Understanding the local dynamics of Syrian refugee integration through the eyes of refugees and local residents: the case of the Ȍnder Neighbourhood, Ankara

ABSTRACT

As the civil war in Syria continues and the displaced Syrians continue to become ‘urban refugees’ in their settled (host) countries since 2011, policy/political attention has shifted to refugee emplacement and integration. Despite the growing policy-oriented literature on integration, limited attention has gone to developing actor-oriented approaches to uncover the local dynamics of refugee integration by giving a voice to both refugees and local people. Attempting to address this gap in the literature, this article presents the views of Syrian refugees and local people on the integration process through the findings of a case study conducted in the Önder neighbourhood of Ankara, Turkey; known as ‘Little Aleppo.’ The findings portray the social, economic, political and spatial dimensions of Syrians’ integration at the local level from both parties’ perspectives and reveal the local drivers of and barriers to Syrians’ integration in Önder.

KEYWORDS:

• Syrian refugees
• integration
• Önder
• Turkey

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Z. Ezgi Haliloğlu Kahraman

Z. Ezgi Haliloğlu Kahraman received her BSc in City and Regional Planning, MS in Economics and PhD in City and Regional Planning from METU. She is a professor and head of department of City and Regional Planning at Çankaya University in Turkey. She teaches courses on urban sociology, research methods, and legislational framework in planning. Her publications appear in Habitat International, Journal of Housing and Built Environment, International Journal of Islamic Architecture and METU Journal of Faculty of Architecture. Her main areas of research topics include socio-spatial consequences of international mobility and rural migration, residential satisfaction, participatory planning, student-centred education.

Feriha Nazda Güngördü

Feriha Nazda Güngördü received her bachelor’s degree (BSc) from the Department of City and Regional Planning (2012) and MS in Regional Planning (2015) from Middle East Technical University (METU) Ankara, Turkey. She received her Ph.D. degree in in Urban Policy Planning and Local Governments from Middle East Technical University (2021). Her major research interests lie in the areas of socio-cultural diversity, politics of diversity, forced migration, refugee (im)mobility, and refugee emplacement in urban areas.