New Immigrant Destinations in a New Country of Immigration: Settlement Patterns of Non-natives in the Czech Republic
Abstract
This paper adds to the literature on new immigrant destinations and the geographies of immigrant incorporation by studying recent changes in the settlement patterns of nonnatives in the Czech Republic. This country has rapidly transitioned from a country of emigration to one gaining population from elsewhere.
The speed of this transition is unusual and is worthy of study in and of itself. Similar to most other countries with significant immigration, newcomers tend to settle in large urban centres, so, not surprisingly, Prague is the principal gateway city.
In the Czech case, however, settlement patterns do not follow a simple hierarchy; non-natives indeed are now found increasingly not only in secondary cities but also in nonmetropolitan areas, especially to the north and west of Prague. These basic geographies are shaped by the direct settlement from other countries and also result from rapidly evolving secondary migrations within the country.