Industrial districts and migrant enclaves: a model of interaction

ABSTRACT

So far, the relationship between Industrial Districts (IDs; clusters of interconnected local industries) and migrant enclaves (areas with a high concentration of international migrants from a single nationality) has been studied mostly by focusing on the emergence of ‘ethnic enclave economies’ within the district and/or by highlighting racist conflicts that achieved notoriety in the media. In this study, we contend that there is a more general and complex interaction between the two phenomena. This interaction is mediated by the local context, national regulations, and the organization of the international market, among other factors. By focusing on the case of the ceramic ID of Castelló de la Plana (Spain), we show how this ID with a high rate of job formality, combined with other job opportunities and a unique ‘institutional completeness’, set up the conditions for a non-conflictive Romanian migrant enclave that reached 14% of the town’s total population in 2012. Finally, and also considering another case study of ID and migrant enclave (Prato, and its Chinese enclave), we suggest a model of interaction that should be interpreted taking into account the general dynamics of the international organization of value and the requirements of flexibility and reduction of costs that frame IDs.

KEYWORDS:

• Industrial districts
• migrant enclaves
• ethnic economies
• Romanian migration
• migrant emplacement

Acknowledgements

We thank Adriana Suiu for her valuable assistance during the fieldwork.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

José Luis Molina http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2932-2690

Luis Martínez-Cháfer http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8343-938X

Francesc Xavier Molina-Morales http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9078-4782

Miranda J. Lubbers http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8398-6044

Notes

1 To Dillustrate this statement, see for example: El Pais 17 September 2004

‘Demonstrators against Chinese footwear set fire to a factory building in Elche. (…) The demonstrators protested against the presence of Asian warehouse keepers and businessmen because they understand that they represent unfair competition for the sector, as they claim they sell their products without any control by the Administration. (our translation).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Secretaría de Estado de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación [grant number CSO2015-68687-P, ECO2015-67122-R].