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Paper Short Abstract:

This paper analyses the relationship between place attachment and classed identities and subjectivities in times of high mobility. It explores how middle-class migrant small business owners in Porto, Portugal, create place-based belonging through urban practices, imaginaries, and narratives.

Paper Abstract:

In recent decades, scholars have been exploring the subject of place attachment and neighbourhood belonging in a globalised urban world. Researchers tend to agree that the sense of neighbourhood belonging has not disappeared in times of high mobility, but it has still been affected. For instance, length of residence does not seem to indicate a higher level of local attachment these days. Middle-class people on the move make place and create belonging by connecting their previous biographies to the place they choose to live. They tend to choose a place that matches their lifestyle and life story, claiming moral ownership over their neighbourhoods. Their perceptions and values can be powerful in establishing dominant place identities and attachments, some authors state. In this paper, I aim to add to this literature by exploring the relationship between class identity and classed subjectivities and the creation of a sense of belonging for relatively privileged migrants in the Bonfim neighbourhood of Porto, Portugal. 

The paper draws on one-yer ethnographic research and in-depth interviews conducted with migrants from European and non-European countries, such as France, UK, Spain, USA and Brazil, who opened small businesses like cafes, restaurants, and art galleries in Bonfim. Fieldwork took place at two different times between 2020 and 2023. I found that these migrant small business owners produce place attachment through both their urban daily practices and urban imaginaries and narratives. They connect self and place according to their class identities, while also reshape their classed subjectivities in the new neighbourhood.