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Echoes of Urban Displacement: Unveiling Lingering Consequences

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Forced Migration and Urban Transformation in South Asia

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Abstract

Urban displacement is a violent and traumatic experience for affected households and communities, regardless of its underlying cause or location. This chapter lays the foundation for this volume which engages with the intricate link between displacement as a form of violence and its enduring impact on inequality and poverty among urban populations in the global south. The chapter also outlines the research context, which is three South Asian cities—Colombo and Jaffna in Sri Lanka and Kochi in India. This volume focuses on an underexplored area of returned/resettled urban IDPs within the much broader literature on forced migration. While previous research on IDP return/resettlement has mainly focused on rural settings, the volume delves into the experiences of those who return or are resettled in urban areas. The chapter guides the reader to better understand how these lines of inquiry are facilitated by the methodology, which is anchored on a multi-site longitudinal mixed-method dataset covering a range of resettlement/return sites in the three cities. By shedding light on the challenges faced by returned/resettled urban IDPs, the volume provides valuable guidance for policymakers and practitioners working towards sustainable solutions for displaced populations in the global south.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    16.8 million of these were displaced in Ukraine.

  2. 2.

    https://idrc-crdi.ca/en/project/safe-and-inclusive-cities-research-reduce-urban-violence-poverty-and-inequalities.

  3. 3.

    The DFID has been replaced by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) in 2020.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK

    Rajith W. D. Lakshman

  2. The International Institute of Migration and Development (IIMAD), Kerala, India

    S. Irudaya Rajan

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  1. Rajith W. D. Lakshman
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  2. S. Irudaya Rajan
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Correspondence to Rajith W. D. Lakshman .

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  1. Institute of Development Studies, Brighton, UK

    Rajith W. D. Lakshman

  2. The International Institute of Migration and Development, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

    S. Irudaya Rajan

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Lakshman, R.W.D., Rajan, S.I. (2023). Echoes of Urban Displacement: Unveiling Lingering Consequences. In: Lakshman, R.W.D., Rajan, S.I. (eds) Forced Migration and Urban Transformation in South Asia. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-6179-5_1

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