The production of space through practices of self-reliance: the spatiality of refugee integration in Berlin after the 2015 refugee crisis

The dramatic increase in the number of asylum seekers arriving in Europe since 2012 has generated a humanitarian challenge for both national and local governments, as their displacement is slowly becoming protracted. This has generated a transition from an emergency response, to new policies, programmes and projects that aim for the integration of refugees in cities. Within this context, Berlin is celebrated as a case of innovation in strategies for hosting refugees; an innovation that comes in contrast to refugee protests and contestation in different sites in the city.This paper will explore processes of refugee integration in Berlin, arguing that refugee self-reliance (whether practiced or enacted) is producing spaces of integration in the city. To do so, it will bring theories on space developed by Henri Lefebvre and Jacques Rancière to discussions on self-reliance and integration drawn from literature on sociology, cultural studies, humanitarian action and political science. A theoretical framework built from this will guide the analysis of two specific sites in the city where spaces of integration are being produced: the Tempelhof and Oranienplatz. As a conclusion, policy implications will be outlined to suggest that self-reliance should be understood as a spatial practice that produces different types of spaces of integration in the city. It is hoped that bringing space to the discussion on refugee integration and self-reliance might contribute to on-going debates on these topics. Furthermore, in a broader context, this aims to build on the argument that space is both a product and a precondition of society