Conference Program

 (PDF file) Corridors and constellations: Time, space and mobility governance amidst Africa's emerging urban  |  Loren B. Landau, University of Oxford, University of the Witwatersrand

 (PDF file) Arab migration to Istanbul and the creation of Arab cultural and media scenes  |  Franck Mermier, Centre national de la recherche scientifique  

 (PDF file) Growing up in/with a diverse city: Insights from Abu Dhabi  |  Laure Assaf, New York University Abu Dhabi

Chair: Sheryl-Ann Simpson, Carleton University

 (PDF file) Cities of migration: Theorizing the diversity of urban diversities in Europe  |  Peter Scholten, Erasmus University Rotterdam

 (PDF file) Urban policy modelling and diversity governance in Doha and Singapore  |  Jérémie Molho, National University of Singapore / European University Institute

 (PDF file) Migrating artists and migrating art: Decentering the global art world  |  Peggy Levitt, Wellesley College

Border cities may serve as transit and temporary spaces for refugees, asylum seekers and "irregular" migrants who look for opportunities to migrate onwards beyond initial transit countries. Due to the protracted nature of migration journeys and their associated risks, these transit migrant populations often stay in border cities longer than initially envisioned.  As a result, border cities are also confronted with the arrival of a diversity of service providers ranging from international humanitarian NGO workers, state officers, international organization employees, journalists, researchers, entrepreneurs and smugglers. Short or long-term stays of these actors lead to physical and social transformations of urban neighbourhoods and border towns. In addition, prevailing restrictive border policies may subject these cities to top-down physical changes, such as the construction of border walls, the deployment of extra security measures and even the creation of cemeteries for abandoned corpses of migrants. This panel will focus on the socio-spatial changes in border towns in Europe and Latin America.

Chair: Zeynep Sahin Mençutek, Bonn International Center for Conflict Studies, CERC Migration, Ryerson University

 (PDF file) The urbanization of asylum  |  Jonathan Darling 

 (PDF file) The “urban-itarian” encounters in Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan after displacement from Syria  |  Estella Carpi, University College London

 (PDF file) Performativities of (dis)location: Sheltering practices and migration research in México’s southern border  |  Cesar E. Merlín-Escorza, Radboud University

Migration is typically understood as an urban phenomenon affecting larger cities. But in countries with highly managed immigration systems such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand, efforts have increasingly been made by different levels of government to encourage migration to smaller centres. Often, smaller cities view international migration as one way to grow the local population and economy, and a range of stakeholders, including local organizations, employers and community members, mobilize to welcome migrants to their communities. Despite this, many smaller cities continue to struggle to provide the services, housing options and employment opportunities that migrants need. There is clearly a need to better understand the experiences of smaller communities as destinations for migrants and what can be done to improve their success. This panel will take a comparative approach with speakers from Canada, Australia and New Zealand. 

Chair: Melissa Kelly, CERC Migration, Ryerson University

 (PDF file) Migrant and refugee settlement in regional Australia: Multi-level policies and migrant agency  | Martina Boese, La Trobe University

 (PDF file) International migration in contexts of population ageing, population loss and economic disparity: Comparing second-tier cities in Atlantic Canada and the U.S. Rust Belt  |  Yolande Pottie-Sherman, Memorial University 

 (PDF file) Communities in the driver’s seat: Insights from North America and Europe on migrant attraction and retention in small cities  |  Talia Stump, Multicultural New South Wales

Suburbanization as a global phenomenon has presented multifaceted patterns of change in various contexts. Migrant settlements in suburban spaces add complexity to suburbia by bringing diverse demographics, (inter)cultural practices, new built forms, and new meanings of space and community. These migrant spaces challenge the conventional organization of suburbia. Governments, practitioners and academics must often reconcile the competing needs of diversity and urban growth played out in changing land uses and physical forms (e.g., neighbourhood character and heritage preservation), competing claims for space and rights to the city (e.g., who has access to resources), and considerations of equity and social inclusion (e.g., who belongs to and in the community). This panel examines migration-related suburbanization in different countries to cast light on narratives of everyday suburban life, diversity management, growth and development, policy and governance, and socio-spatial (in)equity and (in)justice.

Chair: Zhixi Zhuang, Ryerson University

 (PDF file) Suburbanization and migrant entrepreneurship in the U.S.  |  Cathy Yang Liu, Georgia State University  

 (PDF file) Stuck in the suburbs? Socio-spatial exclusion of migrants in Shanghai  |  Jie Shen, Fudan University 

 (PDF file) Housing new Canadians on the "edge of the suburbs" in Vancouver: A case study of immigrant renters in Burnaby, Surrey, Richmond and Abbotsford  |  Carlos Teixeira, University of British Columbia Okanagan