Investigating Syrian Refugees’ Choice of Location in Urban Areas as a Subjective Process: A Cross-case Comparison in the Neighbourhoods of Önder (Ankara) and Yunusemre (İzmir)

Abstract

In migration literature, the growing interest in the localized and subjective forms of refugee emplacement in urban areas following the influx of Syrian refugees has brought along new debates on how to approach the location choices (LC) of refugees. Accordingly, in this study, we investigated the different dimensions of Syrian refugees’ location choices at the urban/neighbourhood level. Specifically, we aimed to understand the dynamics behind the growing tendency among Syrian refugees in Turkey to settle in neighbourhoods that are close to inner-city industrial sites by conducting two case studies in the Önder neighbourhood of Ankara and the Yunusemre neighbourhood of İzmir in a comparative manner. From the twenty-three interviews conducted with Syrians, we uncovered the themes of LC and categorized them in accordance with the dimensions of LC addressed in the literature. We identified three main dimensions that affected Syrians’ location choices at the neighbourhood level as: economic (the availability of job opportunities, public and commercial services, the affordability of accommodation), socio-cultural (the existence of co-ethnics, kinship/ethnic relations) and socio-spatial (proximity to the city centre, transportation, public and commercial services, workplaces). Here, we acknowledged the intertwined relation between these dimensions and refugee subjectivity in LC.