Displacement Urbanism
Politics of Bodies and Spaces of Abandonment and Endurance
Edited by Giovanna Astolfo and Camillo Boano
Published
Jan 1, 2026Page count
256 pagesISBN
978-1529242324Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University PressPublished
Jan 1, 2026Page count
256 pagesISBN
978-1529242331Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University Press
Available open access digitally under CC BY NC ND licence.
At a time when the annihilation of places to live and to imagine a future is unfolding—through the violent return of war, aggressive capitalism, and biopolitical projects of territorial control—this timely book explores the layered and ongoing displacements that shape much of the world today. Bringing together case studies from both the Global North and South, the contributors examine the deeply entangled relationship between displacement and the production of urban space in our time.
This perspective takes root in the everyday fragility of urban life, particularly in places marked by colonial legacies, racial capitalism, extractive economies and imperial infrastructures. It draws attention to the creative urban processes that arise in the aftermath of violence and the resourceful practices that continue to shape how cities are lived in, imagined and built.
Giovanna Astolfo is Lecturer in Urban Design at The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, University College London.
Camillo Boano is Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at Polytechnic of Turin, Italy.
Introduction - Giovanna Astolfo and Camillo Boano
1. Framing Displacement Urbanism - Giovanna Astolfo and Camillo Boano
Part 1: Extraction
2. Displacement, Two Ways: Necroeconomic Navigations in the Peri-Urban Global Southeast - Elliott Prasse-Freeman
3. Producing Zoé: The Camp as a Form of Extraction - Sofia Moriconi
Part 2: Expulsion
4. Between Augmented Disposability and Deferred Disposal: A View from Istanbul - Francesco Pasta
5. Resettlement for Fast Progress: Planning and Design Elements in the Urbanization of the Yangtze River Delta - Paola Pellegrini and Jinliu Chen with Ying Chang
Part 3: Exhaustion
6. Beyond Shelter: Makeshift Inhabitation in Displacement, Greater Paris - Stefano Mastromarino
7. Shifting Geographies of “Presence”: (In)voluntary Displacements and Territorial Biographies from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Layla Zibar
8. Multi-scalar Displacements of Women in Chile - Yasna Contreras
Part 4: Extinction
9. Place Wounding and Displacement Urbanism in Baghdad after the 2003 US-led Invasion - Sana Murrani, Dhirgham Alobaydi and Ula Marie
10. The Imbrications of National Security Emergencies and Disaster Preparedness in Turkey - Eray Çaylı
Part 5: Endurance
11. Calais as a Zone of Care: Reimagining an Urban Migration Hub Between France and the United Kingdom - Kieran Tam and Irit Katz
12. Beyond Destitution and Deprivation: Spatialities of Survival by Refugees in Arua City, West Nile, Uganda - Peter Kasaija
13. Conclusion
