Formation of a System of Temporary Accommodation Centers for Migrants in Transit Regions of Europe

This study focuses on the role of a specific unit in the spatial structure of the migration system: the transit region. As a consequence of a sharp increase in the number of asylum seekers and refugees, there has been a rise in the duration of their stay in temporary accommodation centers (TACs)—the main form of their resettlement in the transit region. The geographical types of TACs are highlighted: border entry, agglomeration, peripheral and border exit. TACs act as a kind of “damper” on migration routes, and further they release accumulated migrants along the route in portions; that is to say, they form migration waves. In some cases, the migration wave passes through the territory of one country through all types of TACs; however, more often it is interrupted and/or shortened. The condition of the shortened is usually the implosion and specialization of the TACs. During the passing of the first migration wave, as a rule, on both sides of the state frontier, there emerges border entry and exit centers regulated by the authorities of the respective countries. Then, during the passing of the second and subsequent waves, their convergence (“attraction” to the border) occurs first, and then the disappearance of centers of the same type (more often, border exit) does. The costs of maintaining migrants in all types of TACs are too high, so one or two types of centers are formed in countries located one after another along the migration route, depending on the specialization of neighboring countries. As a result of the implosion and specialization of the TACs, the migration wave lengthens spatially: thus, it can arise, develop and fade within not one country, but the entire transit region.