Vaughan, L; (2002) The Unplanned 'Ghetto': Immigrant work patterns in 19th century Manchester. In: (Proceedings) Proceedings of the 10th Conference of the International Planning History Society, Westminster University, London. : London.

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Abstract

The research presented here considered the well-documented phenomenon of immigrant clustering in niche trades or occupations and compares immigrant and non-immigrant groups within the same poverty \'ghetto\' - the Red Bank area of Manchester. The research used primary census data and contemporary maps to analyse the socio-economic and spacial structure of the \'ghetto\'.The findings suggest that the (primarily Jewish) immigrant group studied here was concentrated in a significantly narrow band of occupations in comparison with non-immigrants in the ares and that immigrants from the same occupation group tended to live in household clusters. Analysis of work-home distances using \'space syntax\' techniques suggests that the occupants of the \'ghetto\' area of the city tend to work very close to home, whilst more long-standing immigrants living in the lower middle-class district adjacent to the area worked in locations which provided them with the potential for economic integration.Whilst these findings suggest that the immigrants had identifiable differences from their \'ghetto\' area neighbours, the research also highlighted findings that suggest that the inhabitants of the district of Red Bank - taken as a group - were different in their occupational structure from the city as a whole. \'Space syntax\' analysis of the spacial integration of the area indicated that it was significantly segregated from the central business district, despite it being geographically quite proximate. These findings, coupled with other research undertaken into social class structure, suggest that the non-Jewish inhabitants of the Red Bank district were also distinctive in their social and spacial patterns when compared to the city overall, thus the inhabitants of the \'ghetto\' area had unique characteristics which distinguished them from inhabitants of the other areas of the city.This paper concludes with the suggestion that certain areas of cities are especially prone to settlement by the disadvantaged, due to characteristics that make areas firstly, tend to be economically unsuccessful due to their spacial segregation and secondly, less attractive to those who have the means to move elsewhere and that such areas are not so much defined by their immigrant constituents, but by their long-standing inhabitants that cannot move elsewhere.

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