Diasporic Urbanism: Social and spatial agency of the Eritrean and Ethiopian community in the (trans)local urban context of Hamburg

Abstract

This master thesis in the field of urban design explores spatial and social, material and immaterial aspects of ‘Diasporic Urbanism’ as an expression of the interdependencies between globalization and rapid urbanization in present times. A grounded and ‘creolized’ research approach guides the empirical analysis starting from stories out of the Eritrean and Ethiopian community and concrete places they create, use, transform and maintain in the city of Hamburg, Germany. Ethnographic mappings of socio-cultural and economic practices of particular localities, as well as network drawings tracing (trans)local flows of people, money, goods and information, are used to document and analyse multiple, cross-scale dimensions of diasporic space and agency in the urban setting. The situated findings regarding diasporic organizing and place-making uncover existing challenges and coping strategies from within the community. These are contextualized and discussed referring to theory from urban and cultural studies. This work aims to move beyond debates of integration of ‘the other’ by acknowledging the active, space-constituting role of diasporic subjects in the unfolding story of contemporary cities. By means of a radical change in perspective, this research challenges existing urban planning practices and offers knowledge for future development processes in post-migrant cities that take the realities of growing transnational and transcultural urban communities into account.