Transnational and Local Geographies of Forced Migration Politics of Space: Insights from a Comparative Study on Lagos and Ceuta

Abstract

Forced migrants exhibit a diverse array of creative methods in shaping their environments and creating shelter, ranging from collaborative space-sharing initiatives to the construction of makeshift housing structures. However, their spatial "creativity" depends directly on the migratory infrastructure in their cities of arrival. Focusing on Ceuta—a Spanish exclave at the northernmost tip of Morocco—and Lagos, Nigeria as two case studies on the African continent, our research investigates the spatial production by transnational and trans-local forced migrants as adaptive strategies of resilience and examines how paternalistic humanitarianism and ineffective policies contribute to the marginalization of vulnerable mobile demography. In Lagos, policy failures compel internally displaced trans-local migrants—Internally Displaced Persons (IDP)—to cultivate creativity in self-reliance, transforming spaces into places of dwelling. Conversely, in Ceuta, state and supranational actors regulate the arrival infrastructure for transnational forced migrants, imposing detention centers as shelter, limiting migrants’ space production possibilities, thereby curbing autonomy and impeding inclusion. While Ceuta takes a qualitative data extraction approach with an extensive use of mapping, the Lagos case study is grounded in mixed methodology. Both explore the placemaking practices as a strategy of resistance to build belonging and claim autonomy, measuring rights to the city. Our research offers a comparative analysis of daily spatial activities in two dynamic cities with high forced migration. National and city-level contexts, institutional structures in which migrant groups are embedded, and the nature of migrant community relations explain how socio-spatial links enable displacement and circumvent humanitarian limits, facilitating protracted movement across various scales.