The Emotional City: Refugee Settlement and Neoliberal Urbanism in Calgary

Abstract

Based on a case study in Calgary, we frame refugee (re)settlement through literature in emotional geography and argue that the logistics of settlements are emotional as well as pragmatic. Social agencies play a crucial role in the settlement of refugees, especially the government-sponsored class. Personal connections with a settlement worker make the negotiation of the city emotional from the outset. In addition, accessible public spaces and institutions help create positive emotional attachments. Other aspects, such as limited mobility and dispersed settlement, construct obstacles and intensify a sense of isolation. Neoliberal urban policy has made the settlement process in Canada more difficult.

Does Community Size Matter in the Settlement Process? The Experience of Syrian Refugees in Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada

“…It is well-known that Canadian immigration and settlement studies have a bias towards the three large cities of the country: Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal (c.f. Danso 2002;Garcea 2016;George and Tsang 2000;Hansson et al 2012;Hiebert 2000Hiebert , 2017Hou and Beiser 2006;Simich et al 2005;Teixeira and Li 2009;Wood et al 2011). This is expected, as most immigrants and refugees settle in these three metropolitan areas.…”

Planning for change: addressing environmental migration as a planning issue in the Greater Toronto Area

“…These clusters then begin attracting services, businesses and institutions. This dynamic creates new opportunities to reinvent the traditional built form of the suburbs, but also has significant costs in terms of mobility and accessing the needs of everyday life, especially for new arrivals with limited means (Wood et al, 2011).…”