SOCIOESPACIAL INTEGRATION OF HAITIAN IMMIGRANTS IN THE CITY OF LAJEADO, BRAZIL: A CONFIGURATIONAL STUDY - CENTRALITY ANALYSIS

Abstract

In this article we approach the social integration process of Haitian immigrants into the context of city a medium size town - Lajeado located at Rio Grande do Sul State in Brazil, which was founded by European immigrants in the 19th century. Lajeado /RS became a main destination for Haitian immigrants, a phenomenon related to the availability of unskilled job positions at meatpacking plants. The main objective is to describe Haitians locational choices for dwellings, leisure and gatherings. For that we draw from Space Syntax tools to measure the patterns of integration / segregation underlying not only their spatial behavior but also to relate their territorialization processes to changes in urban dynamics such as functional centralities displacements and built stock uses changes that ignite transformation on the Old Core area. The description is based on the presumption that space production and appropriation inform the reproduction of social relations and collective behavior. The hypothesis verified is that spatial solidarity is enacted in immigrant integration processes to host societies. Therefore, their locational choices tend to enhance the immigrant network economic integration opportunities. The hypothesis validation recurs to spatial configuration analysis what allows to compare differences between immigrants and locals expectations towards interfaces with alterity. Results point to synchronicity between changes in urban dynamics and the emergency of ethnic centralities on old cores peripheries.