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Seminar Week MAS FS: The (Seasonal) Arrival City;Designing for Migrant's Transient Right to the City
Last Updated: 2026-02-05 15:41:46
Abstract
The cities in the global south, especially those in Asia & Africa experience a phenomenon known as circular migration, meaning that migrants arriving from the countryside often return back seasonally maintaining a circular relationship with the city. Although prevalent, this phenomenon is hardly taken into consideration in city planning leading to a rise of precariously built housing settlements.
Objective
In his seminal book Arrival City, Doug Saunders (2010) paints a picture of arrival to the city as an once in lifetime linear endeavour that migrants from country-side undertake. Contrary to this, the experience of cities in the global south, especially those in Asia and Africa, has been starkly different. The cities here experience a phenomenon known as circular migration, meaning that migrants arriving from the countryside often return back seasonally maintaining a circular or cyclic relationship with the city. The migrants often do so in order to maximize their livelihood prospects, taking up work in the city whilst maintaining a farming homestead in the countryside. The phenomenon although prevalent is hardly taken into consideration in city planning and housing in the cities across the global south leading to a rise of precariously built and serviced tenement housing settlements. During the autumn of 2019, the students of MAS Housing had an opportunity to visit the city of Bhuj in Gujarat, India and learn from the experiences of 'Homes in the City', a coalition of civil society organisations working with circular migrants and their right to the city. This seminar week hopes to build on the knowledge gained in Bhuj through a publication oriented, week-long workshop in Zurich. In addition to developing ideas and designing housing prototypes for circular migrants in the city of Bhuj, the seminar week participants will develop illustrated storylines of circular migrants in Bhuj. In addition to credits, the participants will feature as contributors in a publication which is scheduled to be published at the end of 2020 tentatively entitled 'THE [SEASONAL] ARRIVAL CITY'.
Content
In his seminal book Arrival City, Doug Saunders (2010) paints a picture of arrival to the city as an once in lifetime linear endeavour that migrants from country-side undertake. Contrary to this, the experience of cities in the global south, especially those in Asia and Africa, has been starkly different. The cities here experience a phenomenon known as circular migration, meaning that migrants arriving from the countryside often return back seasonally maintaining a circular or cyclic relationship with the city. The migrants often do so in order to maximize their livelihood prospects, taking up work in the city whilst maintaining a farming homestead in the countryside. The phenomenon although prevalent is hardly taken into consideration in city planning and housing in the cities across the global south leading to a rise of precariously built and serviced tenement housing settlements. During the autumn of 2019, the students of MAS Housing had an opportunity to visit the city of Bhuj in Gujarat, India and learn from the experiences of 'Homes in the City', a coalition of civil society organisations working with circular migrants and their right to the city. This seminar week hopes to build on the knowledge gained in Bhuj through a publication oriented, week-long workshop in Zurich. In addition to developing ideas and designing housing prototypes for circular migrants in the city of Bhuj, the seminar week participants will develop illustrated storylines of circular migrants in Bhuj. In addition to credits, the participants will feature as contributors in a publication which is scheduled to be published at the end of 2020 tentatively entitled 'THE [SEASONAL] ARRIVAL CITY'.
General Information
- Language
- English
- Levels
- NDS
Examination
- Type
- ungraded semester performance
Registration & Places
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| independent project | Seminar Week MAS FS: The (Seasonal) Arrival City;Designing for Migrant's Transient Right to the City | No time listed | 40 h semesterly |
Offered In
-
MAS in Housing (1 year full time course in English, starting every autumn semester. Further information on Lectures, workshops, individual and group tutorials and excursions organized in the framework of the four modules: Cultural, socio-economic, demographic and political aspects of housing and human settlements (M1); Adequate housing and neighbourhood development strategies (M2); Housing for migrants, refugees, and people displaced by disasters (M3); Housing research and evaluation methods (M4).)