Can Urban Factors Enhance the Integration of Asylum Seekers in Cities?

With significant migrant arrivals to several European countries in the past decades, there is a need for counter-models that define integration in a positive long-term way and think of the inclusion of asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants in the European city in terms of alternative integration models. As existing literature and the experience of first reception NGOs sustain, integration goes hand in hand with the level of autonomy of the asylum seekers, as well as developing a sense of belonging to cultural and urban factors of the host city. Through this chapter, we explain a methodology that builds on urban factors to address the social-spatial (urban to typological) indicators that may facilitate integration. The case study of a temporary housing facility in Barcelona evidenced, through mapping and interviews, the use of existing facilities and services by the asylum seeker community, which demonstrates that living in an urban setting can help to enhance their autonomy and consequently their integration. In conclusion, we intend to lead to a paradigm shift by defining and validating the location of housing for asylum seekers linked to positive social and urban indicators, as a sustainable solution for their integration.