ReliefWeb

Jessica Sadye Wolff

Introduction

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ 2016 Global Trends Report, global human displacement is at a record high. In 2016, more than 10.3 million people were displaced from their home. Overall, 65.6 million people have been forcibly displaced from their home, including 22.5 million refugees and 2.8 million asylum seekers. An increasing percentage of refugees are seeking protection in urban areas. By the end of 2016, 60% of refugees were living in urban areas. As refugee crises become increasingly protracted and increasingly urban, the role of local governments will become more important. Thus, the need for place-based innovative long term housing and settlement solutions is more urgent than ever.

Since the end of 2014, Germany has received more than 1.3 million refugees. In the midst of a prolonged national affordable housing shortage and a so called “migration crisis,” the federal government approved an unprecedented housing policy enabling the temporary construction of residential units specifically for refugees and asylum seekers in areas previously zoned for nonresidential uses.

This research project explores the spatial and ethical implications of Germany’s new national housing policy and its impact on integration, using the city-state of Hamburg as a case study. This research project will analyze the effects of an unprecedented and innovative land use policy on local planning processes, the resultant housing accommodations, and the experience of asylum seekers and local residents. By focusing on the inherently spatial aspect of refugee housing, this case study will foreground the impact of political and geographic choices on the integration experience. Lessons from the implications of this policy will have significance for countries that are seeking creative ways to incite construction of new affordable housing units for marginalized populations in land-constrained urban areas in the future.