Urban migrant citizenship in syndemic times in Italian small towns: a case study

The COVID-19 syndemic hit disadvantaged social groups hard, especially migrants. Municipalities had to address magnified vulnerabilities during lockdowns, impacting migrants' access to social services and urban citizenship. This paper investigates how Italian local administrations and networks managed migrants' vulnerabilities during the COVID-19 syndemic, and how this shaped urban migrant citizenship in small and medium-sized towns (SMTs). Here urban citizenship is understood in terms of access to social rights and resources locally, amid weakened national welfare provisions. Presenting the results of a qualitative research based on interviews with policymakers and civil society actors in the Marche region (20202021), this paper will show how new, emergency-driven responses from public and private actors addressed these challenges. The long-term effectiveness of these approaches in supporting a complex, vulnerable population remains an open question.