IN-PERSON London. Section A

Abstract

This paper investigates how migrants get support when they first arrive in a city. It uses the notion of ‘social infrastructure ecosystems’ to show how within urban arrival areas with a long history of migration, newcomers access support through interconnected networks of formal and informal help. An important part of these social infrastructure ecosystems are publicly accessible places such as corner-shops, barbers and libraries. Building on ethnographic research in the London Borough of Newham, the paper highlights how invisible and informal gestures of support provided by individuals working in these places can make a crucial difference for newcomers’ journeys into the city. By drawing on concepts of ‘urban repair’ and ‘infrastructures of kindness’ (Thrift 2004), the paper contextualises these processes of everyday support within the UK context of hostile environment policies against international migrants.