Multiscalar and In/Formal: Infrastructuring Refugee Arrival in Disempowered Cities
This article explores how refugee arrival is infrastructured in declining cities in the US, France, and Germany, examining whether urban shrinkage affects local practices of facilitating the arrival and emplacement of newcomers. In doing so, it reveals how refugee arrival is infrastructured across s...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cogitatio
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Urban Planning |
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| Online Access: | https://www.cogitatiopress.com/urbanplanning/article/view/8702 |
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| author | Norma Schemschat |
| author_facet | Norma Schemschat |
| author_sort | Norma Schemschat |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article explores how refugee arrival is infrastructured in declining cities in the US, France, and Germany, examining whether urban shrinkage affects local practices of facilitating the arrival and emplacement of newcomers. In doing so, it reveals how refugee arrival is infrastructured across scales and by a bricolage of actors operating on a spectrum of in/formality. While a great deal of arrival infrastructuring takes place locally, the municipalities themselves were found to be notably absent from many processes. As a result of long-term decline and limited municipal budgets, local non-governmental actors, including refugees themselves, have been found to play important roles alongside regional and national foundations in shaping arrival in the cities under investigation. While bottom-up action was found to have considerable impact through various interventions, its influence was constrained as its institutionalization was contingent upon funding from external entities such as foundations. The article introduces the concept of multiscalar arrival infrastructuring to showcase these complex interdependencies and to question the power imbalances and competing interests among actors shaping arrival infrastructures for newcomers in downscaled and disempowered places. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-08aa06c600b54207b2d62cbcf5d16423 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2183-7635 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | Cogitatio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Urban Planning |
| spelling | doaj-art-08aa06c600b54207b2d62cbcf5d164232025-08-20T02:52:23ZengCogitatioUrban Planning2183-76352024-12-019010.17645/up.87023926Multiscalar and In/Formal: Infrastructuring Refugee Arrival in Disempowered CitiesNorma Schemschat0Department of Sociology, University of Amsterdam, The NetherlandsThis article explores how refugee arrival is infrastructured in declining cities in the US, France, and Germany, examining whether urban shrinkage affects local practices of facilitating the arrival and emplacement of newcomers. In doing so, it reveals how refugee arrival is infrastructured across scales and by a bricolage of actors operating on a spectrum of in/formality. While a great deal of arrival infrastructuring takes place locally, the municipalities themselves were found to be notably absent from many processes. As a result of long-term decline and limited municipal budgets, local non-governmental actors, including refugees themselves, have been found to play important roles alongside regional and national foundations in shaping arrival in the cities under investigation. While bottom-up action was found to have considerable impact through various interventions, its influence was constrained as its institutionalization was contingent upon funding from external entities such as foundations. The article introduces the concept of multiscalar arrival infrastructuring to showcase these complex interdependencies and to question the power imbalances and competing interests among actors shaping arrival infrastructures for newcomers in downscaled and disempowered places.https://www.cogitatiopress.com/urbanplanning/article/view/8702arrival infrastructuresleft behind placesrefugee arrivalurban decline |
| spellingShingle | Norma Schemschat Multiscalar and In/Formal: Infrastructuring Refugee Arrival in Disempowered Cities Urban Planning arrival infrastructures left behind places refugee arrival urban decline |
| title | Multiscalar and In/Formal: Infrastructuring Refugee Arrival in Disempowered Cities |
| title_full | Multiscalar and In/Formal: Infrastructuring Refugee Arrival in Disempowered Cities |
| title_fullStr | Multiscalar and In/Formal: Infrastructuring Refugee Arrival in Disempowered Cities |
| title_full_unstemmed | Multiscalar and In/Formal: Infrastructuring Refugee Arrival in Disempowered Cities |
| title_short | Multiscalar and In/Formal: Infrastructuring Refugee Arrival in Disempowered Cities |
| title_sort | multiscalar and in formal infrastructuring refugee arrival in disempowered cities |
| topic | arrival infrastructures left behind places refugee arrival urban decline |
| url | https://www.cogitatiopress.com/urbanplanning/article/view/8702 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT normaschemschat multiscalarandinformalinfrastructuringrefugeearrivalindisempoweredcities |