The Settlement Patterns of Developed World Migrants in London

Abstract

Contemporary international migration flows into European cities are now more diverse than used to be the case. The movement of less-skilled labour migrants has been replaced by the circulation of high-skill executives and specialist personnel involved in transnational corporations and in the financial services and other sectors affected by economic globalisation. To these are added other new service migrants and increased flows of students and independent young people. As a result, world cities are now witnessing the emergence of important categories of non-racialised international migrant groups. This paper considers whether such groups form distinctive residential concentrations in Greater London and uses the limited aggregate data available from the census to establish a general view of the geography of developed world migrants. There are important implications for urban theory and for discussions of urban ethnicity.