SESSION 2

TRANSLOCALITY AND TRANSFORMATION OF URBAN SPACES THROUGH INTERNAL MIGRATION

Migration in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) primarily takes place between, to and out of cities within national boundaries. These movements give rise to multidirectional and multifaceted networks that enable the flow of people, resources and activities and result in the transformation of interconnected areas, a process defined as translocality. Translocality emerges both from an ongoing process of livelihood strategy adaptation in response to changes and facilitates the migration choices of others. Translocal networks assist internal migrants in arriving in the city and provide support to gain access to livelihoods in the city. Through their actions, migrants become agents in the (re)production of spaces in cities.

We are interested in understanding dialectics between the city and the migrant in the context of SSA. In what way do internal migrants shape the city and the city shapes the migrant? How do migrants adapt to urban livelihoods? What is the effect of translocal migrants on the physical and social urban environment? To what extent are urban areas adapted to mobile populations in terms of housing, livelihoods, infrastructure, and services?

We welcome contributions interested in themes that include but are not limited to:

• Drivers of internal migration to urban areas
• Processes of internal migrants' arrival and adaptation
• (Re)production of urban space by internal migrants
• Translocality, drivers of translocal social networks, translocal livelihoods, economic translocalisation and their relation to urban areas
• Formal & informal, public & private measures to accommodate (in a broad sense) internal migrants in urban areas

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