Elise Schillebeeckx

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

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.