Informal welfare: Immigrant associations as arrival infrastructure for mobile people

Recent research in anthropology, sociology, social geography, migration studies, urban studies and social work has focused on the function of cities, and more specifically of neighbourhoods where newcomers first settle, as places of ‘arrival’ and as ‘gateways’ or zones of transition that stimulate social and physical mobility. Upon arrival, newcomers interact with several ‘arrival infrastructures’, such as those that are part of governmental programmes specifically directed towards newcomers, but also with social welfare agencies, schools or diaspora groups or place‐based solidarity networks, faith‐based organisations, newcomers' self‐organisations and so on. Generally, the concept of infrastructure is used to refer to the ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ structures, facilities and services which are used by newcomers and which may either facilitate social mobility or reproduce power imbalances and (im)mobility. More recently, the concept of ‘people as infrastructure’ has been introduced to refer to the activities, networks and collaborations among urban residents, aimed at ‘remaking the city’ in response to deficient policies and services. In this paper, we focus on the role played by (faith-based) immigrant associations as arrival infrastructure for highly mobile people. More than the formal social work sector, these associations – due to their own embeddedness in transnational networks and spaces – allow newcomers to connect the global to the local and to mobilise resources that transcend boundaries. Moreover, their informal character may make them better equipped to deal with issues of temporality and uncertainty, characteristic of highly mobile clients. Starting from the case of Brussels we investigate how and why mobile newcomers turn to these associations for support and what the implications are for the development of urban social work with mobile people.status: publishe