In: Political geography: an interdisciplinary journal for all students of political studies with an interest in the geographical and spatial aspects, Band 87, S. 102371
Under the Trump administration and its "zero-tolerance" policy, the number of detained asylum seekers in the United States has been growing significantly. Yet we know little about their mobility, agency, and social relations at the micro level during the time they are subject to a detention regime. This is because research about detention has frequently developed independently of sustained engagement with the lived experience of those detained within the relevant institutions. Building on literature about the spatiality of social relations and studies that analyze detention "from below," the current article conceptualizes detention as a social space in which social relations between detained asylum seekers are formed and negotiated. It draws on ethnographic material collected in detention prisons in the greater New York City area and pays particular attention to the seemingly mundane social facets of everyday life in detention. The article reveals the complexity, ambivalences, and forms of social relations that range from shared and unifying feelings of injustice, to the development of friendships and shared practices of resistance and disobedience that sometimes even go beyond the confines of detention. This perspective allows us to see detained people as agents in the exercise of power and in negotiation with structures of control, waiting, punishment, and exploitation that organize but do not complete their everyday lives in detention.
"Lagerähnliche Aufnahme- und Unterbringungspraktiken wurden im Kontext einer europäischen Angst vor Flüchtlingen als Teil asylfeindlicher Gesetzesvorhaben über Jahrzehnte etabliert. Die städtische Wohnversorgung von Geflüchteten spiegelt daher die Verräumlichung einer Gesetzgebung wider, die auf Ausgrenzung zielt. An den Beispielen Kopenhagen, Berlin und Madrid zeigt der Artikel die Strukturen, rassistischen Motive und Folgen dieser Lagerunterbringung auf." (Autorenreferat)
At the beginning of the 21st century, the phenomena of shrinking cities spread widely over Europe. Cities shrank in peripheral, sparsely populated areas in Northern Europe, in Western European industrial agglomerations in economic decline, and in rural areas in Southern Europe suffering from emigration and a rapid decrease in birth rates. City shrinkage is the result of the on-going relocation of industry and metropolisation in a globalizing world. In the era of Post-Fordism, the transformation of local productive systems resulted in a polarisation of regional spaces and a growing imbalance among urban territories. The Post-Fordist economy in Europe has led to agglomerations of economic activity and urban growth while other regions have suffered a decline that reinforces prior trends toward an uneven economic and urban development. Today, European city planners have to deal with both the regulation of urban growth and the planning and management of urban decline. However, being a child of capitalistic logic and development, urban planning and its theories and guidelines are fundamentally linked to socio-spatial and economic growth. Using theories on uneven urban development and the case studies of Bitterfeld (Germany) and Detroit (USA), this paper illustrates that strategies following a "departure of the growth path" reach limits as, within the context of capitalism and its logic, these strategies are contradicting the nature of the politico-economic system. In the long run, even declining cities are forced to generate (economic) growth to further compete in the global economy. Strategies such as "regeneration", "re-imagining", "redevelopment", and "renewal" are ultimately an alibi to justify a "re-growing" of economic activity and performance in declining cities rather than increasing their population.
The article aims to illustrate the spatial dimensions of exclusionary mechanisms applied to immigrants asking for asylum in European cities. It focuses on the housing of asylum seekers, its policies, effects, causes, conflicts and resistance, with the assumption that housing asylum seekers is relevant for the integration process of this group. The comparative study uses the cases of of Copenhagen, Berlin, and Madrid exploring following main questions: 1) To what extent does the housing of asylum seekers affect the inclusion process into the urban society, and 2) how do asylum seekers act against exclusionary mechanisms and how do they negotiate their political interests? In this context, the presentation focuses on four fields of interests: the policy and responsibilities regarding housing asylum seekers on the EU, national and local level, the illustration of the location and characteristics of housing, the conflicts that arise from housing asylum seekers in communities, and forms of resistance by asylum seekers and political activists against the housing policy. The paper illustrates that the political and societal dealings with asylum seekers and, more specifically, the location for housing of asylum seekers in either deprived neighborhoods on the outskirts (Madrid, Berlin) or outside of European cities (especially Copenhagen, but also Berlin and Madrid), and the material conditions of the housing affect the inclusion process and the image of asylum seekers and their housing. Therefore, neighborhood conflicts arise between migrants and neighborhood residents, and migrants resist (often by means of protests in the urban space) against their living conditions. However, while ruffled feelings and protests have been smoothed in Copenhagen (mostly due to political repression and small improvements regarding the asylum legislation), there is an increase of political protest and resistance by political groups and asylum seekers considering the housing situation in Berlin and Madrid, which emerged due to neighborhood conflicts, the occupation of public spaces, and solidarity movements. The European City is often described as a place of openness, integration, and emancipation (Simmel 1950; Siebel 2004). However, this research work shows how asylum seekers are systematically prevented to benefit from these features. It clarifies the disadvantageous housing situation, discrimination practices and the issue of a possible failed integration, and it finally illustrates that the European City has built a new, invisible wall that excludes "non-citizens" from the actual urban life. In regards to locally "unwanted" migration groups, the European City developed to some kind of a new Fortress City.
Die Segregationsforschung gilt als der Ursprung der soziologischen Stadtforschung. Während Segregation als vornehmlich großstädtisches Phänomen beschrieben wird und die Großstadt als Forschungsparadigma des modernen Urbanismus schlechthin gilt, stellen kleine Städte bisher allerdings einen ,blinden Fleck' in der Stadt- und Segregationsforschung dar. Ungeachtet von Politik und Forschung fand in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten indes eine verstärkte Zuwanderung in den ländlichen Raum statt, die die Kommunen peripherer Räume bis heute mit wachsenden Integrationsanforderungen konfrontiert. Da in Bezug auf Kleinstädte vermutet wird, dass durch die abnehmende Integrationskraft des Arbeitsmarktes besonders Wohnviertel, Wohnungen und andere alltägliche Aufenthaltsorte zunehmend an Bedeutung für Integrationsprozesse gewinnen, erscheint die Untersuchung von Segregationsprozessen in Kleinstädten für die Integration von MigrantInnen von besonderer Bedeutung zu sein. Als Grundlage für die Untersuchung kleinstädtischer Segregationstendenzen wird in der Studie der aktuelle Forschungsstand aufgearbeitet und das Phänomen der Segregation in den Kontext von kleinen Städten eingebettet. Anhand der Fallstudie Genthin in Sachsen-Anhalt werden mit Hilfe qualitativer Forschungsansätze lokale Segregationstendenzen sowie deren Ursachen, Ausprägung und Wahrnehmung durch unterschiedliche Personengruppen in der Stadtgesellschaft untersucht und letztlich dargestellt, wie sich Segregation in kleinen Städten äußert und wie eine Analyse von Segregationsprozessen in kleinen Städten vorgenommen werden kann. Bei der Untersuchung wird deutlich, dass sich der Prozess der ethnischen Segregation in kleinen Städten in einer anderen Dimension als in Großstädten zu äußern scheint. Die Entstehung des segregierten Quartiers in der untersuchten Kleinstadt sowie der Prozess der ethnischen Segregation sind keineswegs nur durch makrosoziale Faktoren bedingt, sondern erheblich von lokalen Praktiken, politischen Entscheidungen sowie von der Wahrnehmung der Kleinstadtgesellschaft abhängig. Die intensive Auseinandersetzung mit dem Quartier in der Kleinstadt produziert eine Stigmatisierung des Quartiers, die die Qualität der Segregation erheblich verfärbt. Um die Komplexität des durch Stigmatisierung bestimmten Segregationsprozesses in Kleinstädten zu verstehen, wird daher in der Studie vorgeschlagen, dass die Segregationsforschung in Kleinstädten andere Maßstäbe setzen muss als in den gängigen auf Großstädte bezogenen Ansätzen. Online-Version im Universitätsverlag der TU Berlin (www.univerlag.tu-berlin.de) erschienen. ; The research of segregation is considered to be the origin of urban sociology. Because segregation is mainly explained as a big-city phenomenon and the metropolis serves as a research paradigm of modern urbanism, smaller towns are often neglected in urban and segregation research. Not noticed by politics and research, immigration has increased in rural areas in the past decades, which puts forward questions of the integration of immigrants in small towns. The research on processes of segregation is becoming more significant for the analysis of the integration of immigrants in small towns, as it is assumed that the job market is losing its integrating qualities and therefore neighborhoods, living conditions, and neighborhood institutions gain in importance for the integration process. This study reviews the current state of urban research on the given subject and puts the urban phenomenon of segregation in the context of small towns using a case study of Genthin, a small town in Saxony Anhalt. The study employs a qualitative research approach to investigate the reality of ethnic segregation in small towns by illustrating the local conditions and tendencies of segregation, its causes, characteristics, and its perception by different groups within the town's society. Furthermore this work suggests methods for the analysis of ethnic segregation in small towns. The analysis of these topics is intended to provide a clear understanding of the primary argument of this thesis, namely that the process of ethnic segregation in small towns seems to express itself in a different dimension in comparison to big cities. The appearance and ongoing development of segregation in a neighborhood in the case study are not only determined by macro-social factors and trends, but rather substantially affected by local practices, political decisions and also by the perceptions and views of the small town society. This intense scrutiny of the neighborhood produces a stigmatization of the neighborhood and its residents, which highly influences the quality of segregation and the integration process of immigrants. In order to understand the complexity of segregation development in small towns, which is highly affected by particular processes of stigmatization, this study proposes the necessity of setting a different pattern for the research of the subject in small towns from common approaches used for researching the same phenomena in big cities. Online-Version published by Universitätsverlag der TU Berlin (www.univerlag.tu-berlin.de).
Migration researchers and urban scholars are increasingly applying infrastructural approaches to analyze the production and organization of urban spaces and migration. While transformative and transforming power seem to be inherent characteristics of infrastructures, studies to date have rarely emphasized this aspect, only placing minimal focus on its importance for understanding the constitution and development of infrastructures and for examining the mobility of migrants. In the current article, we study Berlin's Refugio, an alternative form of housing for forced migrants, and the city's Dong Xuan Center (DXC), a Vietnamese hypermarket. We argue that they not only represent infrastructures in which newcomers reach a city, and navigate their trajectories, as well as the obstacles, and opportunities of urban life, but they are also 'infrastructures of conversion' that transform material space and the people inhabiting them, and their entanglement with the city. While the DXC and Refugio emerged out of necessity, addressing the lack of economic (DXC) and housing (Refugio) opportunities, they have changed into cultural and economic hubs for migrant communities and beyond. On the one hand, these changes come with multilayered negotiation processes, revealing a complex interplay of interests, actors, and internal hierarchies within the DXC and Refugio. On the other hand, their transformation illustrates the influence of local planning authorities, institutions, and the pressure to culturally and economically exploit their social, spatial, and 'ethnic' characteristics. This mesh elucidates the diffuse position of both infrastructures in the urban realm. While their existence and future development is constantly challenged, they simultaneously represent political spaces that prompt institutional logics and questions of immigrant integration.
Migration researchers and urban scholars are increasingly applying infrastructural approaches to analyze the production and organization of urban spaces and migration. While transformative and transforming power seem to be inherent characteristics of infrastructures, studies to date have rarely emphasized this aspect, only placing minimal focus on its importance for understanding the constitution and development of infrastructures and for examining the mobility of migrants. In the current article, we study Berlin's Refugio, an alternative form of housing for forced migrants, and the city's Dong Xuan Center (DXC), a Vietnamese hypermarket. We argue that they not only represent infrastructures in which newcomers reach a city, and navigate their trajectories, as well as the obstacles, and opportunities of urban life, but they are also 'infrastructures of conversion' that transform material space and the people inhabiting them, and their entanglement with the city. While the DXC and Refugio emerged out of necessity, addressing the lack of economic (DXC) and housing (Refugio) opportunities, they have changed into cultural and economic hubs for migrant communities and beyond. On the one hand, these changes come with multilayered negotiation processes, revealing a complex interplay of interests, actors, and internal hierarchies within the DXC and Refugio. On the other hand, their transformation illustrates the influence of local planning authorities, institutions, and the pressure to culturally and economically exploit their social, spatial, and 'ethnic' characteristics. This mesh elucidates the diffuse position of both infrastructures in the urban realm. While their existence and future development is constantly challenged, they simultaneously represent political spaces that prompt institutional logics and questions of immigrant integration.
Migration researchers and urban scholars are increasingly applying infrastructural approaches to analyze the production and organization of urban spaces and migration. While transformative and transforming power seem to be inherent characteristics of infrastructures, studies to date have rarely emphasized this aspect, only placing minimal focus on its importance for understanding the constitution and development of infrastructures and for examining the mobility of migrants. In the current article, we study Berlin's Refugio, an alternative form of housing for forced migrants, and the city's Dong Xuan Center (DXC), a Vietnamese hypermarket. We argue that they not only represent infrastructures in which newcomers reach a city, and navigate their trajectories, as well as the obstacles, and opportunities of urban life, but they are also 'infrastructures of conversion' that transform material space and the people inhabiting them, and their entanglement with the city. While the DXC and Refugio emerged out of necessity, addressing the lack of economic (DXC) and housing (Refugio) opportunities, they have changed into cultural and economic hubs for migrant communities and beyond. On the one hand, these changes come with multilayered negotiation processes, revealing a complex interplay of interests, actors, and internal hierarchies within the DXC and Refugio. On the other hand, their transformation illustrates the influence of local planning authorities, institutions, and the pressure to culturally and economically exploit their social, spatial, and 'ethnic' characteristics. This mesh elucidates the diffuse position of both infrastructures in the urban realm. While their existence and future development is constantly challenged, they simultaneously represent political spaces that prompt institutional logics and questions of immigrant integration.
Zum Themenfeld "Diversität und Vielfalt" diskutierten im Rahmen des 8. Treffens des Nachwuchsnetzwerkes "Stadt, Raum, Architektur" Wissenschaftler_innen aus den Sozial-, Geistes- und Raumwissenschaften an den Instituten für Humangeographie, Kulturanthropologie und Europäische Ethnologie der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main am 9. und 10. November 2012. Vor dem Hintergrund aktueller Debatten um die Konzeptualisierung von sowie den praktischen Umgang mit soziokultureller Vielfalt fand ein produktiver Austausch aus den Perspektiven der Stadtplanung, der Architekturwissenschaft sowie der sozial- und kulturwissenschaftlichen Stadt- und Raumforschung statt. Die Ergebnisse dieser interdisziplinären Auseinandersetzung hinsichtlich einer globalen Diskursverschiebung von "Multikulturalismus" zu "Diversität" und der Adaption entsprechender Strategien in Politik, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft werden in diesem Tagungsbericht anhand theoretischer Ansätze zu "Super-Diversity", Kosmopolitismus und Transnationalismus diskutiert. Empirisch werden insbesondere Fragen zu Standortmarketing, Integrationspolitiken und der Verräumlichung von Diversität sowie konkreter Praktiken der Segregation, Marginalisierung und Aushandlung von Differenz aufgegriffen. Abschließend wird die Frage nach Konflikten und Potenzialen einer "neuen Diversität" aus stadtplanerischer, dekolonialer und poststrukturalistischer Perspektive diskutiert.
Zum Themenfeld "Diversität und Vielfalt" diskutierten im Rahmen des 8. Treffens des Nachwuchsnetzwerkes "Stadt, Raum, Architektur" Wissenschaftler_innen aus den Sozial-, Geistes- und Raumwissenschaften an den Instituten für Humangeographie, Kulturanthropologie und Europäische Ethnologie der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main am 9. und 10. November 2012. Vor dem Hintergrund aktueller Debatten um die Konzeptualisierung von sowie den praktischen Umgang mit soziokultureller Vielfalt fand ein produktiver Austausch aus den Perspektiven der Stadtplanung, der Architekturwissenschaft sowie der sozial- und kulturwissenschaftlichen Stadt- und Raumforschung statt. Die Ergebnisse dieser interdisziplinären Auseinandersetzung hinsichtlich einer globalen Diskursverschiebung von "Multikulturalismus" zu "Diversität" und der Adaption entsprechender Strategien in Politik, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft werden in diesem Tagungsbericht anhand theoretischer Ansätze zu "Super-Diversity", Kosmopolitismus und Transnationalismus diskutiert. Empirisch werden insbesondere Fragen zu Standortmarketing, Integrationspolitiken und der Verräumlichung von Diversität sowie konkreter Praktiken der Segregation, Marginalisierung und Aushandlung von Differenz aufgegriffen. Abschließend wird die Frage nach Konflikten und Potenzialen einer "neuen Diversität" aus stadtplanerischer, dekolonialer und poststrukturalistischer Perspektive diskutiert.URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs140113 ; During the 8th conference of the "Stadt, Raum, Architektur" [City, Space, Architecture] network, young researchers discussed the topics of diversity and plurality from disciplinary perspectives, ranging from social and spatial sciences to humanities. The meeting took place at the Institutes of Human Geography, Cultural Anthropology, and European Ethnology of the Goethe University in Frankfurt/Main on the 9th and 10th of November, 2012. In this article we reflect on the major topics of the conference, and addressing current debates on sociocultural diversity, ...
"Zum Themenfeld 'Diversität und Vielfalt' diskutierten im Rahmen des 8. Treffens des Nachwuchsnetzwerkes 'Stadt, Raum, Architektur' Wissenschaftler_innen aus den Sozial-, Geistes- und Raumwissenschaften an den Instituten für Humangeographie, Kulturanthropologie und Europäische Ethnologie der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main am 9. und 10. November 2012. Vor dem Hintergrund aktueller Debatten um die Konzeptualisierung von sowie den praktischen Umgang mit soziokultureller Vielfalt fand ein produktiver Austausch aus den Perspektiven der Stadtplanung, der Architekturwissenschaft sowie der sozial- und kulturwissenschaftlichen Stadt- und Raumforschung statt. Die Ergebnisse dieser interdisziplinären Auseinandersetzung hinsichtlich einer globalen Diskursverschiebung von 'Multikulturalismus' zu 'Diversität' und der Adaption entsprechender Strategien in Politik, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft werden in diesem Tagungsbericht anhand theoretischer Ansätze zu 'Super-Diversity', Kosmopolitismus und Transnationalismus diskutiert. Empirisch werden insbesondere Fragen zu Standortmarketing, Integrationspolitiken und der Verräumlichung von Diversität sowie konkreter Praktiken der Segregation, Marginalisierung und Aushandlung von Differenz aufgegriffen. Abschließend wird die Frage nach Konflikten und Potenzialen einer 'neuen Diversität' aus stadtplanerischer, dekolonialer und poststrukturalistischer Perspektive diskutiert." (Autorenreferat)