Mass Displacement and the Challenge for Urban Resilience

People displaced by conflict and disasters increasingly end up in urban areas, as opposed to refugee camps. The challenge of mass displacement is global. It requires governments, national and local, to build the resilience of urban systems so they are able to absorb migration flows and transform in response to these pressures, now and in the future.

This paper examines all forms of migration: forced and voluntary, domestic and cross-border, and in response to different pressures (particularly disasters and conflict). It assesses the impact of mass displacement on the wellbeing of all urban residents, using an urban resilience framework to explore how different parts of the system respond to large influxes of people moving into areas often already suffering from inadequate housing, a lack of basic services and insecurity.