Land use planning innovations in the midst of a 'Migration Crisis' : developing a spatial definition of refugee integration

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' 2016 Global Trends Report, global human displacement is at a record high and refugee crises are increasingly urban. Research on forced migration has historically focused on the obligations of the nation state, overshadowing the role of cities in urban displacement. Using the conceptual framework of a refugee's 'right to the city,' this thesis seeks to contribute to literature on urban displacement by beginning to developing a spatial definition of refugee integration. A case study of state-provided refugee housing in Hamburg, Germany identifies innovations at the federal and state levels that outline a new model of how urban planning can contribute to refugee housing policy. This research provides an alternative to leading refugee housing models and highlights the importance of linking the historically segmented phases of emergency housing with long-term development and land use planning in cities experiencing rapid urbanization as a result of migration. Practices from this case study, as well as opportunities to refine the approach, provide insight into the development of refugee housing policy in land-constrained urban areas in the future.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2018

Author dc:creator

• Wolff, Jessica Sadye

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Eran Ben-Joseph.

• Urban Studies and Planning.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/118228

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/118228