Cagla Deste Ekin Güner

The project explores urban governance of refugee integration through a local-to-local interregional comparison. The interregional dimension is essential for uncovering similar local rationales despite national-level differences. Focusing on Hamburg and Izmir by “city-scaling,” it critically engages with the “local-turn" in multi-level governance as an analytical framework. The project attempts to understand the dynamics producing chronic vulnerabilities regarding the integration outcomes for Syrian refugees, and the responses of both cities to these challenges through novel institutional changes. How integration is rationalized in these cities and its impact on the labor market outcomes of Syrian refugees is systematically analyzed by the assemblage of “political (dis)continuity,” “(social) resistance” and “(perceived) temporariness of refugees.” Accordingly, it initially investigates the local integration “rationales” and subsequent institutionalized practices under political (dis)continuity, and later incorporates elements from the society and refugees' experiences to evaluate their interactions with institutions and policy processes.