Forced migration and the city: irregularity, informality, and the politics of presence

Darling, Jonathan

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between forced migration and the city. The paper outlines four accounts of the city centred on: displacement and the camp-city, dispersal and refugee resettlement, the ‘re-scaling’ of borders, and the city as a sanctuary. Whilst valuable, these discussions maintain a focus on sovereign authority that tends to prioritize the policing of forced migration over the possibilities for contestation that also emerge through cities. Arguing for a fuller engagement with debates in urban geography, this paper considers how discussions of urban informality and the politics of presence may better unpack the urban character of forced migration.

Citation

Darling, J. (2016). Forced migration and the city: irregularity, informality, and the politics of presence. Progress in Human Geography, 41(2), 178-198. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132516629004

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Feb 10, 2016
• Publication Date: Feb 10, 2016
• Deposit Date: May 29, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: May 29, 2018
• Journal: Progress in Human Geography
• Print ISSN: 0309-1325
• Electronic ISSN: 1477-0288
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 41
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 178-198
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132516629004