ABSTRACT
This chapter considers what ongoing mobility and displacement mean for local governments engaged in urban reconstruction and development. It challenges solutions premised on a ‘return’ to predictability, solidity and solidarity. Rather, it argues that displacement to, within, and from cities is rescaling and respatializing the process of economic and social exchange. Ongoing mobility and multilocality are generating new forms of political representation and membership that municipalities often struggle to engage with. Moving beyond rhetorical calls to create cities of refugee or post-conflict reconstruction, this chapter argues that for municipal authorities to develop proactive, progressive responses, institutional and political incentives—including budgeting and accountability—must also be recognized and addressed. This will require reconsidering administrative demarcation and understandings of political community. The chapter ends with suggestions for developing new modes of analysis and engagement in an era of perennial displacement and multilocality.
