The temporal migrant city: a study on the relationship between sub-saharan migrants and the city of Algiers

Abstract

Over the last fifteen years, there has been an increase in migratory flows of West Africans to Maghreb and Europe. Studies indicate that the trans-Saharan migration to the Maghreb region by sub-Saharan migrants continues to increase and is far more significant than migratory flows to Europe. In contrast to other studies that examine the relationship between migrants and the city with regards to issues of socio-economic integration, this paper focuses on how sub-Saharan migrants are participating in processes of city-making through the temporary reconstruction and transformation of spaces within the city of Algiers, Algeria as a means of negotiating and managing their emplacement in the urban fabric. The review of relevant literature along with the collection of field data, including semi-structured interviews of sub-Saharan migrants and mapping techniques of migrant neighborhoods in Algiers, provided the case study on the relationship of temporality between sub-Saharan migrants and the city of Algiers. The interest of this research is to fill a gap in academic research on the stories and experiences of sub-Saharan migrants arriving in the city of Algiers to contextualize the analysis in a larger body of literature on cities of North Africa. By examining the everyday practices and emplacement strategies as urban participatory practices of migrants, the current literature and discourse surrounding migrant cities should move away from notions of belonging based on national, racial or ethnic identities and should focus instead on modes of settlement that exist.