Socio-spatial differentiation of permanent Hong Kong residents and new immigrants from mainland China

Residential segregation in cities has continued to attract much scholarly attention amongst social scientists. Researchers have explored the degree to which different income classes (Fong and Shibuya 2000; Massey and Denton 1988a) and racial groups (Charles 2003; Musterd 2005) are separated across urban space. Today, while voluntary segregation of the privileged and affluent is propelled by the trend of gated communities and suburbanisation (Li, Zhu and Li 2012; Libertun De Duren 2006; Massey and Denton 1988b), involuntary segregation of the disadvantaged and poor in the forms of ghettos, squatter settlements and urbanising villages persists in both developed and developing countries (Davis 2006; Hao 2015; Marcuse 1997). Residential segregation has a deleterious effect on society because it prevents social groups from assimilation and integration (Marcuse 1997). It also creates unequal access to life chances by residents and their progeny, given that resources and amenities are unevenly distributed across urban space (Musterd 2005).