ABSTRACT

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the response of cities to one of the most potent aspects of globalization: the arrival and settlement of ever larger numbers of labour immigrants from ever more distant lands. It focuses on that often hidden dimension of local policy responses to labour immigration. In the eyes of the host society they are the new 'stranger ante portas', at the city gate. The concentration of labour immigrants in cities, and within cities in particular neighbourhoods, creates specifically local problems as well as opportunities. The best example is Stephen Castles 'citizenship regimes model which proposes three archetypal 'national responses to immigration' that derive, respectively, from three ways in which nation-states define membership. Long overshadowed by national-level analyses, the city is nevertheless emerging as a distinct unit of study in the field of migrant policy.