Governing Global Displacement in Austerity Urbanism: The Case of Berlin's Refugee Housing Crisis

Abstract

A surge of forcibly displaced migrants into Europe in 2015 culminated in what has been referred to as the 'refugee crisis'. As the continent's top destination country, Germany has been widely praised for its welcoming culture while heavily criticized for failures of integration. This is particularly true of Berlin -a city that has absorbed the highest number of war refugees in Europe, many of whom remain without stable accommodation. Despite its significance, the scholarship has largely neglected the housing question within the European refugee crisis. The aim of this article is to cast a critical light on the complexities and contradictions glossed over by the refugee crisis trope. Drawing on the Berlin case, the author argues that resettlement initiatives need to be understood against the backdrop of austerity urbanism, particularly its insistence that markets can meet housing demand. By focusing on three types of shelter provisioning for refugees, the article reveals the multifaceted and nuanced ways in which the Berlin government, refugees and grassroots organizations contest, produce and navigate the moving frames of austerity urbanism in search of stable housing.

Social Cohesion and Transforming Cities: The Housing Experience of Displaced People in Turkey

“…Bu kişilerin yerleştikleri kentlerdeki mekânsal dağılımlarının, söz konusu yerleşkelerin sosyo-demografik yapısına ilişkin etkisinin istatistiksel verileri, dönemsel olarak kent düzeyinde karşılaştırılmaktadır. Ancak barınma kavramının karmaşıklığı ve konut bulma aşamasının çok aktörlü süreci nedeniyle, söz konusu kavram ve sürecin toplumsal bütünleşme ve sosyal uyumla ilişkisine dair çalışmalar oldukça azdır (Soederberg, 2019). Oysa karma nitelikli uluslarası göçle gelenler, kentteki sosyo-demografik yapıya etkilerinin yanında, mekân kullanımına ilişkin fiziksel ve sosyo-psikolojik unsurlar açısından da kentsel dönüşümlerin önemli aktörlerindendir.…”

Capacity management of migrant accommodation centers using approximate dynamic programming

“…Also, the delay is assumed to be independent on the unit of capacity expansion. This is because in migrant crisis management, significant delays are usually linked to bureaucracy (Fee, 2019;Soederberg, 2019;Werker, 2007). The impact of these two assumptions are investigated in Section 5.3.…”

Stakeholder Legitimization of the Provision of Emergency Centralized Accommodations to Displaced Persons

“…Refugees who were granted asylum also faced these problems due to the challenge of finding jobs, owing to language issues or nonrecognition of their diplomas. As a result, asylum seekers (and refugees) tended to remain in centralized accommodations throughout the entirety of the asylum procedure-beyond the minimum three months required-even after being granted asylum [19]. Table 1 provides an overview of the types of accommodations commonly used as initial receptions facilities, collective accommodations, and emergency accommodations during the Refugee Crisis.…”