Peripheral Estates as Arrival Spaces? Conceptualising Research on Arrival Functions of New Immigrant Destinations

Abstract

In recent years, the question of how urban spaces support the arrival of immigrants has found increased attention among scholars. The emerging discussion uses terms like arrival cities, arrival neighbourhoods, arrival spaces, arrival contexts, or arrival infrastructures to refer to local conditions which support immigrant inclusion. This discussion, however, tends to focus empirically and conceptually on neighbourhoods or cities with long-standing migration histories. Connected to this, arrival spaces are often conceptualised as spaces with strong migrant support networks and economies, as well as with high levels of functional diversity and a high fluctuation of residents. Less focus is placed on the question of if and how destinations that lack these characteristics support the arrival of new immigrants. This contribution focuses on this by discussing existent conceptualisations of arrival spaces and contrasting them with empirical illustrations of peripheral estate neighbourhoods in east German cities that have experienced a substantial population loss since the 1990s, resulting in the partial demolition of housing and infrastructure. Since the refugee migration to Germany starting in 2015, the population dynamic in these neighbourhoods has changed substantially. We contrast these developments with the literature on arrival contexts in order to reflect the strengths and weaknesses of the concept, specifically regarding the conditions in new destinations where migrant networks and economies are still emerging, functional diversity is low, and the role of residential fluctuation is unclear. While this article draws on empirical material, its major objective is to point out the blind spots in the current discussion around arrival spaces. It develops questions and offers a research agenda that introduces a wider and more varied set of neighbourhoods into the evolving research agenda on arrival spaces.

Disrupting Dialogue? The Participatory Urban Governance of Far-Right Contestations in Cottbus

“…This facilitated my data analysis, as it allowed to systematically code the different contributions made by residents. I chose to examine the neighbourhoods of Sachsendorf and Sandow in detail for two reasons: On one hand, both are attractive neighbourhoods for refugees due to low rents and have experienced rapid diversification over the last years (for a thorough analysis for the transformation of peripheral neighbourhoods in East Germany due to the arrival of refugees, see El-Kayed, Bernt, Hamann, & Pilz, 2020). On the other hand, it is those neighbourhoods where voter turnout for the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) has been the city's highest, encompassing 23,6% and 26,5% respectively in 2019's municipal elections (Stadt Cottbus, 2019d; for more insights on the socio-spatial conditions of the AfD's electoral success see Förtner, Belina, & Naumann, 2020).…”

The (co-)production of arrival neighbourhoods. Processes governing housing markets in three german cities

“…In the following, we define arrival neighbourhoods as urban neighbourhoods characterised by a high concentration of migrants, sustained international in-migration and high fluctuation rates. In a citywide comparison, it is easier to find affordable rental housing in these neighbourhoods due to its higher supply (El-Kayed et al, 2020;Haase et al, 2020;Kohlbacher, 2020;Kreichauf et al, 2020). Like most research on arrival neighbourhoods, our paper focuses on those neighbourhoods not only characterised by migration but also by a concentration of income poverty.…”

“…For example, their location and characteristics within a city differ depending on the respective housing market and migration history. While in less tight housing markets arrival neighbourhoods are found in inner-city locations with a mixed housing stock, in tighter ones an increasing concentration of new immigrants can also be observed in the urban periphery (El-Kayed et al, 2020). Some arrival neighbourhoods (especially those in inner cities) have a long tradition of welcoming migrant newcomers, while others have experienced a completely new momentum through the influx of refugees in recent years (Gerten et al, 2022).…”

“…While there is a growing body of literature on the positive but also detrimental effects that living in these neighbourhoods can have on the arrival of migrant newcomers (El-Kayed et al, 2020;Hans & Hanhörster, 2020), the underlying factors and drivers influencing the function and dynamics of these neighbourhoods remain under-addressed. This finding concerns in particular the role of the housing market and its players in shaping the emergence and development of arrival neighbourhoods.…”

Internal migration industries: Shaping the housing options for refugees at the local level

“…The background to this argument is the rapidly increasing concentration of refugees in a number of German neighbourhoods, particularly in East German prefab areas built under socialism. Here, the arrival of refugees was a rather unprecedented phenomenon (see also El-Kayed et al, 2020) which, together with the impoverishment of the areas affected (see Helbig and Jähnen, 2018, 2019), has resulted in increased segregation. While this phenomenon is well noted in expert and media discourses, the academic literature has thus far failed to explain why refugees have come to live in precisely these (and not other) neighbourhoods.…”