“The Welcoming City” Migration, Bordering and Contestation in European Cities

In a context of increasingly restrictive migration policies and with the rise of extreme right and anti-immigrant discourses, European cities have become sites of contestation over who can settle, how, when and for how long. This includes cities implementing specific policies to include those excluded by the state but also cities confronting their national governments in the political, and often international, arena. 

Sponsored by the Urban Studies Foundation, this seminar aims to explore the role of sanctuary cities as sites for the inclusion of migrants, including as well specific localised practices of belonging and the interplay and contradictions between national and municipal agendas and the spaces that are carved out despite or because of these.