View article

Perceptions of migration have changed in the last decade. Recent global declarations including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the 2016 New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants and the New Urban Agenda refer primarily to large-scale movements that need to be planned and well managed. In quite some contrast, the 1994 report of the International Conference on Population and Development gives far more attention to rural-urban migration and governments’ concerns with rapid urban growth and urbanisation, with an emphasis on the impact of development policies on population distribution. Large-scale movement of migrants and refugees is certainly a defining and dramatic concern for this decade and likely for decades to come. At the same time, rapid urbanisation and growing urban poverty remain critical in much of the Global South and are closely linked to socioeconomic change. In this context, addressing urban poverty rather than manging migration may prove to be more effective to achieve more inclusive and sustainable urbanisation.