The relationship between immigrant residential segregation and access to non-work opportunities: evidence from the Twin Cities of Minnesota

Abstract

Due to recent immigration, the United States displays more racial and ethnic diversity. As immigrants have added some new dimension to the segregation picture in their ethnic/immigrant communities, it is essential for transportation and land use planners to understand their travel patterns. Although the more recent research studies consider accessibility to job opportunities between the foreign-born and U.S.-born neighborhoods, not much has been done to investigate the spatial disparities existing regarding access to such non-work opportunities. The present study, therefore, investigates the disparities in the accessibility of immigrant neighborhoods to non-work opportunities in Minnesota. Therefore, different neighborhoods are distinguished according to their immigrants’ makeup as well as median household income. The results reveal that ethnic/immigrant neighborhoods enjoy an advantage in regard to their physical accessibility, as compared to the reference neighborhoods. Despite this, in all neighborhoods, low-income immigrant neighborhoods enjoy the maximum level of access to all types of non-work opportunities. Such results are also true even when not considering accessibility measures and travel modes.