Recent immigration, territorial patterns and commuting in Spain: a metropolitan perspective

Jordi Bayona-i-Carrasco, Centre d’Estudis Demogràfics (CED), UAB
Marc Ajenjo, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

This paper studies the immigrant population commuting behaviour in Spain, especially those displacements that had been produced between place of work and residence. This analysis adopts an urban perspective, with the study of the two most important metropolises in the country, the Barcelona Metropolitan Region (BMR) and the Madrid Metropolitan Region (MMR). They are characterised by a very intense and recent immigration phenomena and by a great diversity of present immigrants’ composition. The 14.8% of population in the BMR and the 16.0% in the MMR are foreign-born, summing almost 1,750,000 immigrants, who had arrived mainly to Spain during the last decade. Firstly, commuting characteristics will be analysed, focusing our attention in: 1) those immigrants who works in another municipality; 2) the time between residence and work; and 3) the model of travel to work. Then, our attention will focus on the existence of concentration effects over commuting. We will use the 2011 Census microdata, with a subdivision of the BMR in 190 units and the MMR in 237 units about 20-40 thousand inhabitants. We use a logistic regression to determine these concentration effects, controlling by age, sex, country of birth, activity and studies. Using standard deviation as a dispersion measure we had defined different concentration categories for each immigrant group, also studding different types of concentration depending of their geographic location. First results for the Barcelona Metropolitan Region shown than immigrants move less than natives and when they moved they need more time for their displacements. Also, they have a public transport use greater intensity. These patterns have major effects over women. Also, it can be observed some concentration effects, reinforced by their location. A metropolitan centre effect is observed, while peripheries penalise daily mobility.