Refugee cities: The Actual Spaces of Migration - DPU update on the Bartlett collaborative project

20 June 2017

To commemorate World Refugee Day the DPU shares a brief update on ‘The Actual Spaces of Migration’ project, a collaborative initiative across different departments in the Bartlett

As part of a team of different Bartlett units (DPU, Space Syntax Lab and CASA), we are glad to present an introduction to ‘The Actual Spaces of Migration,’ a project developed under the Bartlett Research Materialisation Grant. Still in its first steps, the project will attempt to show the impacts brought by migrant economies in specific European countries, looking at existing data on securitisation, shelter, distribution, and other variables. Through quantitative and qualitative analysis, we look to map through an interactive platform different dynamics at three scales: the European continent, its urban regions and specific sites.

Cities are made through everyday migrations – a constant shifting and moving of people, networks and places. Extraordinary circumstances, however, force people into unknown territories, in need to adapt and survive under highly complex conditions. By showing some of these in a spatial context, detailing some of its unacknowledged nuances, we hope to revert the simplistic narratives that paint refugee migration as a risk to European stability without exploring its full impact.

The Bartlett DPU:

Camillo Boano Giovanna Astolfo Ricardo Marten, Asimina Paraskevopoulou, Gala Nettelbladt

Space Syntax Lab:

Kayvan Karimi, Falli Palaiologou, with Tahmineh Hooshyar Emami

CASA:

Ed Manley