Geographical Studies of Migrants in Russian Cities

The rapid increase in the number of migrants during the post-Soviet period has led to the emergence of phenomena not typical of Soviet times in Russian cities, such as irregular migration, ethnic entrepreneurship, and interethnic conflicts. This has led to a significant increase in the interest of scientists from various fields in the study of migrants. Over the past few decades, migrants and their communities have gone from being a secondary topic of research to one of the most popular subjects in the social sciences. At the same time, due to resource and methodological limitations, as well as a selective approach to consideration, no science has achieved sufficient research complexity, and many gaps remain hidden behind the interdisciplinary research. The article argues that methodological diversity and the vast potential of new data sources make geography a prime candidate for the role of a fundamental scientific discipline in the study of migrant communities. The dynamic nature of the object of study, associated with both the transformation of communities themselves and changing perceptions of ethnicity, is ideally suited to the approach of geography. With regard to the information base, the article describes and systematizes the main information sources used to investigate migrant communities. It also demonstrates the potential of geoinformation technologies in identifying these communities in social and geographic space. It is noted that the current dominant constructivist paradigm shifts the focus of geographers’ attention from the issues of migrants’ settlement pattern and concentration in cities to the study of migrant networks’ formation and functioning. This shift increases the relevance of utilizing new sources of big data, such as information from mobile network operators and social networks. In general, this trend in migration research in social geography is outlined, along with the opportunities presented by the digitalization of society and the emergence of new statistical resources. Sociocultural transformations in modern Russian cities also play a significant role in this process.