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Migration and the Resourceful Neighborhood: Exploring Localized Resources in Urban Zones of Transition

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Book cover Arrival Infrastructures

Abstract

This chapter investigates what makes cities resourceful for arriving migration flows. It is argued that the logic of socio-spatial specialization in cities, as first described by urban sociologists of the Chicago School (but wrongly attributed to ecological forces), can provide cities with resources to deal with migration. The authors focus on urban transition zones as areas specializing in the arrival and transition of newcomers, and use a Polanyian framework to analyze the extent to which these neighborhoods provide the necessary resources. Based on research in an Antwerp neighborhood, it is shown how urban “upgrading” policies undermine the transition zone’s resourcefulness and it is concluded that policy interventions should bring external resources to the transition zone and mobilize local knowledge in order to make the city more resourceful for all its inhabitants.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Since our focus in this chapter is on localized resources in these neighborhoods and their role in the process of social mobility, we consistently use the term “zone of transition.”

  2. 2.

    Traced back to the nationality of the grandparents.

  3. 3.

    The unemployment rate was calculated as the number of unemployed job seekers between 18 and 64 years of age divided by the total population of the same age range.

  4. 4.

    The proportion of unemployed jobseekers of foreign origin out of the total working age (18 to 64 years) population of foreign origin.

  5. 5.

    A Labour Force Survey conducted by the Belgian federal government in 2008 revealed that 32% of working migrants of non-EU origin had found their job or started their own business with the help of family or friends. By comparison, the proportion of Belgians who relied on their social network for employment was only 14%.

  6. 6.

    For reasons of anonymity, all respondents’ names are pseudonyms. Interviews were conducted in English, French, or Dutch. All Dutch and French quotes were translated into English by the authors.

  7. 7.

    Consisting among other things of municipal fines for disorderly behaviour with the aim of forcing residents of the square into social assistance trajectories (see also Cools 2014; Devos 2014).

  8. 8.

    According to the official regulations the following businesses are obliged to hold a special business license: call shops, internet cafes, night shops, video stores, club associations, betting offices, shisha bars, and sexshops (Stad Antwerpen 2014).

  9. 9.

    As a proportion of the total number of households in the neighborhood.

  10. 10.

    This high number can also partly be explained by the fact that the city of Antwerp has a special team (Krotspotteam) that controls the quality of the housing stock in the city. In the past the team focused specifically on Antwerpen-Noord.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Elise Schillebeeckx & Pascal De Decker

  2. Department of Sociology, Centre on Inequalities, Poverty, Social Exclusion and the City (OASeS), Urban Studies Institute, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

    Stijn Oosterlynck

Authors
  1. Elise Schillebeeckx
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  2. Stijn Oosterlynck
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  3. Pascal De Decker
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland

    Bruno Meeus

  2. University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Karel Arnaut

  3. Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium

    Bas van Heur

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Schillebeeckx, E., Oosterlynck, S., De Decker, P. (2019). Migration and the Resourceful Neighborhood: Exploring Localized Resources in Urban Zones of Transition. In: Meeus, B., Arnaut, K., van Heur, B. (eds) Arrival Infrastructures. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91167-0_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91167-0_6

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-91166-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-91167-0

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