Pembroke Graduate Co-Authors Book Chapter
Toby Parsloe (2017, PhD Architecture) has co-authored a chapter in "Camps Revisited: Multifaceted Spatialities of a Modern Political Technology", which will be launched next month. The chapter examines the proliferation of 'urban camps' in European cities.
‘Camps Revisited: Multifaceted Spatialities of a Modern Political Technology’ provides a critical reflection on ‘the camp’ as a modern institution from multi-disciplinary perspectives including architecture, geography, and political science. It explores the nature of encampment as it both existed in the past and continues to exist in new forms in the present.
Toby's co-authored chapter is entitled ‘The Bubble, the Airport, and the Jungle: Europe’s Urban Migrant Camps.’ It is a response to the emergence of large camp structures that have proliferated throughout European cities, particularly since the most recent so-called ‘refugee crisis.’ It compares the experience of three iconic camps in 3 European cities: the Bubble refugee reception centre in Paris, the Tempelhof airport in Berlin, and the infamous Jungle in Calais. Primarily it explores the urban nature of these sorts of camps, and how the city impacts camp structures and also the lives of the refugees who dwell within them. The nature of refuge is urbanising, with cities now hosting over 60% of the world’s displaced population. Cities have therefore become crucial sites where the issues of refuge are primarily being negotiated.
There will be a Cambridge book launch hosted by the Centre for the Study of Global Human Movement on 6th February at 4pm in the Institute of Criminology. Toby will be presenting alongside co author Akil Scafe-Smith and editor Irit Katz, before leading an open-discussion on the contemporary importance of camp spaces. Full details can be found here: https://www.humanmovement.cam.ac.uk/events/seminarseries-01-04
Words: Toby Parsloe