Negotiating ‘Left-Behindness’ and Migration-Related Diversity in (New) Arrival Spaces

ILS researchers Hannah Brill, Nils Hans and Isabel Ramos Lobato published an article, in collaboration with Norma Schemschat, Heike Hanhörster and Lara Hartig, in the journal Urban Planning. Building on growing research on changing geographies of migration and “new” arrival destinations, the article examines neighbourhoods across Germany through the lens of “left-behindness.” Drawing on 90 interviews from eight arrival neighbourhoods, the article analyses how “left-behindness” and the arrival of migrants interact in everyday life and local governance. It shows how structural constraints, symbolic representations, and social dynamics reinforce one another, shaping both the challenges and possibilities of migration. The article argues that left-behindness is best understood not as a spatial category but as a relational and processual condition that highlights uneven development and reveals how the challenges of migration-related diversity are locally negotiated and contested. https://doi.org/10.17645/up.11159. Further current publications can be found here.