Staying to move: an ethnography of intra-urban residential (im)mobility in Rome’s Banglatown

This paper examines the dynamics of intraurban residential (im)mobility among Bangladeshi migrants in Rome through an ethnographic study of Banglatown in the Torpignattara neighborhood. Rather than viewing Banglatown as a fixed ethnic enclave, the research shows how it is enacted as a flexible social and territorial formation. Drawing on 23 semistructured interviews, participant observation, and informal conversations, and analyzed through a Reflexive Thematic Analysis, the study explores how Bangladeshi migrants’ spatial decisions are shaped by structural constraints, internal community hierarchies, and individual aspirations. Findings reveal ambivalent forms of belonging and attachment that underpin everyday urban experiences. Residential immobility often emerges as a strategic choice, motivated by proximity to socioeconomic networks, cultural familiarity, and local infrastructures. Yet it coexists with new intraurban mobilities driven by generational change, gendered agency, and shifting perceptions of neighborhood identity. Significantly, the study highlights the dual role of migrant associations and informal infrastructures as both facilitators and gatekeepers of mobility. Overall, the paper contributes to debates on migrant settlement and urban transformation by challenging essentialized understandings of ethnic enclaves and foregrounding the negotiated, relational nature of urban (im)mobility in migration studies.