Negotiating urban solidarities: multiple agencies and contested meanings in the making of solidarity cities

Many cities have adopted welcoming strategies, branding themselves as cities of welcome or of solidarity. Urban scholarship to date has interpreted these efforts either under the rubric of municipal governance reform or urban citizenship, frameworks which both sideline the role of civil society and social movements of refugees. Since these actors play crucial roles in negotiating the terms of solidarity, hospitality and inclusion, this paper brings together research perspectives from urban governance, civil society, and (migrant) mobilization literatures to gain a better understanding of the collaborative/competitive interactions between the key players engaged in this urban policy arena. This discussion reveals that the evolving practices and interrelations of municipalities, civil society actors and social movements of refugees imply opportunities, but also difficulties in building substantively welcoming arrival structures, highlighting the contested meaning of terms such as “solidarity city” in the contemporary constellation.