Family, welfare and districts. The local impact of new migrants in Italy

Southern European countries such as Spain, Greece and Italy have recently been the primary final destination of immigrants trying to reach Europe. For this reason these countries are becoming interesting cases for a comparison of the processes of settlement, integration and conflict experienced by immigrants. Even though a comprehensive comparative analysis among European states is not entirely feasible, we can already notice certain characteristics of immigrant settlements as well as the trajectories of their social and geographic mobility. This article is mostly centred on the Italian context and discusses three themes: recent immigration in some industrial districts, female immigrants as care workers in urban centres, and finally emerging/ changing social conflicts as a direct consequence of immigration fluxes. The Italian cases illustrated in this article suggest the emergence of forms of territorial settlement which are not very segregated, but may in any event be potentially conflictual. In this respect I will discuss the growing economic competition among different types of immigrant entrepreneurs, the segregation and discrimination of immigrant children in schools, and finally the ethno-spatial conflicts which recently came to the fore in Milan. © The Author(s), 2009.