Migration Infrastructures at the Edge: (Re)making Arrival Infrastructures in Hamburg

This paper examines the (re)making of two distinct but related migrant arrival infrastructures in Hamburg: the Lampedusa in Hamburg tent (hereafter referred to as the ‘Lampedusa tent’), which existed from 2013 to 2020, and the Refugee Info Point, which existed for six months in 2022. Both infrastructures were built by and for migrants as an access point to the city of Hamburg. This paper is based on fieldwork conducted in Hamburg between 2017 and 2022. Building on existing research on arrival infrastructures as gateways to the city, I elucidate how arrival infrastructures at the edge function as sites of transformation and contestation where migrants in Hamburg claim rights to the city. My material speaks to the mutability, adaptability, vanishing, and (re)emergence of arrival infrastructures in Hamburg’s urban spaces over several years.