BioSocial Walking: Novel digital technologies to explore migrant mobility and belonging

Dr. Tess Osborne
School of Geography, Geology and the Environment, University of Leicester
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham

Walking in urban environments has been shown to stimulate a sense of belonging; for migrants, walking in new places can link existing memories or encounters to reminders of their own place of birth or country of origin. Yet, the practice of walking in everyday urban life for international migrants and how it shapes a sense of belonging, is seldom explored (Fathi and Ní Laoire, 2021). BioSocial Walking addressed this gap, by developing and employing a biosocial understanding of the everyday walking experiences of migrants from the global south in different urban contexts in the global north (Leicester and Stockholm).

Two key digital interventions were deployed to gain more nuanced and digitally mediated insight into migrants’ mobility and how walking promoted, (or not), a sense of belonging in their host countries. We used biosensing wristbands and a new qualitative research app – QualNotes, to collect different data while walking with migrants on a route of their choice, in the case study cities. In overlaying the biosensory, visual, aural and place-based maps of the routes walked, three key themes emerge: (1) place-based variations on the purpose of walking; (2) how walking was used a way to get to know the city for all participants, and to generate a senses of place; and, (3) how walking and getting to know a city made them feel safer and more confident in their new environments.