Arrival Cities: Refugees in Three German Cities

Abstract

[EN] Since late 2015, the authors have studied the refugee crisis in Europe and the Middle East (PUARL Refugee Research Website, 2017). In this paper, we present three case studies in three different cities in Germany. Refugees are everywhere in Germany, even in smaller towns and villages. The case study cities are at different scales and include Borken (15,000 people), Kassel, a mid-size city (200,000), and Essen, a larger city (600,000) which is part of the still larger Ruhr Area Megacity. In these cities we try to understand the life of refugees from their original escape city and country to their arrival in these new communities. Our work focuses on the social-spatial aspects of refugee experiences, and the impacts on urban morphology and building typology. We also try to understand how refugees manage their new life in partial safety of place, shelter, food and financial support, but also in uncertainty and insecurity until officcially accepted as refugees. Beyond crisis, we are looking at how refugees can and will try to integrate into their host countries, cities, and neighborhoods and start a new life. Urban architecture projects for housing and work opportunities that help the process of integration are part of this study. Particularly, in this paper, we investigate the reality on the ground of the positive Wilkommen Kultur (welcome culture) and the high expectations and implied promises that were set in 2015 by Chancellor Angela Merkel and German society.