Neighbours and Friends? Can Residential Segregation Explain Ethnic Separation? The Case of Milan (Italy)

Ethnic segregation is defined as the degree to which two or more subgroups of population by ethnicity are separated from each other. Whether or not two groups are separated is a debate reflecting on the definition of what ‘separation’ means: sharing the same space where to reside, having the same opportunities for daily encounters or for work, or the space for leisure and cultivation of friendship relations. In this paper, we focus on the relation between ethnic residential segregation and friendship relations. We analyse the residential behaviour and friendship of foreigners in Milan (the nine major citizenships), which is the most important urban area in the national settlement system of Italy and the most attractive area in the migratory Italian panorama. We show how residential behaviour can only partially explain friendship relations between immigrants and natives, since different ethnic groups tend to settle on the territory and interact with others depending on the characteristics of individuals and their immigration history. Data come from the population register (2005–2009) and the 2007 Regional Observatory for Integration and Multi-ethnicity Survey. Results are based on indices of segregation and multilevel multinomial logistic regression models.