In the framework of the REFUGOV project, Léa Lemaire presented a paper at the 2019 ICCG on “In Permanent Crisis? Uneven Development, Everywhere War and Radical Praxis” in Athens, Greece, on 19-23 April 2019. Her paper focused on “The governance of reception facilities in Jordan and Luxembourg: global South and North perspectives”. While her presentation took place in the “Migration and global mobility” panel, various panels were also held. Amongst others, the following panels have been organised at the International Conference of Critical Geography in Athens: “Austerity urbanism and social reproduction”, “War, security, humanitarianism”, “Urban contestations”, “Rise of neo-fascism, nationalism and authoritarianism”, “New geographies of colonialism”, “Socio-environmental conflicts”, “Geographies of gender and sexuality : Women’s’ activism”.

Léa’s presentation dealt with reception facilities referred to as refugee camps or reception centres, depending on the context. These facilities often share a common rationale. They are set up by states to temporarily accommodate refugees. Furthermore, in many cases, these ‘temporary’ facilities tend to become semi-permanent. Despite such similarities, there is a lack of research on the governance of reception facilities on a global scale, and especially in highly diverse settings across the global South and North. Her paper, based on the REFUGOV project, attempted to fill this gap. It involved two case studies situated in highly differentiated contexts, i.e. Jordan and Luxembourg. It was informed by discussions of ‘comparative urbanism’ and its postcolonial critiques, which allow analysing multiple local case studies across highly different settings. Eventually, it will contribute to a more global approach of the governance of refugee reception facilities.