December 26, 2018
URBAN REFUGE: HOW CITIES ARE BUILDING INCLUSIVE COMMUNITIES
“Global forced displacement is at a historic high. In 2017, 68.5 million people were displaced from their homes, with 58 percent of refugees and at least 80 percent of internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in cities.[1] To national governments, displaced populations can be an abstraction, a complex political enigma to address with increasingly diffused policy responses.”
June 6, 2018
URBAN INSTABILITY + DISPLACEMENT: REFLECTIONS ON MIGRANTS’ HOUSING AND A RECENT BEIJING FIRE
“In late 2017, a major housing fire in Beijing triggered a great debate about housing for urban migrants. The fire in an informal mixed use building in Daxing district of Beijing was caused by an electrical wiring problem in a cold storage unit in the basement. Nineteen people who had been living in the building died; seventeen of them were migrants.”
April 27, 2018
LIMITATIONS OF THE OWNER-DRIVEN RECONSTRUCTION MODEL IN KATHMANDU, NEPAL
“On Saturday, 25 April 2015, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake occurred in Gorkha district, approximately 76 km northwest of Kathmandu. There were more than 9,000 estimated casualties and approximately 23,000 injuries. 31 of the country’s 75 districts were affected, with 14 severely affected. More than half a million structures were damaged or destroyed, displacing hundreds of thousands of families.”
April 11, 2018
HOUSING FOR ALL? INDIA’S FORCED EVICTIONS CRISIS CONTRADICTS NATIONAL HOUSING POLICY
“Despite the Indian government’s pledge to provide ‘Housing for All by 2022’ and its national scheme to operationalize this goal, public authorities across the country continue to commit gross violations of multiple human rights through forced evictions, primarily under the guise of ‘city beautification’ and clearance of low-income settlements.”
March 14, 2018
IN STRUGGLE FOR SOVEREIGNTY, DEMOCRACY AND RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE AFFECTED BY DAMS
“March is a special month for people affected by dams. Since the first National Meeting (of MAB) in 1991, March 14th became the mark of this agenda in Brazil. In 1997 the date broke borders when, during the first International Meeting of MAB, the International Day against Dams and for Rivers, Waters and Life was established.”
October 23, 2017
POPULAR MOVEMENTS AGAINST DISPLACEMENT IN MEXICO CITY
“Displacement is not new to residents in Mexico city. The 1985 earthquake displaced thousands of the capital’s most vulnerable residents. One of the most important outcomes of reconstruction following the earthquake was the formation of multiple housing rights movements that helped lay the groundwork for some of Mexico’s strongest anti-displacement and housing rights advocates.”
September 11, 2017
TWO STEPS FORWARD, ONE STEP BACK: INTERNAL DISPLACEMENT AND THE 2030 AGENDA ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
“This July, progress against the targets of the UN 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development was reviewed at a High Level Political Forum in New York. The six Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in focus this year were on reducing poverty (SDG 1), hunger (SDG 2), improving health (SDG 3), gender equality (SDG 5), building resilient industry and infrastructure (SDG 9), and protecting the marine environment (SDG 14).”
July 10, 2017
NEW DIRECTIONS IN DISPLACEMENT RESEARCH
“On behalf of the MIT Displacement Research Action Network we are honored to share with you our feature virtual symposium “New Directions in Displacement Research” an examination of recent scholarship on displacement and evictions from the Global North and South.”
May 1, 2017
MAPPING THE CRISIS: BOTTOM UP APPROACHES TO DISPLACEMENT DATA
“As part of the series of discussions DRAN has held this semester examining strategies to address displacement, we are pleased to invite you to a panel presentation and discussion next Thursday May 4th "Mapping the Crisis: Bottom Up Approaches to Displacement Data" with guests the Anti Eviction Mapping Project, an innovative project of data visualization, data analysis and narrative collection examining the displacement crisis, its impacts and its drivers.”
March 15, 2017
CELEBRATING INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION FOR RIVERS AND THE RELEASE OF DRAN’S REPORT “THE STATE OF HYDROPOWER PROJECTS TODAY”
“Celebrating International Day of Action for Rivers and the Release of DRAN’s report “The State of Hydropower Projects Today”
December 7, 2016
TOWARDS A HUMANITARIAN'S HANDBOOK FOR CITIES IN CRISIS
“This blog was originally published by the International Institute for Environment and Development on www.iied.org. New research from the Urban Crises Learning Fund's Stronger Cities Initiative explores the tools available to humanitarians responding to urban crises, and asks whether they are fit for purpose.”
November 28, 2016
DRAN CONFERENCE ON HYDROPROJECT DISPLACEMENT MENTIONED IN RESETTLEMENT NEWS PUBLICATION
“It is an honor for DRAN's spring 2016 conference, "The State of Hydropower Projects Today" to be featured in the January/July 2016 edition of Resettlement News, a specialized publication that has appeared in India bi-annually for nearly 16 years.”
October 19, 2016
UPDATE: BOSTON CHINATOWN EVICTION MAPPING
“Chinatown Displacement Project is a data collecting and mapping platform documenting the gentrification and displacement in Chinatown, Boston. The platform is developed by MIT's Displacement Research and Action Network in collaboration with the Chinese Progressive Association.”
October 19, 2016
SAFE AND SOUND: A COLLABORATIVE EXPLORATION OF INFORMALITY AND URBAN HOUSING IN CAIRO
“Safe and Sound is a MISTI funded research collaboration between researchers from MIT's Displacement Research and Action network and their counterparts within Cairo University and the American University in Cairo (AUC). The project explores the longstanding problem of informality, unsafe housing, and potential displacement in Cairo.”
October 7, 2016
DRAN RECEIVES GRANT FROM SAMUEL TAK LEE RESEARCH FUND
“The DRAN Team is excited to announce the start a new project funded by the Samuel Tak Lee Research Fund. The project will compare compensation frameworks for displaced individuals and communities across five different countries—USA, India, South Africa, Colombia and Brazil—along with international standards from the World Bank and various UN bodies.”
July 2nd, 2016
hydroelectric Displacement in east malaysia
"Hydroelectric dam mega-projects often generate widespread displacement of the nearby communities from their homes and land. Displacement due to hydro projects encompasses not only the loss of land but also the disruption of social structure, self-determination, traditional livelihoods, and the loss of control over natural resources like forests and [...]"
February 24th, 2016
Development-induced displacement in malaysia: the case of kampung bharu
"Kampung is currently under intense development pressure due to its proximity (1.2 kilometres and one LRT stop) to the Kuala Lampur City Centre (KLCC). In 2012, the Kuala Lumpur City Hall formed the Kampung Bharu Development Corporation (PKB) to spearhead the land acquisition and [...]"
December 18th, 2015
Gentrification-Caused Displacement in Boston
"Boston has been identified as one of the most rapidly gentrifying cities in the nation and the city with the third highest rate of income inequality. This semester, as part of its graduate course “Responding to Displacement: Strategies, Methods, Tools, Outcomes” (11.S938) MIT DRAN is engaging […]"
May 8th, 2015
New Mexico Court Ruling Shows Potential to Transform Judicial Response to Displacement
"In late 2014, the Mexican Supreme Court released the new Judicial Implementation Protocol for Cases Related to Development and Infrastructure Projects (Protocolo de Actuación para Quienes Imparten Justicia en Casos Relacionados Con Proyectos de Desarrollo y Infraestructura), which, if implemented […] "
April 24th, 2015
An Interview with John Mwebe, International Accountability Project
"This interview is fourth in a four-part series on the anti-displacement work being carried out by participants in the Displacement Research Action Network’s November 2014 conference, Global Convergences: Strategies Against Evictions and Displacement. John Mwebe serves as a Policy Coordinator/Atlas Corps Fellow at the International Accountability Project in Washington, DC. The International Accountability Project is a […]"
April 17th, 2015
An Interview with Prafulla Samantara, President of Lok Shakti Abhijan, Odisha Chapter
"This interview is third in a four-part series on the anti-displacement work being carried out by participants in the Displacement Research Action Network’s November 2014 conference, Global Convergences: Strategies Against Evictions and Displacement. Prafulla Samantara is an environmentalist and the President of Lok Shakti Abhijan’s Odisha Chapter. Along with various other democratic peoples’ movements he has […]"
April 10th, 2015
An Interview with Rodolfo Stavenhagen, former UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
"This interview is second in a four-part series on the anti-displacement work being carried out by participants in the Displacement Research Action Network’s November 2014 conference, Global Convergences: Strategies Against Evictions and Displacement. Rodolfo Stavenhagen is the former UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. DRAN: Can you tell us about your work with […]"
March 27th, 2015
An Interview with David Ntseng, Church Land Programme
"This interview is first in a four-part series on the anti-displacement work being carried out by participants in the Displacement Research Action Network’s November 2014 conference, Global Convergences: Strategies Against Evictions and Displacement. David Ntseng is a Programme Manager for the Church Land Programme (CLP) in South Africa. CLP was initiated in 1996 as a joint […]"
March 20th, 2015
Displaced by the Olympics: Can Favela Residents Gain Market-Rate Compensations in Rio de Janeiro?
"An unevenly urbanizing world exerts distinct pressures on the poorest neighborhoods of cities. With increasing frequency and intensity, these forces trigger citizen-activist movements to resist the displacement that so often accompanies high-end real estate development. This sometimes happens with relatively little media attention, but when […]"
March 16th, 2015
Displacement in Istanbul: an Interview with Cihan Uzunçarşılı Baysal (Part 2)
"This is Part II of a two-part interview with Cihan Uzunçarşılı Baysal on the state of development-induced displacement in Istanbul and civil society strategies for resistance. Part I can be accessed here. DRAN: How do you see the emergence of civil society actors in the face of urban transformation in Istanbul? What is the current state of […]"
February 27th, 2015
Displacement in Istanbul: an Interview with Cihan Uzunçarşılı Baysal (Part I)
"This is Part I of a two-part interview with Cihan Uzunçarşılı Baysal on the state of development-induced displacement in Istanbul. Part II focuses on civil society responses and strategies for resistance. DRAN: Istanbul has undergone a substantial urban transformation over the past two decades. The legal framework of urban development projects has come under much […]"
December 12th, 2014
The Geography of Post-Eviction Resettlement in Delhi, India
"The predicament of the urban poor in India’s capital city mirrors that of tens of millions of people in the large cities of the global South: when local government has been unable and/or unwilling to adequately handle massive rapid urbanization, urban migrants have created shelters for themselves on riverbanks, drainage ditches, railroad right-of-ways and other […]"
December 5th, 2014
The Global Land Rush: Markets, Rights, and the Politics of Food
"In the past six years, interest in purchasing and leasing agricultural land in the Global South has skyrocketed. Although reliable measurements are difficult to obtain, many sources agree that the amount of land being targeted for purchase or lease is dramatic, with estimates ranging in the tens of millions of hectares. This trend, which was […]"
November 8th, 2014
Strategies Against Evictions and Displacement – A Global Conference
"Evictions and displacement due to development are increasing around the world. There is a need to more systematically understand how the displaced peoples themselves cope with, adapt to, or counter/resist displacement. They use a variety of strategies and tools, some of them more successful than others. Sometimes they counter displacement, but other times, they are […]"
November 3rd, 2014
Syrian Urban Refugees in Turkey: Spatial & Social Segregation
"Gaziantep, a city in southeastern Turkey, has become the destination for displaced Syrians due to its economic resources and its proximity to the border. Since the first uprising against the Bashar al-Assad government of Syria there has been an ongoing armed conflict between different rebel groups and the government causing destruction of urban settlements and […]"
October 25th, 2014
Does Electoral Democracy Reduce Displacement?
"A healthy 51 percent of Mumbai’s eligible voters came out to vote in last Wednesday’s Maharashtra State Assembly elections. Many of these votes were cast by slum residents, pavement dwellers, and others with tenuous claims to housing security, and candidates campaigned vigorously for them, promising expanded tenure security […]"
July 9th, 2014
Community Land Trusts: A tool to help communities resist displacement?
"In America’s least affordable cities, housing advocates are showing interest in unorthodox tools for resisting gentrification and preserving socioeconomic diversity. In San Francisco, New York City, Boston and smaller communities across the country, the community land trust (CLT) has received particular attention. Though the model has been in circulation since the 1960’s, primarily in rural […]"
June 26th, 2014
Judicial Activism and Forced Displacement: Lessons from the Colombian Paradox
Forced displacement affects millions of people in the world and entails a violation of basic human rights. In many countries, given the lack of institutional capacity, the main way of addressing this issue is through international human rights law and humanitarian law institutions. […]
June 11th, 2014
Evictions and Displacement: The ‘Collateral’ damage of Development?
"A deafening silence reigns in global development and business institutions and national and local governments on the adverse and irreversible consequences of millions of people being forcibly evicted from their homes and lands. This annual ritual, tragically, mirrors international and national development efforts leaving in its wake reflected realities of human despair and devastation across […]"
May 23rd, 2014
Displacement: the dark underbelly of development
"According to the most recent reports of the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) in Geneva, 33.3 million people are now internally displaced by violent conflict, while 143.9 million people have been displaced by disasters between 2008 and 2012. These are shocking figures behind which lie a vast and numbing canvass of human misery and survival on the […]"