Disentangling residential geographies of selected foreign population groups in a context of low immigration

Foreign presence is an intrinsically spatial phenomenon, characterized by strong geographical variability across different territorial contexts. This variability becomes progressively more intense as we move down the territorial scale of analysis. This contribution proposes an empirical evaluation of the residential geographies of EU foreign citizens and non-EU foreign citizens residing in the Metropolitan City of Naples (Campania, Southern Italy), a context characterized by a low level of immigration. The empirical analysis uses data from the 2021 permanent demographic census and is carried out using census tracts as the primary statistical units and an ad hoc geographical framework (‘quartieri’ for the municipality of Naples and municipalities for the rest of the Metropolitan City of Naples). The residential geographies of foreign groups are summarized using the dissimilarity index of Duncan and Duncan in the adjusted version proposed by Mazza and Punzo. This index informs us about the level of evenness between the spatial distribution of foreigners compared to that of Italians (who act as the reference group). The adjusted version of the index allows us to control for some biases that normally arise in cases with a low number of foreigners. The geographical distribution of the bias-corrected index for the two foreign population groups is represented by thematic maps. Then, its level of spatial autocorrelation (global and local) is analyzed. The results allow us to appreciate the spatial variability of the foreign population residing in the Metropolitan City of Naples and to provide initial insights into their spatial patterns using a multiscale geographical approach, which serves as a first step toward a better understanding of their residential behaviours.