"This book has great value, both for its scholarly contributions to research on the migratory dimensions of globalization and for its utility as a teaching tool."—Geographical Review
"The essays of this book paint a picture of a shifting global landscape shaped by global capital, by ever growing social networks, the reaffirmation of the nation-state, and through contestation. In every essay, migrants have in some way transformed the host society, regardless of whether they settled long-term or moved on."—Urban Geography
"This book’s scope is global, underscoring the interconnections among global cities and the flows among them as perhaps more primarily definitive of contemporary human mobilities than the jigsaw model of juxtaposed nation-states."—Annals of the Association of American Geographers
Description
Immigration today touches the lives and economies of more people and places than ever before.Yet the places that are disproportionately affected by immigrant flows are not countries but cities. This remarkable collection examines contemporary global immigration trends and their profound effect on specific host cities. The book focuses not only on cities with long-established diverse populations, such as New York, Toronto, and Sydney, but also on less known gateway cities, such as Birmingham (UK), Marseille, and the emerging gateways of Johannesburg, Washington, D.C., and Dublin.
The essays gathered here provide a global portrait of accelerating, worldwide immigration driven by income differentials, social networks, and various state policies that recruit skilled and unskilled laborers. Gateway cities vary in form and function but many are hyperdiverse, globally linked through transnational networks, and often increasingly segregated spaces. Offering penetrating analysis by the leading scholars in the field, Migrants to the Metropolis redirects the global narrative surrounding migration away from states and borders and into cities,where the vast majority of economic migrants settle.
About the Author
Marie Price is associate professor of geography and international affairs at the George Washington University. She is coauthor of Diversity amid Globalization: World Regions, Environment, and Development.
Lisa Benton-Short is associate professor of geography at the George Washington University. She has published several books, including Cities and Nature and The Presidio: From Army Post to National Park.
June 2008