Residential segregation between Latin American population in Spain: an analysis on territorial integration

Jordi Bayona, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Daniela Vono, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Spain, with 5.220.577 foreign residents on 2008 (11% of its population) is the EU country with the highest increase of foreigners during the XXI Century. Latin Americans staged almost exclusively the immigration boom and represent one of each three of the total foreigners. This paper focus on three aspects: 1) the analysis of the residential settlement of this population; 2) the analysis of their housing conditions; 3) the relationship between residential patterns and housing conditions as an indicator of integration. Specifically, it will be studied the values of residential segregation for the most represented Latin American nationalities at the major Spanish cities. These values will be compared with the characteristics of their housing conditions, contributing to the debate of residential segregation at the South European countries. It is expected to find a dual scenario: reduced values of residential segregation together with high numbers of precarious housing conditions and overcrowding situations.