Urban sustainability and the subjective well‐being of migrants: The role of risks, place attachment, and aspirations

Abstract While material conditions of migrant populations on average tend to improve over time as they become established in new destinations, individual trajectories of material and subjective well‐being often diverge. Here, we analyse how social and environmental factors in the urban environment shape the subjective well‐being of migrant populations. We hypothesise these factors to include (a) perceived social and environmental risk, (b) attachment to place, and (c) migrant aspirations. We analyse data from a cross‐sectional survey of 2641 individual migrants in seven cities across Ghana, India, and Bangladesh. The results show that the persistence of inferior material conditions, exposure to environmental hazards, and constrained access to services and employment affect migrants' subjective well‐being. Hence, social and environmental risks constitute urban…