City of refuge or digital order? A cross-European story of migration and the city

This talk explores how the city becomes a space of connection and disconnection, and of solidarity and struggle in the context of migration.

In the first event in the Sadler seminar series Migration and the City: Imagining and Making Urban Lives, Professor Myria Georgiou will show how three European cities (Athens, Berlin and London) receiving refugees at the aftermath of the 2015-16 migration crisis became fundamental yet precarious spaces for migrants’ claim-making and recognition.

She will look at the digital infrastructures and cultures of cities to demonstrate how they support encounters and solidarities between those arriving and those receiving them. Drawing on findings from a multimethod, creative approach to research used in the project resilient communities, resilient cities, her talk will show how opportunities for newcomers’ recognition and collective action remain subjected to the boundaries and conditions set within an urban digital order that opens as well as divides cities.

A roundtable discussion on the relationship between migration and the city will follow the talk. Speakers will include: Dr Gabriella Alberti, Dr Glenda Garelli, Dr Helen Kim, Professor John McLeod, and Dr Lou Harvey.

Agenda:
1 to 1:30pm – Catered lunch and introduction to the seminar series
1:30 to 2:30pm – Talk by Professor Myria Georgiou and Q&A
2:30 to 3:30pm – Roundtable discussion with contributions from Leeds colleagues
3:30 to 4:30pm – Open discussion and next steps.

We hope that you will be able to attend the event in its entirety, but please do feel free to join us for part of the event if you can’t be there for the whole afternoon.

This Sadler seminar series is co-convened by Dr Gabriella Alberti (Leeds University Business School), Dr Giorgia Aiello and Dr Helen Kim (School of Media and Communication). It is supported by the Leeds Arts and Humanities Research Institute.