ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates how the urban society accommodated temporary residents without weakening social cohesion in a time of socio-economic and political transformation. It identifies the main segments of the floating population as they came into contact with urban authorities and shows that they did not have homogeneous profiles: their migratory experiences varied according to economic contexts, survival strategies and religious beliefs. As a result, the labour needs of the urban manufacturing sectors at times conflicted with political imperatives that strove to limit movements to and from 'enemy territory'. The chapter focuses on greater detail on the case of textile workers, who participated in specific migration networks that were tied in with the particular organization of work in the woollen industry and the linen industry. It examines the regulative efforts of municipal authorities towards temporary migrants by confronting norms and discourse with actual practice.
