SOAS Research Online

Abstract

An exploration of how Eastern European immigration affects community cohesion. This study profiles new immigrants from five Eastern European countries living in the London Boroughs of Harrow and Hackney and the City of Brighton and Hove. It explores how the presence of these new immigrants (from Albania, Bulgaria, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro and Ukraine) affects community cohesion. This research explores the characteristics and experiences of new European immigrants to the UK since 1989, including their interaction with local long-term residents, and in relation to issues of community cohesion. Focusing on three localities in South-East England, the report: - highlights positive features of this new immigration; - explores how the presence of these new affects community cohesion; - contributes to the public debate on integration and cohesion; and - draws on interviews with new immigrants and long-term residents in 2005.