Displaced people: the need for an ‘urban first’ approach

The ‘Protracted displacement in an urban world’ project set out to establish whether life is better for displaced people in cities rather than in camps, to identify displaced people’s unmet needs, and to engage with municipal authorities to promote more inclusive attitudes and policies towards urban displacement. The project focused on two main themes: wellbeing, and the economies and enterprises of displaced people. 

This flyer summarises the work done within the project and the findings, which demonstrated a clear need for decision makers to consider an ‘urban first’ approach of integrating displaced people socially and economically into urban centres rather than camps. 

The findings also showed the imperative to relax movement restrictions on encamped populations so they can more easily take the first step towards self-reliance. The flyer describes the progress made in some cities as a result of project work, and the next steps for taking this work further.