Threshold Cities in the Context of International Migration: Displacement Governance and Liminality

Abstract

The paper examines spatial, administrative and existential practices of exclusion, uncertainty and displacement experienced by migrants in the cities. The research is focused on the subject of the duality of inclusion and exclusion experienced by displaced populations in urban environments, in the face of widespread migration, how it operates through the dynamics of the ‘asylum paradox’. Urban areas are seen as places of contradiction that may be both sources of shelter and marginalization for migrants. Migrants living in cities have access to housing, job and social networks, but also endure hardships from physical isolation, legal vulnerability and structural exclusion. To explain the unequal distribution of migrants over cities, it is important to understand the circumstances contributing to this paradox. The research is conceptually informed by the concepts of spatiality, urban citizenship and liminality. Based on qualitative research grounded in secondary data analysis, the study finds that the MIPEX data provide insights indicating that migrant integration policies contribute to a decline in democratic satisfaction among people with attitudes and an increase in social polarization, according to the 2025 GRID and the 2026 World Migration Report, the vast majority of the 83 million people displaced by conflict and natural disasters have settled in urban areas. Against this background, metropolitan settings are viewed as dualistic spaces that offer emancipatory opportunities for migrants but also limiting, and perhaps discriminating, pressures. In this perspective, migrants are trying to survive by building networks of solidarity, developing geographic enclaves and reinterpreting their living circumstances.