This discussion paper calls for broadening the scope of research on cities and migration, both empirically and theoretically, by applying a relational comparative perspective. It pleas to rethink how cities are studied and compared in migration studies. Although cities have become central reference points in migration research since the ›local turn‹, most studies still focus primarily on capital cities and gateway cities as self-contained spaces in the Global North. These biases lead to blind spots in the production of knowledge regarding the migration–city nexus. Newer theoretical, empirical, and methodological perspectives offer possible ways out by decentering migration and focusing on the multiple relations sustained in and across cities in the Global South and North.

https://doi.org/10.48439/zmf.190