Urban Migration

We live in an era of human mobility that is markedly urban. Migrants, internal and international, move to cites and urban areas; they bring diversity and connect localities within and across state borders. Migration and migrants are shaping cities, and the life of migrants are in turn shaped by cities, their people, organizations and rules. Migration is immanent to ongoing processes of globalization, urbanization and transformed relationships between urban centres as well as between the rural and urban. This calls for new approaches to urban governance of migration. In the view of this development, and with a theoretical base in the critique of methodological nationalism, we set out to contribute to research on the dynamics, consequences and management of migration on the city scale. This involves empirical and analytical focuses on how transnational practices and identities of belonging among migrants and non-migrants is shaping and is shaped by various localities. We need to understand how transnational linkages, sometimes institutionalised into urban partnerships, among migrant groups, local governments, civil society and the private sector respond to migration and shape urban development as well as the life opportunities of migrants in cities.

Research Projects

Immigrant integration programs in European Cities from the mid 1940s to the 1970s: A comparative case study

The aim of the project is to investigate policies and practices of migration and integration in cities and municipalities 1945-1970, comparing a sample of cities in northern Europe. The present migratory system has its roots in the 1950–60s, when the European Economic Community created new internal borders for a Free Movement of Workers, a system in […]

Read more

Glimer – Governance and Local Integration of Migrants and Europe’s Refugees

The overarching aim of the GLIMER project is to generate theoretically informed and empirically grounded knowledge that may, through best practice sharing and reporting, function to support policy-makers and stakeholders to cultivate durable solutions in the governance of local integration of migrants and refugees in Europe. The GLIMER consortium consists of partners from Italy and […]

Read more

SEGMIX – Politisk styrning och levda erfarenheter av etnisk olikhet i SEGregerade och MIXade bostadsområden

This study is part of the scholarly and political concern about urban diversity and ethnic housing segregation. It inscribes itself in the renewed focus on diversity and ‘everyday multiculturalism’ within qualitative studies. It is also associated with critical perspectives on gender and see to housing segregation as gendered processes. It set out to ‘link perspectives’ […]

Read more