Stuck or striving in the city? Urban friction and the making of internal–international migration pathways in Iraqi Kurdistan

Research on migration frequently treats internal and international movement as separate phenomena, yet in many Global South contexts, they unfold as interconnected stages within a single, non-linear mobility continuum. This study examines how internal migrants in the secondary cities of Duhok and Zakho (Kurdistan Region of Iraq) evaluate whether to remain, return, or move onward as they encounter changing urban conditions over time. Conceptualising these cities as active producers of migration rather than passive destinations, we draw on the aspirations–capabilities framework to develop the concept of urban friction: the uneven configuration of urban conditions that simultaneously enables settlement and generates new mobility aspirations. Based on qualitative fieldwork, including 30 interviews with internal migrants and five expert interviews, the study shows how cities function as a lived urban baseline through which aspirations and capabilities are continuously recalibrated. Kurdish ethnic structures and religious networks operate as safety anchors that facilitate initial settlement, while everyday experiences of labour markets and service provision generate new propellant forces. We find that length of residence is associated with a temporal shift from initial optimism to service disillusionment, transforming earlier sanctuaries into sites of stagnation. Limited professional inclusion often converts situated immobility into a state of “stuckedness”, sustaining international aspirations as a strategy for dignity. Conversely, for some, the city acts as an affective sanctuary where regrounding leads to voluntary immobility. The findings demonstrate that secondary cities operate as transitional nodes where aspirations are socially and spatially produced through encounters with urban precarity.