When the American auto industry took a downturn in the 1990s and 2000s, it left numerous neighborhoods in and around Detroit impoverished and neglected. This case report looks at the way Syrian and other Arab and Muslim refugees and migrants are renovating these aged neighborhoods with their own cultural heritage. The author is a migrant from Iran who spent years living in Detroit.

The Kyiv case report looks at the ways internally displaced persons (IDPs) from eastern Ukraine both struggle with integration to the capital, but also become agents of change to transfer the culture and economy of the city. The report is written by a former resident of east Ukraine who has herself become integrated to Kyiv over several years.

This case report explores what happened when a coastal Mediterranean city in Turkey was transformed from a smuggling transit hub to Greece and the EU into a home for tens of thousands of Syrian refugees after the closing the Balkans Route in 2015. It shows how several of the city’s low to middle-income neighborhoods, especially the neighborhood of Basmane, have undergone increased demand for affordable housing and a revival of Syrian-owned small businesses. However, the city’s already limited healthcare and education systems have been further stressed by the increase in population.

The Makhanda case report compares the experiences of migrants integrating to a small African town named Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown) to the experiences of those living in South Africa’s major urban centers like Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban. It explores how perceptions of insecurity from xenophobic, racist attacks vary from major cities to small towns; migrants’ economic and social impact on the town of Makhanda; and how the limited presence of migration management offices in small towns can both benefit and make difficult the integration attempts of migrants. It draws from the experiences of the author, a Zimbabwean migrant who has lived both in Cape Town and Makhanda, South Africa.