Osiedlenie przestrzenne i warunki mieszkaniowe imigrantów: przykład białoruskich imigrantów w Białymstoku w świetle danych pozyskanych na Facebooku
Spatial Settlement and Housing Conditions of Immigrants: the Example of Belarusian Immigrants in Bialystok in Light of Data Obtained on Facebook

Summary/Abstract: The article presents the results of an exploratory study to determine the spatial aspects of settlement and housing conditions of Belarusian immigrants in Bialystok. The study was carried out using an online survey method among members of two groups of Belarusian immigrants on Facebook. The timeliness of this article is due to the following reasons: first, Bialystok is a big city located near the Polish-Belarusian border, where the number of registered Belarusian immigrants is one of the highest in Poland; second, the study of spatial aspects of settlement and housing conditions of immigrants is an important element in the analysis of adaptation and integration of immigrants in the new place of settlement. The main research questions were: is there a voluntary spatial concentration of Belarusian immigrants in Bialystok? What are the housing conditions of Belarusian immigrants in Bialystok? Analysis of the data obtained from the online survey showed that the spatial settlement of Belarusian immigrants in Bialystok is characterized by a moderate voluntary concentration in the city center and in settlements adjacent to the center. The specific nature of the settlement of Belarusian residents in Bialystok is explained by the specific morphology of urban development and immigrants’ preferences. The housing conditions of Belarusian immigrants in Bialystok were identified as meeting their criteria and corresponding to their preferences, not significantly different from the housing conditions of the average autochthonous resident of the city, which is conducive to facilitating the process of adaptation in the new environment and further integration into the host society.

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