Overview

An important study of the interaction of refugees and cities, exploring how cities are affected, how they respond, and how they are transformed Cities all over the world experience large humanitarian influxes, and refugees and citizens alike must navigate the ensuing risks and opportunities. Over the past twenty-five years, Karen Jacobsen has studied the interaction of refugees and cities and has trained scores of graduate students, many of whom now work with United Nations agencies or humanitarian nongovernmental organizations. Her research team at Tufts and this global network of aid workers give her firsthand knowledge of the impact of forced migration on cities and the lives of refugees living there. Focusing on cities and refugees in Africa and the Middle East, Jacobsen draws universal lessons, distilling her research findings and wisdom from decades of experience into clear, vivid prose. The book is valuable for researchers, policy analysts, donors, and humanitarian workers in cities around the globe and for all readers trying to understand, beyond the headlines, one of the most troubling and volatile issues of our time.

Full Product Details

9780300254693

Table of Contents

Reviews

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“Many refugees seek a new, safe life in cities—and also transform them. Jacobsen resists easy moralism, presenting displacement as neither crisis nor cure-all, but as a feature of our century and a catalyst that cities can squander or harness. The result is a deeply informed vision into one of the greatest global policy challenges of our time, and a rich sketch of a better path forward.”—Michael Clemens, George Mason University and The Peterson Institute for International Economics  “A vivid and engaging examination of the lives of refugees and migrants in urban areas of the developing world. Jacobsen's book explains how cities act as places of sanctuary and support for new arrivals, but also as locations where danger and precarity are prevalent.”—Jeff Crisp, Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford “Host Cities makes a significant contribution to the literature on urban refugees. Karen Jacobsen pulls together a compelling story about the impact of refugees on cities and the effects of urban life on refugees. Based on years of field experience, scholars, students and the informed general reader will find Host Cities to be readable, informative, and compassionate—a trifecta found in few books.”—Susan Martin, Georgetown University

Author Information

Karen Jacobsen is the Henry J. Leir Professor of Global Migration at the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy at Tufts University. She has won grants from the MacArthur Foundation and the U.S. Agency for International Development and has consulted for nongovernmental and UN organizations, including the World Bank and UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency). She lives in Brookline, MA.

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