Supporting the social mobility of trapped populations in very poor urban areas
While millions move to cities every year in search of better opportunities, many end up living in marginalized urban areas where the cycle of poverty is hard to break. Supporting the Social Mobility of Trapped Populations in Very Poor Urban Areas investigates the little understood dynamics of rural-urban migration and the ways it can disrupt or reinforce exclusion.
Focusing on four cities in Bangladesh (Dhaka), Somaliland (Hargeisa), Sri Lanka (Colombo) and Zimbabwe (Harare), the project involves extensive interviews and fieldwork with local migrants to develop a fuller picture of their experiences of poverty, mobility and segregation. The research will also explore the ways that spatial isolation can have on socioeconomic status and the effects of urban policies in each city on the lives of their migrant populations.
Working with a broad range of community groups and a consortium of international development organisations, the project will improve the current evidence base on the relationship between urban poverty and migration, as well as build the capacity of local and international partners to build on these findings with further research in future.
Michael Collyer (Principal Investigator, Professor of Geography)
William Baldwin
Richard Black (Visiting Professor in Geography)
Kudzai Chatiza (Director)
Laura Hammond (Visiting Fellow)
Saleemul Huq (Senior Fellow)
Danesh Jayatilaka (Research Fellow)
Dominic Kniveton (Professor of Climate Science and Society)
JoAnn McGregor (Professor of Human Geography)
Development of a broad evidence base on migrant experiences of mobility and exclusion through interviews, surveys and other innovative methods.
Dissemination of findings to a wide range of audiences through conferences, journals and stakeholder groups.
Training and capacity building of international collaborators and community groups in research areas to build further research in future