Refugees as Urban Stakeholders
Lessons From Reception of Ukrainians in German Cities
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22018244 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Valeria Lazarenko (0000-0001-9795-8458, Universität Hamburg), Annegret Haase (0000-0002-8492-9161, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 11 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-17 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Urban Planning (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2183-7635 • E-ISSN: 2183-7635 |
| Publisher | Cogitatio (PUBLISHER • PT) |
| DOI | 10.17645/up.11706 |
| OpenAlex | W7164987108 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 67 |
This article examines how reception and participation practices shape urban futures in Berlin and Leipzig, highlighting Ukrainian refugees as agents of urban change. We adopt a comparative approach to summarise and re‐analyse research carried out in several projects on the two cities. Through the lens of urban citizenship, we explore how civic engagement and participation among refugees can facilitate dialogue among urban stakeholders and support the implementation of sustainable, long‐term solutions. Unlike refugees from other countries, those from Ukraine have been granted temporary protection, which affords them a broad spectrum of rights. These include immediate access to the labour, healthcare, education, and housing markets, freedom of movement within and beyond the European Union, and the ability to commute between Germany and Ukraine. Concurrently, German host communities have demonstrated an impressive ability to communicate with Ukrainian authorities and stakeholders, facilitating collaborative discussions on long‐term solutions and the co‐creation of strategies for the future. While the proactive engagement of Ukrainian refugees in Germany invites a critical reassessment of the role of civil society actors as agents of urban transformation, this discourse should also consider double standards regarding the reception of different migrant groups. From the perspectives of forced migration research and urban future‐making, this complex scenario requires new conceptual approaches to assess its impact, challenges, and opportunities
Asylum seeker · Civil society · Displaced person · Freedom of movement · Futures contract · German · Refugee · Ukrainian · Cross-Border Cooperation and Integration · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Migration, Refugees, and Integration
Introduction – Sanctuary cities and urban struggles
Casualties of Care
Racing against time
Crisis and the urban imagination
Radical Hope
Housing refugees from Ukraine
Active Waiting and Changing Hopes
What Can We Learn from the Reception of Ukrainian Refugees
“I simply cannot live like a guest forever…”
Displaceability, placemaking and urban wellbeing
Communities of struggle
(Re)producing HIV Care for Ukrainian Refugees in Germany and Poland
Germany, year 2020. The tension between asylum right, border control, and economy, through the imperative of deservingness
Unsettling indifference and the politics of intimacy in migrant justice
Reaction to the Russian aggression against Ukraine
Challenging the boundaries of exclusive Europeanisation
Temporary protection, refugee fatigue and political discontent in European Union cities of refuge
The permanent regime of temporary solutions
Waiting
Racialization through (un-)deservingness
Forced migration and the city
Transitioning to resilience and sustainability in urban communities
The Refugee Paradox During Wartime in Europe
The arrival of Ukrainian refugees as an opportunity to advance migrant integration policy
Citizenship Practices and Urban Governance in European Cities
Urban migrant and refugee solidarity beyond city limits
Implementing the Temporary Protection Directive in Germany
Homes for Ukraine’ and the politics of private humanitarian hospitality
We are all refugees
Living with Uncertainty
Forced migration, uncertainty and transnationalism of Ukrainians in Germany
Why It's Different
Visibilities and the Politics of Space
Participation in Urban Contention and Deliberation
Introduction
Precarity and agency through a migration lens
Migrant-serving organizations and urban citizenship-making in times of crisis
Urban Citizenship and Right to the City
Cities in a World of Cities
The Comparative City
What are they waiting for? The use of acceleration and deceleration in asylum procedures by the Dutch Government
Migrant cities
Palestinians and the Arab Uprisings
In search of recognition
Volunteer Humanitarianism
Working precarity
Spatial Patterns of Recent Ukrainian Refugees in Germany
On Transversal Solidarity
Patterns of Reflective Solidarity and Migrant Resistance in Copenhagen and Berlin
Urban Solidarity
Giving Back
Let the State Decide It All for Me
How much more time do you need
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |