Role zahraniční migrace v měnící se sociálně prostorové diferenciaci Prahy

Abstract

Investigating the spatial differentiation of foreign populations in cities, especially the level of ethnic segregation, has a long tradition in Western European and American social geography. Owing to increased international mobility since the 1990s, it has also become relevant for some post-socialist cities. This article examines how the growing ethnic heterogeneity of the urban population is reflected in the spatial distribution of foreign citizens in Prague, which is now a unique example of a newly multicultural post-socialist capital. The analysis uses the migration register and census data based on citizenship. The results suggest that foreign citizens are a factor in the transformation of the ethnic structure of the population especially in the inner city and the historical core. Ethnic segregation appears to be most pronounced among economically stronger and culturally distant groups, but concentrations of foreign citizens are forming on the level of localities rather than urban quarters. The article offers the first insight into the relationship between international migration and a post-socialist city, which, soon after the fall of communism, became a destination of international immigration.