Strait et al 2007).…”