Multiscalar and in/formal: Infrastructuring refugee arrival in disempowered cities

Abstract

This paper explores how refugee arrival is infrastructured in declining cities in the US, France, and Germany, examining whether urban shrinkage affects local practices. In doing so, it reveals how refugee arrival is infrastructured across scales and by a bricolage of actors operating on a spectrum of in/formality. Due to long-term decline and limited municipal budgets, local non-governmental actors, including refugees themselves, have been found to play important roles alongside regional and national foundations in shaping arrival in cities. While a great deal of arrival infrastructuring takes place locally, the municipalities themselves were found to be notably absent. While bottom-up action was found to have considerable impact through various interventions, its influence is constrained as the institutionalization of local action is contingent upon funding from external entities such as foundations. The paper introduces the concept of multiscalar arrival infrastructuring to showcase the complex actor constellations and raises questions about power imbalances and competing interests among actors shaping arrival infrastructures for newcomers in downscaled and disempowered places.