About URBIMM
Aim
URBIMM investigates how urban migration infrastructures mediate the mobility trajectories of migrants on the move in four European cities
Irregular migration has become a political priority in Europe. While European and national policies tend to criminalize and stigmatize migrants on the move, cities and local actors are taking a more inclusive stance. However, local responses to irregular migration suffer from a double knowledge deficit about the field of institutional and non-institutional actors providing local services to undocumented migrants and the lived experiences and conditions of migrants on the ground. This project addresses this deficit by comparing how urban migration infrastructures are produced and contested in European cities and how these infrastructures locally facilitate the mobility of migrants on the move.
Four interconnected objectives
approach
URBIMM combines insights from migration and urban studies to develop an innovative infrastructural approach to irregular migrant mobility
The project aims to push the academic debate forward by developing an innovative infrastructural approach to irregular migrant mobility that (a) overcomes methodological nationalism by focusing on urban migration infrastructures, (b) avoids state-centrism by considering the interplay between formal and informal infrastructures and (c) develops a typology of infrastructures beyond arrival in terms of entry, transit, settlement and exit.
We will use lessons learned from comparing the dynamic interplay between migration infrastructures and mobility trajectories in Western European cities (Brussels, Rotterdam) and Southern European cities (Trieste, Thessaloniki) to highlight best practices and formulate evidence-based recommendations to improve local service provision and policies towards migrants on the move.
Methodological innovation
Outcomes
Academic and societal impact
In terms of academic impact, the URBIMM project will provide better insight into how migrants on the move experience and navigate urban migration infrastructures in European cities and how this affects their dynamic and complex mobility trajectories.
In terms of societal impact, the project makes:
- A community contribution by engaging immigrant communities and citizens through participation in participatory action research and better informing them about existing urban migration infrastructures.
- A professional contribution by providing guidance to and sharing knowledge among local policy-makers and practitioners across the EU on how to better adapt local policies and service provision towards migrants on the move.
- A public contribution by nuancing and debunking stigmatizing discourses through empirical evidence and creating awareness among the general public about the local conditions and realities of undocumented migrants.
