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Urban infrastructure and migrant citizenships: Notes towards migrant-state relations in the urban peripheries

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  • Nikolai A Alvarado

Abstract

The article proposes that urban infrastructure serve as political aperture for migrant populations operating and inhabiting in the urban peripheries of south-south trajectories. It both inaugurates spaces of political participation and mediates ongoing relations with state authorities. Quite literally, self-installed infrastructure recognized as part of service networks, becomes the material evidence for the recognition of migrants’ right to dwell, regardless of their status. The article is empirically based on the experiences of Nicaraguan migrants living in La Carpio, Costa Rica. I suggest that the migrant-state relations anchored to the infrastructure necessary to sustain life and already operating in these territories as negotiated forms of governance, compel a reevaluation of the relationships between the state, noncitizen migrants and the material politics of ordinary urban spaces. By centering infrastructural citizenship in relation to noncitizen migrants, the article contributes to a broader understanding of how migrant citizenships are constructed and contested in the urban peripheries of the Global South, beyond episodic acts, and explores the role of the state in forms of urban inclusion.

Suggested Citation

  • Nikolai A Alvarado, 2025. "Urban infrastructure and migrant citizenships: Notes towards migrant-state relations in the urban peripheries," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 43(6), pages 1053-1069, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:43:y:2025:i:6:p:1053-1069
    DOI: 10.1177/23996544241312886
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    5. Yasna Contreras & Laura Neville & Rodrigo González, 2019. "In-formality in access to housing for Latin American migrants: a case study of an intermediate Chilean city," International Journal of Housing Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 411-435, July.
    6. Caitlin E. Fouratt, 2014. "“Those who come to do harm”: The Framings of Immigration Problems in Costa Rican Immigration Law," International Migration Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(1), pages 144-180, March.
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