Key Takeaways<\/p>\r\n\r\n
While large-scale patterns in human migration can tell us why people leave home and where they go, data about what happens next is notoriously poor. The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) (RGS-IBG) set out to fill in knowledge gaps about migrants\u2019 lives after they move. The insights are contained in a five-year field research study with partners in Colombo, Sri Lanka; Dhaka, Bangladesh; Harare, Zimbabwe; and Hargeisa, Somaliland. The knowledge researchers gathered using a geographic approach will be key to informing initiatives that support the sustainable integration of new migrants into urban communities.<\/p>\r\n
As of 2008, for the first time, more than half of the world\u2019s population lives in urban areas. That number is expected to rise to nearly 70 percent by 2050\u2014growth fueled largely by migration from rural areas, as more people leave crisis-afflicted and climate-pressured areas in search of safety and economic opportunity. Despite this trend, however, many global cities lack policies and infrastructure to support an influx of new residents.<\/p>\r\n
Colombo, Sri Lanka, experiences significant in-migration from rural areas, according to the results of the RGS project\u00a0Migrants on the Margins<\/em>. Over 50 percent of Colombo\u2019s population lives in underserved settlements, the study reports, and migration and displacement are a particular challenge in these under resourced communities.<\/p>\r\n \u201cResearch into migration in response to conflict or disasters highlights the fact that since people expect the situation at home to improve, they also expect to return,\u201d said Michael Collyer, professor of geography at the University of Sussex and principal investigator of the study. But Colombo\u2019s census data suggests that migrants more often stay within the metro area, largely in poorly resourced, low-income neighborhoods.<\/p>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"gallery","gallery_images":[542162,542142,542152,542172]},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" Using novel methods combining satellite imagery, geographic information system (GIS) software to create maps, and personal interviews, the researchers identified geographic factors\u2014environmental hazards, lack of local resources, and mobility barriers\u2014that prevent migrants from moving forward.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Colombo is uniquely influenced by its geography. The coastal capital of an island nation, its location on the Indian Ocean cemented its status as the region\u2019s largest port centuries ago. The metro area accounts for nearly 50 percent of the nation\u2019s gross domestic product (GDP). For rural Sri Lankans leaving home, the city\u2019s prosperity promises jobs and income.<\/p>\r\n But Colombo\u2019s waterfront setting also means that its streets sit near sea level, intertwined with offshoots of the neighboring Kelani River\u2014as a result, they are prone to flooding. Comparing satellite imagery of the city taken over the past few decades, the RGS team saw significant growth of migrant communities in some of the highest-risk flood plains where local regulations typically prevent construction.<\/p>\r\n \u201cIn some of these settlements, there was an initial plan for formal development,\u201d said Sakeena Alikhan, a researcher and GIS specialist at the Sri Lanka-based nonprofit Centre for Migration Research and Development (CMRD). \u201cBut the city found illegal encroachment near the riverbanks and canals, so it stopped building and people started to settle there informally.\u201d<\/p>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"gallery","gallery_images":[542132,542122,542112,542102]},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" The satellite imagery shows one case where land was cleared for construction, but then was quickly covered by informal settlements. \u201cYou see communities infilling near the water, and you get a sense of the precarity of these environments,\u201d said Catherine Souch, head of research and higher education at RGS. Annual floods can leave swaths of these settlements in disrepair, forcing residents to relocate and preventing them from establishing permanent homes.<\/p>\r\n \u201cThere is a temporary nature to these neighborhoods,\u201d said Danesh Jayatilaka, research team chairman at CMRD. \u201cPeople can\u2019t get their feet on the ground and then can\u2019t afford to move to a safer area or leave the city.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n The informal origins of Colombo\u2019s migrant settlements have impacts beyond housing security. Businesses and city services are usually underdeveloped, with neighborhoods lacking critical infrastructure like water supply and sewage, community institutions like churches and schools, and public places like government offices and police stations.<\/p>\r\n Working with GIS data from the Survey Department of Sri Lanka, the team created digital maps of several settlements in Colombo. \u201cThe GIS tools helped us document what kinds of resources these areas have,\u201d Alikhan said. \u201cThe maps illustrate how specific communities access basic services, and whether people need to visit other areas for necessities.\u201d<\/p>\r\n The resource maps showed a wide gap in services, largely depending on the settlement\u2019s geographic proximity to more developed neighborhoods. For example, Sammanthranapura\u2014a small, dense community with a population of approximately 10,000 people\u2014offers residents a public library, a police station, and two religious centers. Sammanthranapura is also bounded on the north and west by flood-prone waterways that limit connectivity to other parts of the city, and borders only one other neighborhood by land. A settlement in Colombo\u2019s Kirulapana suburb, however, is within reach of public transit, government buildings, schools, and a waste disposal facility.<\/p>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":542182,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" The team noted that physical access to resources, while important to document for conversations with policymakers, was not always an indicator that migrant communities had stable housing and opportunity for social mobility. Rather, the research points to inclusion in social and political protections as being key to better outcomes.<\/p>\r\n \u201cWe\u2019ve shown that these populations live, not necessarily on the geographical margins of cities, but on the margins in an economic, political, and social sense,\u201d Collyer said. \u201cSome of these communities are actually right in the center of cities, and yet they are excluded from systems like tenants\u2019 rights and fair wages, and so people there become trapped.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n In addition to exploring the regional and local geographies of Colombo\u2019s migrant communities, the research team set out to learn more about migrants\u2019 own experiences moving into and within the city. The team used a novel personal mapping method to interview residents of informal settlements, filming individuals as they drew a map of their migration journey. Then, some of the drawings were transferred to GIS.<\/p>\r\n The personal maps revealed that people often moved between several informal living situations in pursuit of stable housing and income. \u201cWe learned that, while many of these individuals first left home as teenagers, it would take nearly 30 years for them to settle in one place,\u201d Alikhan said. While job changes and family needs were cited as reasons for relocating, many interviewees also reported moves resulting from forced evictions.<\/p>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"gallery","gallery_images":[542242,542292,542232,542222]},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" The researchers found that such evictions had a lasting, negative impact on migrants\u2019 physical and social mobility. Physically, as evidenced in interviews and personal mapping exercises, evictions set individuals back as they relocated from one informal settlement\u2014where they had established an income source and a support system\u2014to another. Socially, the study introduces the idea of \u201cevictability\u201d\u2014the fear of eviction, which contributes to individuals\u2019 reluctance to invest in their home and participate in local politics.<\/p>\r\n Ultimately, Souch said, \u201cGiving people security in a place to live is absolutely core and fundamental to their life chances once they've moved.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n Migrants on the Margins<\/em> provides insight into how governments can sustainably support migrant communities after people arrive in cities. Existing policies in Colombo, and the other cities the project visited, approach migration as a problem to be addressed. Efforts in Sri Lanka have previously sought to reduce migration, and recently an urban regeneration program has aimed to remove settlements and rehouse residents in high-rise apartments.<\/p>\r\n \u201cRoot causes for people leaving home are very difficult to deal with; they include long-term problems such as war, conflict, political instability, or climate change,\u201d Collyer said. And, Jayatilaka said, \u201cIt makes sense on paper to put people in apartments; it\u2019s safe, more solid, and doesn\u2019t have floods. But you take people away from their world\u2014they have lives in these communities, and that is lost and changed when they have to move.\u201d<\/p>\r\n One of the study\u2019s key findings centered around individual invisibility versus collective visibility\u2014how worries of eviction prevent individuals from seeking recognition in their community, while migrant communities as a whole face public scrutiny. This leaves migrant voices out of policy and planning discussions, the study found, and results in policies that harm migrants and migrant communities. The critical next step of this research is to open lines of communication for mutual understanding between migrant communities and their neighboring formal settlements.<\/p>\r\n Since the study\u2019s release, the team has held exhibitions and workshops with policy makers, leveraging the imagery and maps to communicate and provide visual evidence of migrants\u2019 lived experiences in Colombo\u2019s informal settlements. \u201cA map can be read by anyone,\u201d Alikhan said. \u201cThese maps give citizens and governments a common reference point to communicate not only about geographical features or physical infrastructure, but also people\u2019s connections to each other and to their environment.\u201d<\/p>\r\n \r\n Learn more about the Migrants on the Margins project<\/a> and how GIS helps organizations deliver effective humanitarian assistance<\/a>.<\/p>"}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"\nMigrant Communities Take Root in High-Risk Areas, Satellite Imagery Shows<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n
Mapping a Lack of Local Resources <\/strong><\/h3>\r\n
Stories Highlight Links between Physical and Social Mobility<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n
Maps Create a Common Language for Change<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n