Settlement, housing and integration of refugees in the UK and Germany: experiences beyond the metropolis

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This research will explore the housing experiences ofrefugees and asylum seekers in two European countries byexamining housing policies and settlement patterns. The so-calledrefugee 'crisis' and the integration of these individuals acrossEurope has caused many different challenges for European society,some of those challenges that are not fully known, and others areonly just emerging in this superdiverse era. Previous researchshows how their integration into the host society can be impededby social structures. Scales of governance can seriously hamper theindividual autonomy of refugees and asylum seekers such as lawsthat fix them to a particular place (Weidinger, in press). Thisresearch will consider the role of housing policies and settlementpatterns on migrant integration. Using case studies of rural,regional and urban settings, it will scrutinize housing, settlementand integration processes.A qualitative approach (semi-structured interviews,observation, document analysis) will provide a range ofperspectives and lenses to scrutinise migrant integration. Dataanalysis will draw primarily on Goffman and Delanty to unravel theimportance of micro-level interactions vis-à-vis wider socialstructures.The research will contribute to a growing scholarship onnew immigration destinations, that is areas with limited experienceof immigration. One of the ongoing challenges of migrationresearch is that of methodological nationalism (Wimmer and GlickSchiller 2002). In proposing pan-European analysis this research willhelp to move beyond piecemeal localized migration studies,extending theoretical debates and providing essential knowledge toNGOs and policymakers.