Interdisciplinary research program - Cities and newcomers (IRP)
Description:
Without doubt, migration presents one of the biggest challenges of our times. In the “age of migration” (Castles et al., 2015), many fundamental questions need to be answered. How is migration accommodated? How do migration policies influence trajectories of integration? How can societies transform themselves for a better integration of migrants? How can policy makers at national, sub-national and supra-national scales facilitate their integration? What is the role of teachers, police officers, doctors, nurses, lawyers, social workers, property owners, etc. in this process?
These questions are maybe more relevant in Brussels than anywhere else in the world. According to the World Migration Report (IOM, 2015), the Belgian capital is the second most diverse city of the world. As much as 34 per cent of the residents of Brussels has a foreign nationality. 68 per cent of the population has foreign roots (Van den Broucke et al, 2015, p. 80). Brussels is a minority-majority city: a city where minorities are in the majority (Deboosere, 2012). It is also a city of arrival: a city where the mobile trajectories of newcomers from all social, economic, cultural and geographic backgrounds converge (Saunders, 2010).
This Interdisciplinary Research Program (IRP) brings together scholars from four disciplines to work together around questions and challenges posed by migration. As geographers, criminologists, sociologists and historians, we all have distinct perspectives on the city of arrival. The basic assumption driving our collaboration is that we can learn a lot from comparing migration, migrant trajectories and migrant regulation in different historical eras and cities.
Co-promotors IRP: Lucas Melgaço & Els Enhus
Duration: 1/04/18 - 31/03/25
One of the projects developed within IRP is the PhD by Floris Liekens, which examines feelings of insecurity in the daily lives of undocumented individuals in the Brussels-Capital Region. The study stems from the observation that fear plays a significant role in their everyday experiences. This fear is rooted in their 'state of deportability' (De Genova, 2002)—the constant threat of deportation and detention that overshadows their actions. Living under such conditions profoundly affects self-perception, social relationships, the sense of time, and, ultimately, how individuals relate to space. This work investigates the latter through the concept of emotional geographies of insecurity. The project employs a combination of traditional, spatial, and art-based methods, such as interviews and alternative mapping. Ultimately, the study seeks to understand how the condition of being undocumented shapes people’s perception and navigation of urban environments.
The research adopts a participatory-action framework in collaboration with La Voix des Sans Papiers, a Brussels-based, self-organized collective advocating for the rights of undocumented people. This organization hosts cultural and educational events, provides resources like housing, and promotes community building.
One action-initiative of this project was an exhibition organized with La Voix des Sans Papiers. The exhibition explored the relationship between feelings of insecurity and public space, and how these manifest in the lives of unauthorised people. It started from the idea that spaces—cities, public areas, and shared spaces—are filled with visible and invisible boundaries. These boundaries determine who has access and who does not, who is allowed to be present and who is not. Through drawings, photos, videos, texts, and testimonies, the exhibition conveys the tension between places of insecurity and safety, between visibility and invisibility, between exclusion and inclusion.
Promotors PhD: Lucas Melgaço
Co-promotor PhD: Mattias De Backer
Researchers: Floris Liekens
Duration: November 2022 - November 2026