Alessandra Michelangeli (p)

Giovanni Perucca

Growing migrant inflows from outside Europe have intensified the efforts to foster social and economic inclusion of migrants and enhance social cohesion. At the supranational level, the European Commission has launched several initiatives, such as the action plan of integration and inclusion 2021-2027. At national level, governments have implemented a variety of policies in different areas to promote integration of migrants. This is essential for the development of a fair society, which may enable people to move towards a dynamic economy that works for all. As Winkler (2021) points out only “countries with a clear, positive attitudes to immigration are more likely to attain their potential.”
In this paper, we investigate natives’ positive attitudes towards immigrants in 18 European countries with the aim of determining what factors shape pro-immigrant sentiment. To this purpose, we use data from the European Social Survey Round 10 that provides information about natives’ attitudes towards immigrants in the two-year period September 2020 - August 2022. The empirical design is based on the instrumental variable approach that allows to control for the possible endogeneity between pro-immigrant attitudes and immigrant inflows. We also investigate possible non-linearities of explanatory variables in determining pro-immigrant attitudes across European regions.
Our results suggest that countries, which are moving towards more favorable conditions to immigrants, experience a rise in the overall positive attitudes and in positive attitudes with reference to hosting country’s economy. Positive attitudes with reference to hosting country’s culture are instead always increasing as further inclusive policies are implemented.

Roberto Dellisanti (p), Giovanni Perucca (p)

Tomaz Dentinho

In recent years, the growing support for far-right parties worldwide has highlighted how individuals increasingly respond to globalisation, migration flows, and technological insecurity with nationalist and exclusionary voting preferences. While voting behaviour is inherently individual, it is deeply influenced by context-specific conditions.
This paper explores the relationship between migration flows and voting patterns. Specifically, it investigates the role of historical internal migration in shaping contemporary voting behaviour, using Italy as a case study. Italy’s significant internal migration from the South to the North during the Economic Boom provides a unique historical context for examining whether communities shaped by past integration experiences exhibit lower support for far-right, anti-immigration rhetoric.
This research tests whether interpersonal contact under favourable conditions can reduce prejudice and foster intergroup cooperation. It hypothesises that communities with a history of internal migration have developed greater openness and adaptability, triggering a lower support for exclusionary political ideologies.
By combining historical and contemporary data, this study aims to deepen our understanding of how past migration experiences influence current societal attitudes. It sheds light on the conditions that mitigate the appeal of extremist political ideologies, offering insights into fostering inclusivity in diverse communities.

Tomaz Dentinho (p)

Orsa Kekezi

Globalization of migration creating new challenges for social and spatial integration within space. The absence of social and spatial integration generates balkanized multicultural societies living in the same spaces. Spatial and social integration promotes cohesion, cooperation, and collective action within communities, build up social capital and reduce disparities. We take parenthood as an indicator of social and spatial integration collect data from a sample of 281 Azorean residents and formulate a Model that estimates the probability of different males and females having a child as a function of the differences in religion, race, age, education, income, and place of birth. We conclude that racial and religious distances are the more important barriers for social integration, age and education do not have a major impact and income has a medium impact. Result indicate that the reduction of economic disparities is the major factor or social and spatial integration.

Orsa Kekezi (p), Andreas Diemer , Carina Mood, Jan Jonsson

Juan A. Piedra Peña

The past few decades have been characterised by a rise of residential segregation of racial and ethnic minorities in many developed economies. Sweden is no exception to this trend. This development is concerning due to potential negative effects of segregation on several outcomes such as education, employment, income, or health. In this project, we propose to examine the issue of segregation from a different yet arguably very relevant angle than what is typically considered. Literature in economic geography and economics suggests that, because of residential segregation, different groups of people may be unequally exposed to different types of amenities, particularly in urban spaces. Urban amenities, in turn, can materially influence socioeconomic outcomes beyond their consumption utility, by offering a productive return.

Building on this notion, we study the patterns and consequences of differential access to urban amenities for different social groups, focusing on ethnic minorities relative to the native majority in Sweden. Specifically, this paper relies on transit network innovations to study how improved URT access influences the integration of foreign-origin individuals with native-background ones and society more in general. We consider the case of exogamy (marriage outside one's own ethnic group), which is an instance of cross-groups social interactions that we can observe and quantify. Exogamy is a particularly stringent test for social integration, because only a small fraction of interactions across groups eventually transitions into a marriage. Any effect on exogamy we detect, therefore, implies an equal or larger effect on social ties. We restrict our analysis to Stockholm's URT, which displays significant variation over time. We define URT access as the walking time to the nearest station's entry or exit point.

Our findings will document the effect of access to an important type of urban amenity on the integration of ethnic minorities. In addition, they will inform policymakers and city planners about a potentially overlooked benefit of transport improvements --- all the more relevant as Stockholm's URTN is being expanded with 10 new stations and 20 km of extra lines.

Rosella Nicolini, Juan A. Piedra Peña (p), José Luis Roig, Riccardo Turati

Alessandra Michelangeli

The scope of our research is to assess the degree of socioeconomic cohesion in Barcelona by referring to the composition of the urban population. Our target is to assess the ways in which groups of immigrants and natives in the city integrate by referring to their choice of location (i.e., place of residence) and whether their integration creates or reduces cultural barriers that could harm the social welfare. The crucial factor driving that effect is the potential interaction that can or cannot be established among natives and immigrants. If that interaction takes place, then the likelihood of achieving social cohesion and possibly limiting the potential drawbacks for polarized or segregated societies is relatively high. From that perspective, the study of the city of Barcelona is extremely appropriate. Since the beginning of the 20th century, Barcelona has ranked among preferred destinations of national and international migrants alike. The city currently hosts important, diverse ethnic groups of immigrants, a condition that makes it vulnerable to the possible creation or consolidation of important segregation effects that can precipitate the fragmentation of urban society, with all of the potential consequences of social instability, as can be perceived when examining other European cities.
Unlike in the literature, we adopt a research strategy that relies on spatial analysis.
First, we assess the relevance of the spatial dimension and the effectiveness of spillover effects across spatial units—in our case, barris in Barcelona. The possibility of interaction between individuals belonging to different groups is a clear deterrent of discrimination and cultural cleavage in general. Any initiative that can facilitate the possibility of immigrant–native interaction are definitely welcome as a means to reduce the cultural divide in Barcelona. Last, the dimension of education remains relevant in defining the channel by which the level of income helps to reduce the diversity index. Our results emphasize that a higher level of income helps to reduce the perceived diversity between natives and immigrants. Individuals form such perceptions and beliefs based on several factors, including previous experience, family background, and level of education. Therefore, a deep reading of the results again stresses that the value of education is a primary factor of a higher degree of social cohesion in Barcelona.