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What tourists don't see: housing, concentration of poverty and ethnic conflict in a
Spanish migrant ghetto

Author(s): Ubaldo Martinez Veiga
Source: Dialectical Anthropology, Vol. 38, No. 1, Special Theme Focus - Dialectics of
Migration (Part 2) (March 2014), pp. 59-77
Published by: Springer
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/43895200
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Dialect Anthropol (2014) 38:59-77
DOI 10.1007/s 10624-0 14-9329-2
What tourists don't see: housing, concentration

of poverty and ethnic conflict in a Spanish
migrant ghetto
Ubaldo Martinez Veiga
Published online: 12 February 2014

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014
Abstract This article is a critique of the myth of "concentrated poverty," that

blames urban ills on spatial morphology, presenting the city as a reified entity.
Spatial fetishization neglects to consider the political economy that creates poverty
and inequalities. Through the evolution of a ghetto in the Spanish Mediterranean
coast, the article addresses spatial segregation, social isolation and territorial stig-
matization of the urban poor. Three different contingents of residents - Spaniard,
gypsies and Moroccan - are analyzed in their mutual relationships and in their
dealings with local and regional governments that produce their neighborhood as a
wasteland. Although these groups are strongly segregated among them, the space
they inhabit carries a stigma that they share and sets them apart from the larger
society. However, they are not isolated from but, on the contrary, fully embedded in
the basic elements that constitute capitalism.
Keywords Segregation • Concentrated poverty • Discrimination • Spain
Introduction
Based on a longitudinal study stretching from 1 985 to 2009, this paper analyses how
Parque Ansaldo, an area lying just outside the tourist town of San Juan in the Spanish
Province of Alicante, has progressively become a ghetto. The paper is divided into two
parts. First, I describe the arrival in Parque Ansaldo (the Park) of three different groups
of population: non-gypsy Spaniards, Spanish gypsies and Moroccan immigrants.
Second, I will analyze the characteristics that make Parque Ansaldo a ghetto, while in
parallel criticizing some of the common theoretical ideas that underpin the concept of
ghetto for failing to take a political economic approach to its formation.
U. Martinez Veiga (0)

Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Madrid, Spain
e-mail: ubaldojmartinez@gmail.com; ubaldo_martinez@hotmail.com
ô Springer
60 U. Martinez Veiga
The first group of p

Spaniards, soon follo
government after floo
structural defects in bu
first inhabitants to sto
abandonment of the ar
gypsy families also m
gypsy population comi
migrants arrived. They
informal access to prec
coincide spatially for w
and substituted each ot
out.This phenomenon
intolerance threshold
Meyerson and Banfield
triggered by the loss of
investment for the po
In the second part of t
order to assess the valu
characterize ghettos an
The first and most per
concentration, which i
Ansaldo. I will offer a c
neglecting the political
social inequality. The s
mismatch (i.e., the spa
that these are the effec
rather than proper exp
The province of Alic
Valencia in Spain. It is
is the fourth most pop
area of Elche and Alica
composed of two larg
tourist town of San Ju
Alicante. Parque Ansald
here. Both Alicante an
tourist zones in Spain
itinerant street vend
production of footwea
2006). Since 1980, the
from other European
important internal im
Mancha, Murcia or An
Valencia is the fourth
Barcelona and Madrid.
^ Springer
Spanish migrant ghetto 61
First approach to the field
In the Alicante metropolitan

San Juan, one finds what was
just "Parque Ansaldo," one of
and perhaps in the whole of S
and the project included facil
the total area was over 13,000
middle-income families, as t
protecc ión oficial). In 1982 aft
unsold and were bought by th
Works and Urbanism).
First, let us describe how t
spatially and socially, was gen
that the part that faces the to
mostly luxury villas - by abo
nowhere. The Park is totally s
in the vicinity which makes i
The Park was a private real es
mainly from the National Mo
was planned as a middle-cla
Alicante-Valencia highway wh
mall which opened nearby. Th
that remain from these early
professionals, including lawye
October 1982, a flash flood w
Alicante. Many lower-income
and the Ministry of Public W
housing to relocate these hom
Let me describe the character
the trap of what may be co
omnipresent in much of the
places - a few observations are
people who describe themse
designated as such by others.
by others to label certain peo
have adopted it. In this case, t
as nomads, but this group of
living in Alicante for a very l
laborers. At the time of this st
own words "there is no agr
happens in other countries su
migratory behavior than is of
are about 60,000 gypsies livin
the Federación de Sociedades G
Gitana, Madrid 2003). In Par
Springer
included grandparents, p
the grandfather. When
keeping warm around bi
answered that this was w
men told me that ther
Dance" - referring to th
life. The "payos," (non-gy
considered this gathering
because it was dangerous
gypsies thought of as a
manifestation to non-gyp
One of the fundamental
commitment. Some gyps
evangelical religious grou
a cultural marker of the
highly decentralized and
population has always vie
underscore that the evang
patient because soon the
the preacher probably mea
faith, the non-gypsy neig
long run they will becom
The entry of gypsy fa
deterioration of the hou
windows and paint peelin
in construction were so
buildings is one of treme
that the buildings did not
three different phenomen
First, several of the early
several of these families
resulted in the common a
viable. The recreational z
grass was dry and even t
wasteland. Third, non-gy
were taken over entirely
time to time to see what sta
discontinued. A non-gypsy
piled up everywhere. In th
found (raw mutton, meat,
Thus, the deterioration o
and the arrival of the gy
neighborhood. However, i
gypsies for non-gypsy
processes underlying it, e
the economic value of their houses.
â Springer
As mentioned before, when th

the housing costs, the initial g
loans and community fees and
already paid and did not corres
the first to leave. It seems clear that the reason for the abandonment of homes was
based on a strictly economic calculation of what one stands to gain or lose. Therefore,
it is not accurate to present this process as a simple phenomenon of ethnic succession.
Indirectly, there may be some element of this as the arrival of the gypsy contingent
accelerated the plummeting in housing values. But the ethnic intolerance aspect has
only an indirect or oblique incidence on the abandonment of early residents.
Superficially, what we can observe is the substitution of one group of residents by
another, a process that resembles the phenomenon that the authors of the Chicago
School described as "succession." But this is not as automatic as those sociologists
think. Ernest Burgess (Park and Burgess 1967) in trying to explain the growth or
expansion of the city explains that "expansion, namely the tendency of each inner
zone to extend its area by the invasion of the next outer zone... may be called
succession, a process which has been studied in detail in plant ecology." In the same
publication, Roderick McKenzie, discussing the Ecological Approach to the Study
of the Human Community, says, "The structural growth of community takes place
in successional sequence not unlike the successional stages in the development of
the plant formation... and just as in plant communities successions are the products
of invasion, so also in the human community the formations, segregations and
associations that appear constitute the outcome of a series of invasions." The
authors of the Chicago School "describe" in their model what occurs in the US
cities, namely "once blacks entered a neighborhood they continued to move there
until it was all or mostly black," prompting the flight of white residents (Frey and
Farley 1993). What these authors of the Chicago School were saying is that the
substitution of certain populations by others, some ethnic groups by others, is based
on a phenomenon of invasion which leads to that of succession. This is similar to
what can be observed in Ansaldo Park with the gypsies, that is, when they enter the
Park, the non-gypsies (payos ) or the earlier residents start to move out. This might
resemble the so-called white flight where whites move to nearby suburban areas in a
desire to distance themselves from inner-city ethnic groups.
The problem with the metaphor of plant communities' invasion and segregation
applied to human groups is that it presents succession as a mechanical process,
disregarding the economic dynamics underlying the process. This idea has had a
long tradition in urban sociology. The substitution we found in the Ansaldo Park has
nothing mechanical about it, however. All kinds of commercial transactions
involving the commodity "housing" frame and underpin the movements of
population in the Park. For example, the initial group of flood victims settled by the
Ministry of Public Works abandon their homes or "hand them over" or "transfer"
them or "sell" them for a nominal sum of 20,000-50,000 pesetas.1
Moreover, there is a problem of scale involved. The gypsies enter Parque
Ansaldo but inhabit different blocks from those occupied by the old payo residents.
1 The Euro does not appear as a currency until January 1, 1999, and fully replaced the peseta in 2002.
â Springer
This is because de facto

segregation exists to beg
between groups if one lo
consider this phenomen
greater at smaller than a
between two groups mak
pattern of ethnic succes
effort to avoid another
prejudice and stereotyp
(1903, 1995) according to
economic inequality, frag
racial and ethnic groups
The residents who filed
housing project were calle
gypsies exists some of wh
they did not present any
period, an Owners Associ
This association was made
would exert more pressur
in order to get greater e
number of early resident
those who remained wer
confrontation with the ba
recovering all the t sums
this money had remained
litigants paid their debts t
long time ago. The argume
interest is predicated on
prevailing in the neighbo
as a deposit for another h
it had lost so much value t
buy another home, nor a
being asked for a guaran
home in Parque Ansaldo w
value. In that situation
economic resources to bu
Bearing this descripti
abandonment by owne
investment and the qualit
world's highest percentag
home as a means of capi
this revaluation does not
is either to sell it, if thi
In the sections that follo
of residents following
neighborhood.
Ö Springer
The arrival of gypsy familie
As described earlier, the Mini

mostly gypsy families who be
the area in 1982. As a consequ
families were living were s
somewhere. These were famil
to each other through a stron
others who lived nearby in the
they were just a small minori
could still establish or impose
neighbors who affirm that th
The resettled gypsies had t
prevailing conditions and gen
event, the first domestic grou
time. Abandonment was in
returned to their old homes or at least went to live near their relatives in Alicante.
This first generation of the gypsy population is replaced by families and individuals
of the same ethnic group but from places that are spatially much further away. Most
of the gypsies in Parque Ansaldo in the 1990s had come from Salamanca - over
500 km away.
All kinds of commercial transactions are to be found. The first resettlers "sell"
their homes for a nominal price of 20,000-50,000 pesetas. They then returned to
their parents' home or that of some other relative or they occupied a neighboring
home: Ansaldo Park started to acquire a new look. The initial gypsy families that
were resettled belonged to two- or three-related networks of gypsies while those
who arrived later had different characteristics. They were more atomized and
disconnected when they came into the neighborhood and were not interlinked as
densely as those described earlier. Some members of different family groups at
loggerheads arrived and disputes and fights resulted. From this moment on (1985),
there was a spectacular increase in the gypsy population and decrease in the non-
gypsy one. It must also be emphasized that from this time onward drug sales started
to enter the neighborhood as a visible activity with important economic
consequences. From here on the process of abandonment on the part of non-
gypsies accelerated and in Ansaldo Park, there started to be a pool of empty housing
with easy access. Access is sometimes even free when occupation follows what the
neighbors themselves call "kicking in the door" technique, although this system is
not frequent. Normally, the gypsy family groups enter by paying a fee to others of
the same ethnic group, even though this may not be much, considering that the
initial non-gypsy residents had sometimes sold their homes to others at exorbitant
prices (some people talk of transactions of up to 400,000 pesetas). Let me give an
example which illustrates what went on in the Park.
One homeowner described the replacement of one gypsy family unit by another
in the following way: "They come from far away and look for a gypsy woman.
When they find her, they ask if she knows of some small flat around here as they
have no place to stay. The woman who lives in a flat replies that "if you give me
^ Springer
100,000 pesetas, I could g

who is interested in the
occupant moves into anot
first, with the arrival of
of vacant flats has occur
former "owners." As a re
four vacant flats. This p
villages where the housi
emphasized that structur
strictly mediated by econ
succeeding another or
minority.
What should be emphasized here is that all those who were able to do so
speculated with their flats whether they be gypsies or not. Another point is a
complaint frequently heard among so-called owners which is not totally justified:
They talk about the injustice of some owners having paid to live in their homes
while others who came later did not. This is not strictly true since those who came
later also had to pay something. In all cases, the title to proper ownership is doubtful
because even the initial buyers who stopped paying their mortgages were in a
nebulous situation as probably most of the flats legally belonged to the mortgage
bank.
In any event, the gradual but continuous arrival of gypsy families and the
departure of the first residents who were a majority of "owners" made for a
considerable gypsy majority already in 1989. The number of non-gypsies decreased
still further during the following years and in the late 1990s less than 30 families
remained.
From an occupational viewpoint, important differences existed between the two

groups. The non-gypsies had regular jobs such as security guards, shop assistants,
workers in small industries, the municipality or commerce and their activities were
in nearby villages such as San Juan, Muxamiel and Alicante. From this point of
view, they were a part of the labor structure of the immediate geographic area they
were embedded in. They were part of the labor networks within the space they lived
in. In the context of the labor instability prevalent in Spain, one could say that, on
the whole, they had stable employment which implied that during the year they were
employed for a longer period than unemployed.
The labor activities of the gypsies were totally different. Itinerant vending was
their main activity. It is important to emphasize that very few of them carried out
this activity in their area of residence or nearby (the city and province of Alicante).
Rather, they worked in places as faraway as Bejar, Salamanca, Ciudad Real or in
areas of Andalusia like Jaen, Jerez or Cádiz - all of these places are over 500 km
away. This indicates that they were not embedded in the labor networks of their
immediate vicinity. The reason for this pattern can be found in that they were
migrant populations from these farther areas where they pursued their activities and
where they had family, friends and the social relations that form a "working
network."
â Springer
In addition to this activity,

temporary agricultural tasks
only a very short time and w
what we saw among the non-g
example painting toys. Small
women and children did for
permanent and a balance of th
was unemployed for more t
which this group was involve
that only a small minority
Although the participation
nonetheless had the effect of
extent that all were very wo
other inhabited areas, young p
sometimes stopped to pick
intentions, they used to roll u
tracks. Indeed, drug dealing a
the activities of this collectiv
few were involved in it. For i
their itinerant sales or throu
groups immediately assumed
The Moroccans and their jo
The third ethnic group to ar

Although a few Algerian fa
Moroccan. I will provide now
them with those of the previ
Moroccan immigrants are mo
female occupation. Domestic s
domestic service, when the em
gets leave one full day a week
and a half-day which is usu
outside. In this case, the job is
the employer attempts to ded
domestic service, allows the e
according to the hours of wo
women who work as interns
informal supervision of a fr
children are younger, they le
The second important activit
also we find two different ty
knives, handbags, etc. which i
a result, fierce competition be
that they should be the only o
ô Springer
the others are "moros"

carried out by Moroccan
might represent a spe
Alicante area, whereas g
The second type of wor
Spanish businessmen.
Passengers often come
and readily available. Th
sold to Algerians. When
Moroccans and Algerian
with shops and factorie
and so on. This can be d
and demand. Some infor
of these intermediaries
most of their products
intermediaries are Alger
Moroccan women, one
important element has
always Spaniards.
All of these activities ar
neighborhood activity e
worked as plumbers, elec
or 16 people at the most
non-gypsies previously
activity but Moroccans st
that in e order to obtain
ownership contract. Sin
contract even in the case
that they had not fulfil
refused a contract. In suc
in their flat to one that
there longer and had the
or because the owner had
was rare to find someone who had an electric or water meter in his own flat. The most
prevalent situation, particularly among the Moroccans who were the latest arrivals, was
that of five or six households connected to the light or water meter of a single residence.
This does not mean that they obtained these services free of charge. Moreover, due to
the flats being rundown on the inside, there is quite a lot of work for those who are
plumbers, electricians or masons. Now, they are all Moroccans.
The arrival of the Moroccans
I will now describe the arrival of the first Moroccans to the Park. The first individual
to arrive was a worker who paid a non-gypsy for his flat in order to live in it.
According to him, this was a proper sale although it was impossible to determine the
^ Springer
sum involved. Another Moroc

400,000 pesetas, which is mor
the bank. This should be under
the gypsies who sold flats that
frequently found non-gypsies
how he had obtained a flat, he
me without charge." Moroccan
that money was part of the tra
bank for his flat originally.
The next Moroccan residents
women workers who would ini
20,000 pesetas. Often, these w
etas/month they could rent a
monthly rent and confronted
that the flat is not hers to ren
address corresponds to someon
the possibility of stopping ren
meant paying a sum of bet
permanent access to an entir
service workers who had been
having a flat and subsequen
successful in becoming externa
had a flat in which they could
their families could live dur
through payments. Sometimes
much more (300,000-400,000
conditions than those supplied
hands (100,000-150,000 peset
rented previously to the buye
studies rented a flat for a year
period, she "bought" that flat
happens, the gypsy couple the
repairs which cost a further 2
By 2001, non-gypsies compri
North Africans 30-35 %. This las
other groups had decreased in n
years of the 1990s the exodus
Moroccans had arrived. This
substitution: non-gypsies by
transactions by which flats were
that arrived had the same chara
Therefore, although the neig
perfectly integrated in the ca
structure and economic order th
sense these different groups n
because when one group appear
^ Springer
The constitution of a gh
From the strictly spatial

and segregated from the
of no-mans' land traverse
fallow land, full of garb
at the entrance of the
corresponds clearly to so
isolated space has a stig
qualities of the container
Here, we find ourselves i
with certain characteristics which will be described below and which we can
initially qualify as problematical.
When interviewing Moroccan and non-gypsy women, they agreed that finding
work in San Juan was virtually impossible because they lived in Ansaldo. They had
to look for jobs in Alicante instead since people there had not heard of the Park. One
lady described the situation: "I went to San Juan to try to find cleaning work on an
hourly basis. The first thing they asked was where I lived. I had to present official
papers and say that I was from Parque Ansaldo; they did not hire me anywhere." It
seems quite obvious that these women are refused employment on the basis of their
domicile. This may seem absurd but is also visible in other areas. Indeed,
Kirschenman and Neckerman (1991) tackled the issue and considered that the main
"quality" employers look for is place of residence - they want to make sure that the
worker doesn't live in the ghetto. For most employers, the ghetto implies poverty,
little education, few qualifications, lack of values and crime, etc. The physical
location connotes negative qualities which make job hunting much more difficult for
its inhabitants. This is an example of what economists define as "statistical
discrimination," (Phelps 1972; Arrow 1973). This form of discrimination pretends to
be non-racial and is based instead on domicile: place of residence indicates
productivity or job aptitudes. This is a cheap way to screen applicants. In the case of
Parque Ansaldo, we find that location has a stigma attached that is directly associated
with filth, crime, violence and drugs. This makes local residents' recruitment
difficult. They will only find work in the most rundown and unstable economic
sectors. When we interviewed possible employers, they were not openly racist.
However, they recognized that domicile was an important factor guiding recruitment.
Statistical discrimination also results in breaking the network of local labor
relations. Workers have to look for jobs further and further away in places where
their domicile is not so notorious. Therefore, the population becomes even more
dramatically isolated producing additional barriers of access to the labor market.
Let's analyze the internal spatial structure of the neighborhood. Non-gypsies
repeatedly claim that gypsies as well as Moroccans each form a separate clan -
gypsies use this term. While technically not a clan, the use of this term suggests that
each maintains their lifestyle and customs, they do not mix, and each defends their
areas of settlement. From a spatial viewpoint, several interesting features emerge.
Indeed, the different population groups had unequal spatial distributions by the end
of the 1990s. Non-gypsies were located almost at the entrance of the Park to the SW
^ Springer
Spanish migrant ghetto 7 1
and also occupied one block alm

part of the NE were inhabited
SE were Moroccan. There was
group which was reinforced by
non-gypsies, on their way out
They practiced their religion in
A very conspicuous part of th
small humble chapel could be se
building. They belong to the E
term "cult" for this church whi
referred to as "alleluias" by oth
the Moroccan area following the
a mosque. Although there were
informally as a meeting place. If
residents, the mosque and its c
the part of men while women
fear that the mosque would pr
mosque was situated at the oppo
additionalproof of what Gerald
related to the segmented syst
According to Suttles, ordered
spatial unit with exclusive right
entity in that they are spatially
different place. Here, space pla
neither mix nor coexist - they
Negative features are what ho
isolation and the associated stigma have been discussed previously as an
impediment to employment. An additional administrative or political aspect was
of great importance and referred to the municipality ignoring the administrative
inclusion of the neighborhood. Municipal offices often claimed that the Park did not
belong to San Juan and refused to register the families as residents. This represented
a serious problem for immigrants who needed this registration as proof of residence
with a view to obtaining legal status. This total lack of political and administrative
recognition had obvious negative consequences when residents asked for services
such as street cleaning and lighting. The neighborhood represented a space that was
neither politically or organically part of the village of San Juan. It was therefore
outside the system, folded unto itself, deprived of a reason for being and, in the last
instance, a useless redundant space. However, even with its political, administrative
and spatial isolation from wider society, this did not mean that it was encapsulated
and isolated with respect to the basic elements that constitute capitalism.
Characteristics of the ghetto
Three fundamental elements seem to describe the problems of the few city ghettoes
in Spain, which are very similar to the North American ones. The first is
â Springer
concentration of povert
between home and emp
hypothesis (Wilson 19
The first element is th
place. According to W
migration of the affl
observation to our cas
existence have represen
was continually express
had become like a comm
non-gypsy woman said
those who do not fit in
would be a way of deali
concentrate in one place
when she talked of rub
and, in addition, drug
Something rather simi
that in the Park there w
lifestyle." On this bas
problems, the houses h
expressed by municipal
the few non-gypsy inh
the need to destroy th
pathology" present in t
there was even less than
we could call "de-conce
that in 2009 the Parque
were expelled. With t
famous as Cabrini-Gree
that left people with n
de-concentrate poverty
concentration of po
concentrated poverty
(1979) denounced a whi
city, thus presented a
fundamental factor exp
and inequalities. In the
consists of projecting t
product, these authors
object which has specif
(2003), "over time, focu
toward the behavior
concentrated poverty is
important to distinguis
Ansaldo is evident as in
and its causes. Indeed, i
Ô Springer
something that has causal sign

there are structural elements
those that should disappear su
state support of the privileg
concentration of poverty seem
which is what needs to be era
The second element to be ana
be related to the out-migratio
somewhere else. Thus, one los
relationships through which
economy. These are fundamen
from people who have mor
industrial base or even the co
these areas, gives rise to an in
just a means to get by and sur
(be they material, information
more or less stable jobs repr
groups in Ansaldo insisted tha
finding work. Moroccans said
while gypsies sold there ware
However, informalization or c
but an increasingly central tre
The third aspect is what we
spatial mismatch hypothesis).
minority employment proble
basic causes of minority diffi
industries moving away from
in the peripheral areas of b
transport) in getting to the a
incidence of unemployment.
racial segregation to the disad
case we have been studying
employment relocation but th
between homes and jobs wh
problem is central for gyps
activities which have the gr
itinerant vending. As emphasi
the basis of ethnic belonging a
in adjacent villages. One must
or even further to find work.
found work more easily tha
distance. Women often had children and were married or divorced and could find
work more easily as internal domestics, but this in turn implied that they had to pay
someone to take care of their children at home. The problem is not only related to
the mere fact that residents have to find work in areas that are ever further away
instead of finding it nearby. Rather, this has to do with the "sulphurous corrosive
â Springer
reputation of the unfa

that many of them fin
away to their homes. T
both the territory and
mechanical phenomen
gypsies and Moroccan
minorities in the countr
To complement, or per
characteristics of the g
different point of vie
article in which (1997:
starting point. The noti
enclose a socially or cult
negative connotations. T
On the inside, this popu
substitute for the dom
them in an incomplet
situation of structural
two debatable element
formation is not so o
Chicago that are consid
African-Americans and
implies that even in the
possible to speak forcef
This is of interest bec
formation where three
in their internal organi
The second observation
parallel institutions. Fr
phenomenon some time
variation in the absence
diachronically. Given
deterioration of the so
what could be called the
rate. Bingham and Zhan
abandon an area where
when the rate reache
between one phenomen
much to do with the abandonment on behalf of institutions and services for the
residents. The poverty and abandonment of institutions feed into each other, or in
Lefevre terms, produce each other. From this point of view, we think that in
Wacquant' s article, poverty is not considered to be of sufficient importance.
Wacquant criticized the views of Jargowski and Bane (1991) who claimed that a
ghetto can be defined based on the poverty rate. When the poverty rate reaches
40 %, one can talk about a ghetto. Wacquant criticizes this idea as arbitrary,
bureaucratic and a sociological and finally concludes that affirming that ghettos are
Ö Springer
such because its inhabitants

causality. According to him, c
ghettos, unemployment and m
around. Given this causality, p
the ghetto, but rather is a co
(2006) states that "French ghe
the commonalities between th
be that they correspond to dis
together, and social and pe
mechanisms of aggregation an
not the same (Wacquant 20
understand how Wacquant app
may be called the "Atlantic D
In a dialog between variou
International Journal of U
Wouter Van Gent claims that he is not "sure if there is an Atlantic divide in
understanding causes of segregation" (it is probably a disciplinary/generational
divide)." To this observation Aalbers suggests that "although I like the idea of
"European cities," I have always been critical of framing them, by definition as
opposed to American cities," (2012: 10). We agree with Aalbers and believe that the
observations made here support his view point.
Conclusions
Parque Ansiado did not have a long history. It was rather a sort of container in which
some groups had access to low-cost housing which made it relatively accessible for
them to settle here. Hence, in addition to the early residents, the Park was populated
with two impoverished groups: Spanish gypsies and people from Maghreb, basically
Moroccans. When the gypsies came in, former residents quickly started to move out.
Gypsies in turn moved out when Moroccans arrived. In addition to this phenomenon of
substitution of some populations by others, one should add the important spatial
segregation existing between them. The simultaneity of relationships between groups
that constitute space is lacking here. This space carries a stigma, which has grave
consequences for finding jobs due to its physical and social isolation. Yet in spite of the
concentration of poverty, we found no signs of an increase in deviant behavior, as some
theorists have predicted. What we did find were groups of individuals who had very
little contact with each other but were full of prejudice. Such prejudice is fed by
division, spatial segregation or separation between groups, as can be seen from a visual
examination of the Parque Ansaldo. The spatial distance to work is a central element in
the segregation of the populations that live in the Parque and these two elements are
intimately related to the stigma that is tied to living there. The stigma has to do with the
ideology that Spaniards have regarding the ethnic and racial characteristics of the
Gypsy and Moroccan populations. A central element of this stigma is poverty, which is
no longer considered to be a sociological and structural phenomenon, but is rather
considered to have become a psychological trait of the population.
^ Springer
The separation or intern

groups gives rise to two
between groups, which i
Suttles "ordered segment
by the different actors. I
it as something that they
and the gypsies view i
justification for "appro
interviewed, they claim t
belongs to them and onl
point of view, it should be
occupying a space is th
perfectly conscious of th
she was the owner of an
had to sell it and move t
"happiness is short lived
generalizing the precariou
is provisional and the ho
istically of short duration
is a central characteris
something noteworthy
furniture they brought,
when there buyer, is is a
since given precariou the
value as soon as possible.
change of homes is based
mean that for those livin
a phenomenon that is ver
already spoke of so many
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What tourists don't see: housing, concentration of poverty and ethnic conflict in a

Spanish migrant ghetto

What tourists don't see: housing, concentration

Ubaldo Martinez Veiga

Published online: 12 February 2014

Abstract This article is a critique of the myth of "concentrated poverty," that

Keywords Segregation • Concentrated poverty • Discrimination • Spain

U. Martinez Veiga (0)

The first group of p

First approach to the field

In the Alicante metropolitan

As mentioned before, when th

This is because de facto

The arrival of gypsy familie

As described earlier, the Mini

100,000 pesetas, I could g

From an occupational viewpoint, important differences existed between the two

In addition to this activity,

The Moroccans and their jo

The third ethnic group to ar

the others are "moros"

The arrival of the Moroccans

sum involved. Another Moroc

From the strictly spatial

and also occupied one block alm

Characteristics of the ghetto

something that has causal sign

reputation of the unfa

such because its inhabitants

The separation or intern

Fortes, Meyer, and Edward Evan Ev

Frey, William and Farley Reynolds.

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