Ryerson hosts Migration and the City conference 2022

Migration to cities is driving change – increasing diversity but also posing challenges. These impacts and considerations were the theme of the Migration and the City conference held February 2022, drawing presenters and participants from across the globe to the virtual event.

Hosted by professor Anna Triandafyllidou, the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration and Integration program, the annual conference attracted almost 800 attendees from more than 150 countries to its five sessions featuring an array of international and Canadian presenters. In her opening remarks, professor Triandafyllidou outlined some of the themes of the conference, such as cities and diversity, advancing innovation through migration, and the difficulty that mid-sized and small cities face in attracting and retaining migrants. “We really believe that migration, like urbanization, are two of the socio-economic and political transformation processes that will mark the 21st century,” said professor Triandafyllidou.

In his opening remarks, Ryerson President Mohamed Lachemi told the audience that the university is focused on research and solutions that can help cities build back as they emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. “Universities have a special role to convene important conversations and lead positive change. I hope that this conference will empower you all to share insights on how cities can grow and be enriched by the full participation of their diverse population,” he said.  

Diversity and cities  

One of the conference’s main themes was diversity in emerging and established cities, with academics sharing research that spanned Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. During the first two sessions of the conference, presenters shared their research into topics ranging from the temporal nature of migration in sub-Saharan Africa’s urban spaces to the role of migrant artists in decentering culture. They also discussed different approaches to understanding diversity, such as through top-down governance policies or the impacts of different groups like youth and the media within cities.  

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Session 2:

Border cities and migrant populations 

Border cities to locations of mass migration can end up being shaped by the presence of different transitory migrant populations, including refugees, asylum seekers and even service providers, such as staff from agencies or governments, who arrive to help manage or provide aid. The panellists in the third session discussed the physical and social changes that occur, tapping into research on border towns in places like Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, which are impacted by Syrian refugees, as well as the southern boundary of Mexico.

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Mid-sized and small cities, suburbs and migration 

How can mid-sized and small cities better attract and retain migrants? Are the needs of migrants being met in suburban locations? Researchers discussed these and related questions, as well as their findings, in the contexts of communities in Australia, Atlantic Canada, the U.S. and Europe. The final two sessions of the conference covered different approaches, common threads and examples of real-world strategy.

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Learn more about the Migration and the City conference.

Related links

Ryerson hosts conference on future of migration and work (March, 2021)