Spatial approach in the analysis of immigrants clusters in urban areas

Joan Carles Martori, Universitat de Vic
Karen Hoberg, University of Vic

The statistics applied to the geography has experimented a spectacular advance on the last two decades working in the space as a fundamental axis of the analysis. This advance has been seen accompanied with a fast development of statistical applications integrated into the systems of geographical information, constituting itself this way in a set of indispensable tools in the territorial planning. On the other hand, in Spain, the increase of immigrant population in a short interval of time has made its spatial distribution analyze necessary in the urban areas. The indexes of spatial autocorrelation, global as well as local, and its cartographic representation constitute a technique suitable for the detection of clusters and spatial patterns and the possibility to propose different econometric models. From the case of the city of Barcelona, the described techniques are applied and the different behaviours are observed according to the group of population studied.