Cities of refuge and resistance: Everyday urban spaces, social inclusion & the hostile environment. The shaping of the urban lives of people seeking a

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The research will explore the factors governing the urbanlives of people seeking asylum in London. Usingparticipatory and visual methods, it will identify significanturban spaces and understand how they facilitate and inhibitopportunities for social connectivity, health and wellbeingagainst the constraints of legal status and an intentionallyexclusionary asylum system. Focusing on the livedexperiences of refused and current asylum seekers in twoLondon boroughs, it will explore the spatial dimensions ofurban inclusion and exclusion - from uses of public spacessuch as urban greenspace, squares and the streets toaccessible semi-public spaces such as cafes, libraries andcommunity centres - and how asylum seekers employeveryday tactics to subvert and resist the effects ofprecarious legal status and exclusionary policy whichmanifest psychologically and in the built environment. Itseeks to theorise urban spaces as sites of refuge,resistance and hostility and conceptualise how socio-legalconstraints manage and regulate the urban lives of asylumseekers.