Conclusion

Over the last three decades, research on the relationship between migration and cities has developed as a multidimensional and multidisciplinary field of inquiry. It has sometimes converged around theoretical positions and common observations, but has often moved along parallel tracks with little cross-dialogue. This book has attempted to provide a guide to navigating the diverse literature on migration and European cities, and has explored key issues and concepts that emerge at their intersection. The five main chapters examine this relationship from historical, economic, socio-spatial, cultural and political/policy perspectives. The chapters share a common emphasis on the underlying conditions and processes that shape migrant incorporation, the ways in which themes and terminologies shift across the literature, and the need to attend to contextual diversity, not to make the obvious point that cities are different, but to grapple with the situated nature of knowledge production.