»Christian Sowa offers rich insights into how Berlin has housed people seeking asylum, capturing both managerial challenges and people's experiences of living in improvised ›camp‹ accommodation – and of trying to move on. The book offers a fresh perspective by situating the asylum issue within the broader urban housing landscape, dissecting precarity and suggesting alternatives. With accommodation increasingly central in political debates about cities and migration, this is an engaging and timely intervention, which should be of interest to researchers, policy-makers, practitioners and activists for change.«
— Dr Anna Lindley,Reader in Migration, Mobility and Development, SOAS, University of London

»›The Camp, Housing, and the City‹ is a thorough study of migrant camp accommodation in Berlin. Relevant to urban contexts worldwide coping with the need to accommodate flows of forced migrants, the book thoughtfully unpacks the complex links between migrant camps, affordable housing, and the real estate market in such cities. Innovatively looking at camp accommodation as urban housing, the book deals with the policies and practices of providing shelter for urban forced migrant as a question of housing, allowing us to assess not only the influence of urban camps on their temporary inhabitants but also on the changing availability of housing in the transforming cities accommodating them.«
— Dr Irit Katz, Associate Professor of Architecture and Urban Studies, University of Cambridge

Christian Sowa holds a PhD in development studies from SOAS University of London. He currently works at the German Centre for Integration and Migration Research (DeZIM). Prior to his PhD, he studied political and social sciences in Berlin (Freie Universität), Beirut (AUB) and New York (Columbia). He has also worked as a tour guide, as a lecturer and has been involved in migrant support and Right to the City groups. His work has been published in the Radical Housing Journal, Engagée, sub\urban and The Architects Newspaper among others.

Frontmatter 1
Contents 5
Acknowledgements 9
Abbreviations 11
List of Figures 13
Preface 15
1. Introduction 17
2.1 Introduction 27
2.2 The camp as a (total) technology of power 28
2.3 Camp accommodation as "logistical nodes" of the border regime 34
2.4 Camp accommodation as neoliberal migration management 40
2.5 Camp accommodation as shaped by the city 44
2.6 Camp accommodation as (urban) housing 50
2.7 Conclusion 60
3.1 Introduction 63
3.2 Clearing the ground: a case study on LAF camp accommodation in Berlin 64
3.3 Carrying out the field research 66
3.4 Research tools and sources of data 68
3.5 Interviews 71
3.6 Positionality and ethics 75
4.1 Introduction: a "massive immigration" causing new camps 79
4.2 The arrival of migrants to Berlin 82
4.3 The "need" for camp accommodation 91
4.4 To Dresden or Berlin? 96
4.5 Conclusion 100
5.1 Introduction: new actors and camp types in the city 103
5.2 The key actors of camp management 105
5.3 Types of camp accommodation 113
5.4 Neoliberal camp management 124
5.5 Conclusion 134
6.1 Introduction: new locations and a lacking outflow 137
6.2 Location Patterns 140
6.3 Finding new camp sites 147
6.4 The camp-housing transition 153
6.5 Conclusion 161
7.1 Introduction: understanding the camps' living conditions 163
7.2 Precarious housing conditions 167
7.3 A long time in temporary accommodation: the impact of the housing market 177
7.4 Separation patterns: the urban surrounding, neighbourhoods and the larger city 188
7.5 Conclusion 200
8.1 Developing the argument 203
8.2 Policy: accommodation beyond the camp - affordable housing for all 207
8.3 Politics: combined struggles, a Right to the City, and migrants as tenants 220
8.4 An "academic" conclusion 224
Bibliography 229
Appendix: List of interviews 253