Suburban Migration: Interrogating the Intersections of Global Migration and Suburban Transformation

Suburbanisation as a global phenomenon has presented multifaceted patterns of evolution and transformation in various contexts. Migrant settlements in suburban spaces just add more complexities to suburbia by bringing diverse demographics, (inter)cultural practices, new built forms, and new meanings of space and community. These migrant spaces challenge conventional suburban socio-spatial organisations of land, infrastructure, and resources as well as suburban governance, planning, and design. The manifestations of migrant suburbs where diversity and urban growth are juxtaposed inevitably present profound implications for governments, practitioners, and academics in a myriad of ways, such as changing land uses and physical forms (e.g. neighbourhood characters), competing claims for space and rights to the city (e.g. who has the access), and increasing awareness of equity and social inclusion (e.g. who belongs to and in the community). This chapter draws on the migration-related suburbanisation processes in different contexts and applies the theory of the production of space to cast light upon the narratives of everyday suburban life, diversity management, growth and development, policy and governance, and socio-spatial (in)equity and (in)justice.