The affects of arrival processes: newcomers' learning the city of Brussels

The paper discusses urban arrival processes for how they can be approached with a focus on affects. It firstly argues for a conceptualisation of arrival as a relational space of becoming of both the newcomer subjects and the arrival context through the multiple affective dimensions emerging from their newly experienced relationality. It then relates affects to the notion of learning, which in the case of arrival processes can be seen both as learning the city anew as a newcomer, and as learning about how the city is for newcomers. It finally gains from the author’s experience as a newcomer and as a researcher to Brussels to expose the challenges and potentialities of adopting a deep listening for of attuning to others' stories of arrival as a mean to keep open towards unimaginable forms of urban belonging.