The mixed embeddedness of ethnic entrepreneurs in urban contexts

Ethnic entrepreneurship comprises mum-and-pop stores confined to the lower segments of urban economies, but increasingly also economic activities with high added value. This development is partly due to the increasing level of educational attainment of immigrants ethnic minorities and the widening of their economicallyrelevant social networks, but is also driven by the recent structural transformations of urban economies. The paper presents a framework to analyze ethnic entrepreneurship and its potential contribution to immigrants’ social incorporation and to the urban economy at large, based on the mixed embeddedness approach. We will distinguish different types of urban opportunities and markets, explore their spatiality, and indicate which trajectories of incorporation are associated with each of these types. We will show that the distribution of these types of opportunities as well as their potential impact are contingent on urban social, political and economic dynamics.