Patterns of Transnational Urban Drift to Latvia

This chapter extends the previous knowledge on the effects of migrants’ transnational lifestyle by studying residential patterns and life preferences of Latvian return migrants and arriving foreigners. We aim to explore the geographies and narratives from interviews with migrants who had shifted to more dynamic and prosperous urban/suburban locations. The contribution sends forward the interplay between immigration and return migration experiences by questioning: (1) What are the migratory flows’ geographical contexts? (2) How do they overlap and illuminate the process of ‘urban drift’? (3) How do the ‘urban drifters’ value their current life preferences and migratory experiences? Using secondary data sources, primary quantitative and qualitative data, the authors illustrate the main migratory flows and groups of transnational migrants.