In this panel we intend to gather a group of researchers who, from different approaches and perspectives, will bring forward problems related to the urbanization processes in the cities, based on a description of how migrants arrive to cities, take up urban spaces and create organizations to defend their identities and to claim their rights, such as the right to housing, to health, to education, to access justice, to use urban space, among others. We are especially interested in discussing the role played by gender and ethnicity, from the actors´ point of view, as well as from that of public policies and institutions. Issues of exclusion and violence are of importance to this panel, together with those of agency and the acquisition of new political skills. We welcome the presentation of case studies from different cities, which will allow us to compare various social, economic, and political conditions; the challenges which migrant men and women face, and how they manage to overcome the discrimination and racism to which they are subjected in urban settings, by developing social networks and different forms of organization in order to put forward their demands and defend their individual, collective and gender rights.
These studies have shown that the accelerated urbanization of cities, and the application of neoliberal policies in the past decades have resulted in increased social inequality, poverty, and exclusion for those migrants who have arrived recently or who have an ethnic background. In some cases, new policies and programs are being applied, directed at providing some social and economic assistance to migrants, and in others, migrants have organized to overcome the disadvantages they face, and to defend their human rights. We need in this panel to discuss these important elements.
