Abstract
Climate change is reshaping patterns of human mobility, particularly across the Global South, where environmental vulnerabilities intersect with poverty, uneven development, insecure livelihoods and limited access to social protection. In this talk, I explore how climate change is transforming migration decisions, urban spaces and everyday livelihoods in rapidly changing cities across the Global South. Instead of viewing climate-induced migration simply as displacement from environmentally vulnerable areas, I conceptualise mobility as an ongoing process through which people negotiate changing environmental, economic and social conditions. Drawing on my research from South Asia and other Global South contexts, I discuss how migrants move between rural and urban spaces, often combining multiple forms of mobility, informal employment and livelihood strategies. I consider how migrants experience cities as both sites of opportunity and exclusion, where access to housing, infrastructure, employment and public services is shaped by class, gender and migration status. Particular attention is given to the ways climate related disruptions intensify existing inequalities while also generating new forms of adaptation and resilience. The talk concludes by highlighting the need for more inclusive urban and migration policies that recognise the agency of migrants and address the structural inequalities that shape climate mobility across the Global South.