Transnational mobilities and urban spatialities: Notes from the Asia-Pacific

Recent debates in migration studies have emphasized the importance of attending to the urban as part of an effort to respatialize the study of mobility and transnationalism. This paper critically expands on these interventions through a more detailed engagement with ideas of relationality and territoriality moving beyond permanent settlement to consider temporary migrants, and considering urban centres outside North America and Europe through discussion of cities in the Asia-Pacific. The paper discusses two potential avenues towards a more sophisticated conceptualization of transnational mobilities and urban spatialities: moving beyond rupture in analysis of migrant settlement, and interrogating transnational and urban mobilities.