Residential segregation and social diversification: Exploring spatial settlement patterns of foreign population in Southern European cities

Studies on residential segregation of foreign population in Southern Europe usually focus on capital cities, omitting the metropolitan dimension and paying less attention to use of comparable analysis' spatial scales. These issues, together with the dominant use of two-group segregation indexes, prevent identification and classification of metropolitan patterns of residential segregation in such contexts. To overcome these key issues, the spatial segregation of foreign population in 16 Functional Urban Areas (FUAs) was investigated in Italy and Spain using global and local multi-group segregation indexes based on a regular geometry (100 m grid) and confronted with socioeconomic indicators profiling the local context. Results of this study reveal the absence of common metropolitan patterns of residential segregation in both countries. In turn, a greater level of residential segregation is correlated with a lower presence of immigrant population and depressed socioeconomic conditions of each FUA, suggesting the existence of a downward spiral toward social vulnerability in the most disadvantaged cities. These results finally indicate the increasing difficulties faced by foreigners in order to access the real estate market in Southern European cities.