A Comparative Relative Perspective on the Relationships Between Migrants and Cities

Abstract

This article addresses the thorny and re-emergent issue of comparative urban studies by offering some initial thoughts on the need for a relative scalar approach to the comparative study of cities. Cities are approached as entry points into the mutual constitution of local, regional, national, and global positional scales of differentiated but connected domains of cultural, political, and economic power. The comparative perspective offered here focuses on the varying relationship between international migrants and their cities of settlement. In assessing the factors that contribute to a city's repositioning within parameters of power, residents of cities—including migrants—may become "scale-makers" as they experience, understand, and evaluate the relative merits of cities. Drawing data from three cities in Europe and the United States—Paris, Dallas, and Halle/Saale—the proposed analytical framework can also be used globally to think about the analytical parameters for comparative urban research.