The Mobility Mandala: Conceptualizing Human Mobility in the Sustainable Development Framework

Human mobility and sustainable development are linked in countless ways. This essay introduces the mobility mandala, a comprehensive framework to systematize the various links and to structure the language, research, and policy interventions on human mobility and the Sustainable Development Goals. The mobility mandala conceptualizes four principal ways in which human mobility interacts with sustainable development: (1) development affecting mobility examines the impact of sustainable development on (prospective) migrants or mobility patterns; (2) mobility as development investigates movement as an enabler for migrants’ and refugees’ development outcomes; (3) mobile populations as vulnerable populations highlights where mobility is associated with particular vulnerabilities for those on the move; and (4) mobile populations impact development emphasizes the impact of contributions of emigrants, diaspora actors, immigrants, refugees, and internally displaced persons on the development of communities of origin and destination. The mobility mandala closes existing gaps in available analytical frameworks, as it (1) incorporates all forms of mobility; (2) provides a unified analytical lens for in-migration, out-migration, transit, and return migration; and (3) categorizes public policy and Sustainable Development Goal interventions, supporting a more varied, more specific, and human rights–based understanding of migration governance. Importantly, it provides a tool to highlight differences in development outcomes for different populations and to refer to the tensions between various strategies that can be associated with the label “migration and development.”