Trieste is a border and port city located between Southern and Central Europe in North-Eastern Italy. With a population of 200,000 residents, it is considered a metropolitan area due to its infrastructure and the presence of international institutions. For migrants on the move, the city plays a crucial role as a node on the Western Balkan Route due to its geographical location and its public transport links with major neighboring cities such as Ljubljana, Rijeka, Zagreb, Venice and Milan.

According to most recent estimates , the number of undocumented immigrants in Italy is around 506,000. In 2020, 22,785 non-EU citizens were found to be present without authorization in Italy and were ordered to leave the territory. In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the number of migrants on the move passing through the city with to 683 people in 2021, 5940 people in 2022 and 15.059 in the first eleven months in 2023 .

Despite the regularization of 2020, Italian migration policies have become increasingly restrictive in recent years. Reports on the situation of migrants on the move in Trieste indicate that local initiatives are struggling to offer adequate assistance upon arrival and that others experienced pushbacks towards the Slovenian border . Existing reports further indicate that most migrants on the move intend to continue travelling to other European countries (59%), while only 32% intend to stay in Italy and 9% have an unknown destination. This situation has resulted in a visible presence of migrants on the move living in the streets in Trieste.

In light of the above, we consider Trieste to be an important transit city for migrants on the move in Southern Europe. The URBIMM project seeks to better grasp how the field of urban migration infrastructures is structured, how they engage in local service provision and policy practices towards undocumented migrants and how this affects the mobility trajectories of migrants on the move in and beyond Trieste.