Spatializing immigrant integration outcomes

Abstract

Measurements of immigrant integration outcomes generally occur at the national scale and, to a lesser extent, at the urban scale. This paper argues that immigrant integration outcomes should be measured at other scales in order to better understand how the process of integration is affected by where people live. It uses existing large-scale data sets for the Republic of Ireland to show differences in integration outcomes, measured using the Zaragoza indicators, for three of the country's eight NUTS 3 regions. The analysis shows that there are marked differences in immigrant integration outcomes across regions and highlights the different regional barriers to and enablers of integration. The paper concludes that geographers should advocate for a more nuanced understanding of immigrant integration as a spatialized process and should insist on the importance of making relevant data available at a range of spatial scales.