Pathways towards an affectionate community: place-making practices of small business owners in ger areas of Ulaanbaatar

Authors: Tenuunjargal Avirmed and Bayartsetseg Terbish

This article examines lived citizenship among migrant-owned small businesses in Ulaanbaatar through their routine place-making practices under socio-economic constraints. Building on a fourdimensional framework suggested by Kallio, Häkli, and Wood the article argues that affective citizenship should be understood as a connective force that enables spatial, performative and intersubjective forms of citizenship. Drawing on urban ethnography conducted in two ger-area localities, the findings show how trust, familiarity, care, and symbolic attachment enable business owners to navigate precarious urban conditions while building socioeconomic security and local recognition. By foregrounding affection as a mode of agency, the study reframes ger areas as spaces of grassroots urbanism and extends debates on lived citizenship from a post-socialist, rapidly urbanizing context that remains underrepresented in global urban studies.