Working through paradoxes: Transnational migrants’ urban learning tactics using locative technology

This study examines the ways in which transnational city newcomers interact with locative technology to build knowledge about their urban surroundings. We conducted semistructured interviews with 25 transnational migrants recently relocated to the greater New York City area, investigating their day-to-day smartphone use, navigation tactics, and uses of location-based services. Our analysis reflects on three themes: tensions surrounding different navigation strategies (searching vs. browsing); social monitoring practices (awareness vs. surveillance); and perceptions of online information sources (credibility/trust vs. distrust). Together, these themes highlight the contradictory outcomes of technology use both facilitating and hindering the processes of urban learning. We conclude with a discussion of paradoxical outcomes of technological use as a means of unpacking the sociotechnical tensions that emerge from locative technology use among transnational migrants in new urban environments.