Far away from home: exploring city responses to refugees
12 February 2025, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm
Location: Online / Watershed, 1 Canon's Road, Bristol BS1 5TX
Think tank: IIED

This event hosted by UK think tank IIED will reimagine how cities can lead the way in building inclusive, resilient communities for displaced people.
In the past decade, the number of displaced people worldwide has more than doubled, exceeding 122 million. Persecution, human rights violations, conflict and climate change have driven millions from their homes to seek safety and a better life elsewhere.
The majority of refugees and internally displaced people now live in urban areas, not camps. Despite this, most humanitarian aid is still directed toward camp settings. A growing body of research now supports a shift towards an ‘urban first’ strategy to displacement.
This hybrid event will explore innovative city responses to refugee hosting from the global South and North. We’ll focus on inspiring examples from Bristol, UK, known for its ‘sanctuary city’ model, and Nairobi, Kenya, where a groundbreaking refugee strategy has recently been launched.
The event will open with a special screening of ‘Far Away From Home’, a captivating film that follows the lives of urban refugees navigating Nairobi’s dynamic streets. Created in collaboration with young community filmmakers, urban refugees and researchers, the film offers an intimate look at the daily struggles and aspirations of refugees and asylum seekers in an urban context.
Following the screening, our panel will explore lessons learned from different city responses and offer reflections on how urban strategies can reshape the future of refugee hosting. Join us for this event to reimagine how cities can lead the way in building inclusive, resilient communities for displaced people.
This event is hosted by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) in partnership with the Mayors Migration Council and is supported by Bristol University’s Migration Mobilities Bristol Research Institute and Ashley Community and Housing (ACH) Bristol.
Speakers
Lord Marvin Rees is a British Labour Party politician who served as the Mayor of Bristol from 2016 to 2024. He was appointed a life peer in December 2024. He is a co-chair of the Mayors Migration Council, working to bring the voices of cities and their leaders into international frameworks on migration, and to channel funding and resources into cities the world over.
Susan KimanI is the community development officer at Nairobi County City Government (NCCG)
Lucy Earle (moderator) is the director of Human Settlements at IIED. Lucy Earle’s work focuses on the intersections of urbanisation, urban poverty and humanitarian crises, in particular forced displacement into and within urban areas.