Living on the threshold: the missing debate on peri-urban asylum reception centres in norway, 2015-16

Abstract

In 2016, almost 40 per cent of Norwegian asylum reception centres (ARCs) were located in so-called peri-urban landscapes across the country. In media coverage and central planning documents, however, geographical location seems rarely to be considered as potentially crucial to the well-being of asylum seekers or their integration. While peri-urban locations do not neces-sarily mean poor living standards, the location certainly influences practi-cal opportunities to participate in the host community. The key objective of this interdisciplinary study is to investigate location as a parameter for how asylum seekers engage in their temporary neighbourhoods/communities and as an essential factor in preventing hostile othering processes. By high-lighting aspects of peri-urban conditions, such as temporality, sense of place, and community, this study identifies vital dilemmas and challenges connec-ted to the intertwining of public and political discourse with the physical realities of regional and urban space.