Abstract
Many studies have explored the dynamics of immigrant and refugee settlement at the local level, highlighting that it is actually a two-way process: On the one hand, the local socio-political context specifies the conditions for refugee inclusion, and on the other, migrant mobility leads to the transformation of localities in various ways. In Greek cities, the social practices of local actors have played an important role in the implementation of the immigration policy, where refugees were perceived as a threat to personal and community security. Yet, new forms of social mobilisation and solidarity by individual citizens and community initiatives<em> </em>have worked to alter these attitudes, mitigating tensions and obstacles in refugee acceptance. The article draws on the Greek experience to explore the role and importance of the local socio-political texture in refugee inclusion, shedding light on how it gave rise to various local initiatives that inform refugee allocation as well as urban transformation and institutional change. In methodological terms, the article considers three neighbouring Greek cities as case studies to identify the different institutional and policy responses to refugee accommodation, giving rise to different paths and forms of social inclusion. The study reveals<strong><em> </em></strong>the complexity and context of the social-spatial diversity that refugees face but also the transformation dynamics of local states and civil society.The paper draws on the Greek experience to explore the role and importance of social infrastructure in refugee integration, shedding light on how these qualities, materialized in local initiatives for refugee integration to influence urban transformation and institutional change. In methodological terms, the paper employs three small and medium-size Greek cities as case studies to identify the different institutional and policy responses to refugee accommodation followed, giving rise to different paths and forms of social inclusion and urban transformation. The study reveals<strong><em> </em></strong>the complexity and the contextuality of the social spatial diversity that refugees face but also the transformation of local states and civil society.
Highlights
Over the last years, and after 2012, Greece has received a substantial number of immigrants, coming primarily from Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq as a consequence of the general political instability and wars in the area
The different needs of the refugees were treated in varied ways based on the local context and social dynamics, sometimes in coordination and others in disengagement with the state and national directives
Different social initiatives and municipal entrepreneurship companies—such as e-trikala, a municipal development agency of the city of Trikala, which maintains the operation of 70 apartments with 500 refugees accommodated and ANKA, a municipal development agency of the city of Karditsa, which implemented the accommodation and assistance to asylum seekers in the city and created the intercultural centre ‘Stavrodromi’(Crossroad)—took an active role in the social inclusion of the newcomers in local communities, differently from what was envisaged by the central immigration policy of the state
Summary
After 2012, Greece has received a substantial number of immigrants, coming primarily from Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq as a consequence of the general political instability and wars in the area. In an attempt to deal with such a pressing and controversial issue, the country deployed several strategies and measures treating the matter of spatial allocation, settlement and integration of the incomers on a rather ad hoc and diversified basis This multi-level approach to the so-called refugee crisis has resulted in different housing outcomes and approaches to integration in many cities, corresponding to different levels of engagement and cooperation that the local social actors (civil society, NGOs, religious organisations, etc.) have exhibited. Following Andreotti, Mingione, and Polizzi (2012), our approach acknowledges that in local welfare regimes, different arrangements of formal and informal actors, special configurations of population needs, social policy providers and resources are emerging and intersect with other systems and territorial levels In this context, the socioterritorial approach to urban inequalities is more appropriate to understand different levels of interactions and complex social relations from global to local (Oberti & Preteceille, 2018)
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