ABSTRACT
Urban societies in the Global North, once cosmopolitan and relatively generous when it came to opening their doors to outsiders, in recent years have decided to close them. The symbolic “other,” whose presence in cities was once emblematic of the fundamental urban quality of openness to the outside world, has suddenly become public enemy number one. Nowadays access—both real and symbolic—has been denied. But without an enemy, on whom can we lay the blame for our economic crises, our trials and tribulations?
