Two Cluster 2 members, Raffael Beier and Jasmin Fritzsche, published together a short, peer-reviewed paper in the special issue "Shelter in Displacement" of Forced Migration Review (55, June 2017). The article is titled "Refugees and the city: UN-Habitat’s New Urban Agenda" and calls for special protection for refugees and displaced persons as part of countries’ housing policies (full text)

---

Research Cluster 2 at the Institute of Development Research and Development Policy organised the panel 'The regional politics of forced displacement in the Middle East' at the Development Studies Association Conference 2016, 13-14 September 2016, in Oxford.

The panel was chaired by the cluster members Jasmin Fritzsche, Loubna Abi Khalil and Raffael Beier, and addressed the questions and problems that shape the local response to the Syrian refugee crisis in light of the regional political environment.

Cluster member Assem Abi Ali presented his paper `The Challenge of Syrian Refugee Settlement on Lebanese Consociationalism`.

---

Two Cluster 2 members, Raffael Beier and Mariana Vilmondes, published together a peer reviewed paper on national housing strategies in Brazil, South Africa, and Morocco in the context of Habitat III in the special issue "Global South" of the journal RaumPlanung (182/6-2015). The article (in German language) is titled "Dominanz des Quantitativen - Das Dilemma des Rechts auf angemessenen Wohnraum in Brasilien, Marokko und Südafrika."

---

The first international workshop of the IEE-Research Cluster 2 under the topic "Urban Governance in a Global Perspective - Contributions to the Habitat III Debate" took place at the IEE in Bochum on the 12th of November 2015. More than 30 participants from different disciplinary but also cultural backgrounds such as Sub-Sahara Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, Europe, East and South Asia attended the workshop.

The Institute of Development Research and Development Policy and in particular Research Cluster 2 successfully registered to take part in the Habitat III preparatory process of UN Habitat. On behalf of Research Cluster 2, which has a thematic focus on Housing and Urbanization, Mariana Vilmondes and Raffael Beier attended the second session of the Preparatory Committee for Habitat III in Nairobi in April 2015.