Practices and discourses of urban citizenship: unpacking the local ‘citizen card’ project in the city of Liege, Belgium

In today’s Europe, state governance of migration is often described by both researchers and activists as exclusionary, due to the increasing strictness of immigration rules, informed by securitisation and criminalisation approaches (Agier, 2008; Valluy, 2009). In this context, localities - cities in particular - appear to be crucial spaces for implementing or challenging these approaches on the ground (Zapata-Barrero et al., 2017). Through the example of Liège (Belgium), described in the literature as a possible ‘sanctuary’ space (Lambert & Swerts, 2019; Mescoli, 2021), we study the discourses and practices around hospitality targeting undocumented migrants. We focus on a recent project developed by members of local civil society, including researchers, associations, representatives of the municipal administration and (undocumented) migrants. The project aims to create a municipal ID card that will be issued to all residents of the city, regardless of their legal immigration status, provided they can prove that they live in Liège. The local ‘citizen card’, although it has no legal validity for the State, would function as a concrete proof of inclusion in the local environment, facilitating access to a set of services and demonstrating membership and belonging (de Graauw, 2014; Debelder, 2020; Fehr, 2021). As such, it functions as a tool of urban citizenship deployed on the ground (Varsanyi, 2006; Kaufmann, 2019). In this presentation, we analyse the development of this process, with particular attention to the construction of its content (also inspired by examples of other cities) and the interactions between the different social actors involved.