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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Winners or Losers? The Adjustment Strategies of Rural-to-Urban Migrants in Tirana, Albania

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This paper explores the micro-level process of adjustment undergone by rural migrants to the city. Rural migrants are expected to fully adjust to the urban lifestyle, setting aside their traditions and culture. However, as the migrant population increases in an urban area, migrants create their own communities with their own lifestyles and values, and thus there is an ongoing debate about whether this process entails the ruralisation of the city or the urbanisation of migrants. While becoming urban and being part of the city is desired, the reality is that joining a migrant community and adjusting to other migrants is more important. According to the resource-based model, migrants need personal, material, social and cultural resources to satisfy their needs, goals and demands. Socio-cultural clustering constitutes the main social resource, creating a support system for migrants. The longer the rural migrants reside in the city, the better their adjustment strategies. Moreover, economic security and willin...