• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.37-43
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• 2018

This paper measures and maps multi-dimensional residential segregation of immigrants in Seoul metropolitan area at city/county/district level as well as town level, thereby adding to our understanding of the urban structure and its spatial distribution impacted by immigration. The perspective offered here focuses on the segregation spurred by transnational migrants and their urban settlement. By drawing population data for 79 city/county/district administrative units from the Korea Immigration Service, residential segregation of immigrants in Seoul metropolitan area is measured based on Massey & Denton's four segregation indices: evenness, exposure, concentration and clustering. The empirical findings suggest that Seoul metropolitan area is highly segregated and the areas showing hyper-segregation appear in Seoul city and Gyeonggi province. As immigrants are foreseen to continue to increase in the future, this research contributes both empirically and theoretically to preliminary research on spatial segregation of immigrants by showing how ethnic places are segregated spatially through ethnic networks that support the geographic concentration of minority groups.