Asian Cities, Migrant Labor and Contested Spaces

This volume explores how migration is playing a central role in the renewing and reworking of urban spaces in the fast growing and rapidly changing cities of Asia. Migration trends in Asia entered a new phase in the 1990s following the end of the Cold War which marked the advent of a renewed phase of globalization. Cities have become centrally implicated in globalization processes and, therefore, have become objects and sites of intense study.

The contributors to this book reflect on the impact and significance of migration with a particular focus on the contested spaces that are emerging in urban contexts and the economic, social, religious and cultural domains with which they intersect. They also examines the roles and effects of different forms of migration in the cauldron of urban change, from low-skilled domestic migrants who maintain a close engagement with their rural homes, to highly skilled/professional transnational migrants, to legal and illegal international migrants who arrive with the hope of transforming their livelihoods.

Providing a mosaic of insights into the links between migration, marginalization and contestation in Asia’s urban contexts, Asian Cities, Migrant Labor and Contested Spaces will be of interest to students and scholars of Asian studies, migration studies, urban studies and human geography.

Tai-Chee Wong is Associate Professor at National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Jonathan Rigg is Head of Department and Professor in the Department of Geography at Durham University, UK.