The Arrival Grid: Public Space as Migrant Social Infrastructure in Central Lisbon

ABSTRACT In the face of rising xenophobia and anti‐migration sentiment, public spaces play a critical role as social infrastructures for marginalised populations. This study adopts an infrastructural lens to examine how central public spaces in Lisbon mediate processes of migrant arrival and integration, considering how infrastructures shape who meets in the city and who never does. While existing literature on arrival infrastructures often centres on trans‐local nodes (e.g., border cities, ethnic enclaves), less attention is paid to ordinary central public spaces where newcomers navigate daily life upon arrival. This paper addresses that gap by examining Martim Moniz Square and Benformoso Street, functioning as important infrastructures of arrival enabling ordinary urban life for migrants, as case studies. The paper introduces the concept of the arrival grid , a socio‐spatial framework and an analytical tool comprising (1) nodes (key points like shops, metro stations and housing), (2) lines (circulatory flows such as delivery routes or informal labour networks) and (3) layers (cultural patterns and social life built over time). Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and spatial insight, the study examines how migrants shape the city through everyday routines, informal networks and symbolic appropriations of public space. The findings highlight how arrival unfolds as an ongoing relational process in public space beyond its assigned roles and often outside formal integration channels. Finally, the paper argues for broader recognition of these informal infrastructures and calls for urban policy to acknowledge and support the everyday, often invisible, ways migrants make place in the city.