Local Economy, Vol. 22, No. 4, November 2007, 325–334 EDITORIAL Migration, New Arrivals and Local Economies STEPHEN SYRETT* & MICHAL LYONS** *Centre for Enterprise and Economic Development Research, Middlesex University, London, UK **London South Bank University, London, UK Migration is ‘part of a transnational revolution that is reshaping societies and politics around the globe’ (Castles & Miller, 1993, p. 5). While processes of insertion, assimilation or integration involve transformations of migrants’ social, economic and cultural capital (Sassen, 1998), their integration is uneven and often incomplete (Soysal, 1994). Critically, whilst the drivers of migration may be related to global processes of economic and political change, the experiences and impacts of migration are strongly local. In this issue of Local Economy, we attempt to make some sense of the rapidly increasing and changing migration patterns in terms of their impact upon local economies and the policy challenges that result. The contributions here focus on the case of the UK, with experience too from Canada, and seek to provide a better understanding of the relationship between changing local economies and changing migrant streams, to begin to map out the local economic policy issues and emerging policy responses related to enterprise and labour market integration. New Migration Patterns: Structures and Agency Globalization, inequalities, uneven development, changing markets, changing political systems, and improvements in communications together Correspondence Address: Stephen Syrett, Centre for Enterprise and Economic Development Research, Middlesex University, The Burroughs, Hendon, London, NW4 4BT, UK. Email: s.syrett@mdx.ac.uk ISSN 0269–0942 Print/ISSN 1470–9325 Online/07/040325–10 ß 2007, LEPU, South Bank University DOI: 10.1080/02690940701736710 by guest on February 6, 2016 lec.sagepub.com Downloaded from