A gripping portrait of refugees who forged a new life in the Rust Belt, the deep roots they’ve formed in their community, and their role in shaping its culture and prosperity. "This is an American tale that everyone should read. . . . The storytelling is so intimate and the characters feel so deeply real that you will know them like neighbors."—Jake Halpern, author of Welcome to the New World War, persecution, natural disasters, and climate change continue to drive millions around the world from their homes. In this “tender, intimate, and important book—a carefully reported rebuttal to the xenophobic narratives that define so much of modern American politics” (Sarah Stillman, staff writer, The New Yorker), journalist Susan Hartman follows 3 refugees over 8 years and tells the story of how they built new lives in the old manufacturing town of Utica, New York. Sadia, a Somali Bantu teenager, rebels against her mother; Ali, an Iraqi interpreter, creates a home with an American woman but is haunted by war; and Mersiha, a Bosnian baker, gambles everything to open a café. Along the way, Hartman “illuminates the humanity of these outsiders while demonstrating the crucial role immigrants play in the economy—and the soul—of the nation" (Los Angeles Times). The 3 newcomers are part of an extraordinary migration over the past 4 decades; thousands fleeing war and persecution have transformed Utica, opening small businesses, fixing up abandoned houses, and adding a spark of vitality to forlorn city streets. Utica is not alone. Other Rust Belt cities—including Buffalo, Dayton, and Detroit—have also welcomed refugees, hoping to jump-start their economies and attract a younger population. City of Refugees is a complex and poignant story of a small city but also of America—a country whose promise of safe harbor and opportunity is knotty and incomplete, but undeniably alive.

The images are shocking and upsetting: drowned children washing up on beaches, dozens of dead bodies being pulled out of tractor trailers, a mass of humanity penned up in detention camps and tent cities, anti-immigrant rallies characterized by fearful and hate-filled invective. Yet there are also images of refugees being embraced by ordinary citizens and welcomed into their countries, their communities, even their homes. What to do about a growing and endemic refugee crisis and migrant labor population in an age of globalization, terrorism, and income inequality is a question with no simple answers. This volume presents the widest possible range of opinions from reputable sources across the political spectrum and encouragers readers to consider all viewpoints before formulating their own reasoned and informed perspective.

This new book, which is jointly published by UN-HABITAT and the Università Iuav di Venezia, gives an account of different policies, practices and governance models that are addressing the issue of international migration in an urbanizing world. The book reviews the policies and practices of ten cities, including Bangkok, Berlin, Dakar, Johannesburg, Karachi, Naples, Sô Paulo, Tijuana, Vancouver and Vladivostok. Key issues of analysis include the impact of national policies on international migration, the role of migrants in the local economy, the relationship between local and migrant communities, and the migrants' use of urban space. It reveals the importance and the advantages of promoting communication between stakeholders and establishing channels for representation and participation of migrants in decisions affecting their livelihoods.

This volume examines how cities, migration, and urban governance are intertwined. Questioning and re-working the conceptual reliance on “scales” and “levels”, it draws on examples from both Europe and North America to conceptualize the variety of cities as re-active and pro-active within “glocal” and “socio-territorial dynamics”. The book covers the governance of the myriad dimensions of urban life, such as work, housing, racism, Islamophobia, xenophobia, the arts, leisure, and other cultural practices, political participation, social movements, and “contentious politics” in North American and European cities. While cities might implement “integration policies,” the chapters do not necessarily assume that migrants live with the telos of “integration”, but rather conduct their lives as anyone else would, making meaning and voicing concerns under often difficult material conditions, strewn with the markers of race, religion, gender, sexuality, age, and often illegality. The volume highlights four arguments, themes, or contributions addressed by one or more of the chapters: how demographic change is prompting more pro-active urban governance responses in many cities in the 21st century; how the sheer complexity of migration in the 21st century is shaping the participation of citizen civil society actors, the growing role of new private actors in the realm of urban governance, and the participation of migrants themselves in this governance. The book reminds us that we are confronted with a spectrum of urban governance strategies, ranging from re-active cities to pro-active and welcoming cities. Both timely and relevant, this book collects the work of well-known scholars in the field of migration and urban studies. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Geographical Review.

For the last two decades, refugees, like other immigrants, have been settling in newer locations throughout the US and other countries. No longer are refugees to be found only in major metropolitan areas and gateway cities; instead, they are arriving in small towns, rural areas, rustbelt cities, and suburbs. What happens to them in these new destinations and what happens to the places that receive them? Drawing on a decade’s worth of interviews, surveys, spatial analysis and community-based projects with key informants, Dr Pablo Bose argues that the value of refugee newcomers to their new homes cannot be underestimated.