Migration and Cities : Conceptual and Policy Advances

Abstract

This open access book brings together different perspectives on migration and the city that are usually discussed separately, to show the special character of the urban context as a territorial and political space where people coexist, whether by choice or necessity. Drawing on heterogeneous situations in cities in different world regions (including Europe, North America, the Middle East, South, Southeast and East Asia and the Asia Pacific) contributions to this volume examine how migration and the urban context interact in the twenty-first century. The book is structured in four parts. The first looks at cities as hubs of cultural creativity, exploring the many dimensions of cultural diversity and identity as they are negotiated in the urban context. The second focuses on what lies outside the large urban centres of today, notably suburbs, while the third part engages with migration and diversity in small and mid-sized cities, many of which have adopted strategies to welcome growing numbers of migrants. Last but not least, the fourth part looks at the challenges and opportunities that asylum-seeking and irregular migration flows bring to cities. By providing a variety of empirical cases based on various world regions, this book is a valuable resource for researchers, students and policy makers.