Although large-scale patterns in human migration can tell us why people leave home and where they go, data about what happens next is notoriously poor. The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) (RGS-IBG) set out to fill in knowledge gaps about migrants’ lives after they move. The insights are contained in a five-year field research study with partners in Colombo, Sri Lanka; Dhaka, Bangladesh; Harare, Zimbabwe; and Hargeisa, Somaliland. The knowledge researchers gathered using a geographic approach will be key to informing initiatives that support the sustainable integration of new migrants into urban communities. Sri Lanka: How Geography Shapes Life for Migrants As of 2008, for the first time, more than half of the world’s population lived in urban areas. That number is expected to rise to nearly 70 percent by 2050—growth fueled largely by migration from rural areas, as more people leave crisis-afflicted and climate-pressured areas in search of safety and economic opportunity. Despite this trend, however, many global cities lack policies and infrastructure to support an influx of new residents. Colombo experiences significant in-migration from rural areas, according to the results of the RGS project Migrants on 114 Colombo is the most populous city in Sri Lanka.
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