This book focuses on the spatial forms and urban consequences of forced migration.
The presence of the refugee in the contemporary metropolis is marked by precarity, a quality that has become a characteristic feature of the neoliberal urban milieu. Bringing together essays from diverse disciplines, from architectural history to cultural anthropology and urban planning, this collection sheds light on both the specificities of the contemporary urban condition that affects the refugees and the multi-dimensional impact that the refugees have on the city. The authors propose investigating this connection through three interlinked themes: identity (informality, imagination, and belonging); place (transnational homemaking practices); and site (the navigation of urban space).
In recent years, there has been a significant growth in scholarship on forced migration, particularly on the relationship between displacement and the built environment. Scholars have focused on spatial practices and forms that arise under conditions of displacement, with much attention given to refugee camps and the social and political aspects of temporariness. While these issues are important, the essays in this volume aim to contribute to a less explored aspect of displacement, namely the interaction between refugees and the cities they inhabit. In this respect, the volume underlines the specificity of the urban refugee as well as their spatial agency and investigates the irreversible effect they have on the contemporary urban condition.
The presence of the refugee in the contemporary metropolis is marked by precarity, a quality that has become a characteristic feature of the neoliberal urban milieu. Bringing together essays from diverse disciplines, from architectural history to cultural anthropology and urban planning, this collection sheds light on both the specificities of the contemporary urban condition that affects the refugees and the multi-dimensional impact that the refugees have on the city. The authors propose investigating this connection through three interlinked themes: identity (informality, imagination, and belonging); place (transnational homemaking practices); and site (the navigation of urban space).
In recent years, there has been a significant growth in scholarship on forced migration, particularly on the relationship between displacement and the built environment. Scholars have focused on spatial practices and forms that arise under conditions of displacement, with much attention given to refugee camps and the social and political aspects of temporariness. While these issues are important, the essays in this volume aim to contribute to a less explored aspect of displacement, namely the interaction between refugees and the cities they inhabit. In this respect, the volume underlines the specificity of the urban refugee as well as their spatial agency and investigates the irreversible effect they have on the contemporary urban condition.
280 pages | 53 color plates, 17 halftones | 6.69 x 9.61 | © 2024
Anthropology: Cultural and Social Anthropology
Architecture: History of Architecture
Table of Contents
List of figures vii
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction: The Urban Refugee: Migration, Neoliberalism, and the City 1
Bu¨lent Batuman
Part 1. On Identity: Informality, Imagination and Belonging 25
Chapter 1. Urban Refugees and Differential Inclusion through Urban Informality in Denizli, Turkey 27
Eda Sevinin
Chapter 2. Syrian Children’s Imagination and Play Areas beyond the Physical Reality of Urban Spaces in Beirut 51
Roula El Khoury and Paola Ardizzola
Chapter 3. From Longing to Belonging: Arab American Cultural Adaptation and Refugee Resettlement Practices in Houston, Texas and the Gulf Coast 73
Maria F. Curtis
Part 2. On Place: Transnational Homemaking Practices 101
Chapter 4. Opening Your Home to The Other: Living with a Stranger, Citizens Hosting Exiles in Ile de France 103
Stéphanie Dadour
Chapter 5. Housing Syrian Refugees in Saida (Lebanon) under Protracted Displacement: Unfolding Spatial and Social Exclusion 127
Howayda Al-Harithy, Abir Eltayeb and Ali Khodr
Chapter 6. Transnational Home-Making in Somali Malls: Cape Town and Minneapolis 159
Huda Tayob
Part 3. On Site: Navigating the Urban Space 181
Chapter 7. Syrian Refugees’ Location Choice in Urban Areas as a Subjective Process: A Cross-case Comparison of Önder (Ankara) and Yunusemre (Izmir) Neighborhoods 183
Feriha Nazda Gu¨ng.rdu¨ and Zerrin Ezgi Haliloglu Kahraman
Chapter 8. Gaza Buildings: Architectures of Precarity in Sabra, Beirut 213
Are John Knudsen
Chapter 9. Transience, Marginality, and Spaces of Refuge: Basmane Hotels District in Izmir 233
Kivanç Kilinç and Sebnem Yu¨cel
Contributor Biographies 255
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction: The Urban Refugee: Migration, Neoliberalism, and the City 1
Bu¨lent Batuman
Part 1. On Identity: Informality, Imagination and Belonging 25
Chapter 1. Urban Refugees and Differential Inclusion through Urban Informality in Denizli, Turkey 27
Eda Sevinin
Chapter 2. Syrian Children’s Imagination and Play Areas beyond the Physical Reality of Urban Spaces in Beirut 51
Roula El Khoury and Paola Ardizzola
Chapter 3. From Longing to Belonging: Arab American Cultural Adaptation and Refugee Resettlement Practices in Houston, Texas and the Gulf Coast 73
Maria F. Curtis
Part 2. On Place: Transnational Homemaking Practices 101
Chapter 4. Opening Your Home to The Other: Living with a Stranger, Citizens Hosting Exiles in Ile de France 103
Stéphanie Dadour
Chapter 5. Housing Syrian Refugees in Saida (Lebanon) under Protracted Displacement: Unfolding Spatial and Social Exclusion 127
Howayda Al-Harithy, Abir Eltayeb and Ali Khodr
Chapter 6. Transnational Home-Making in Somali Malls: Cape Town and Minneapolis 159
Huda Tayob
Part 3. On Site: Navigating the Urban Space 181
Chapter 7. Syrian Refugees’ Location Choice in Urban Areas as a Subjective Process: A Cross-case Comparison of Önder (Ankara) and Yunusemre (Izmir) Neighborhoods 183
Feriha Nazda Gu¨ng.rdu¨ and Zerrin Ezgi Haliloglu Kahraman
Chapter 8. Gaza Buildings: Architectures of Precarity in Sabra, Beirut 213
Are John Knudsen
Chapter 9. Transience, Marginality, and Spaces of Refuge: Basmane Hotels District in Izmir 233
Kivanç Kilinç and Sebnem Yu¨cel
Contributor Biographies 255