Urban resilience in Turkish refugee governance: Loyalty, adaptation, and continuity

Abstract This article examines how cities mobilize resilience as a regulatory principle in migration governance, focusing on their capacity to act under structural, institutional, and legal constraints. The literature distinguishes between two interpretations of urban resilience: a transformative approach, associated with decentralization and innovation, and a conservative approach, reinforcing existing institutional arrangements. Scholarship frequently links resilience to normative commitments—particularly humanitarianism and social justice—arguing that these drivers enable transformative governance and redistribute migration-related responsibilities. The Turkish case challenges this assumption. Based on qualitative analysis of Gaziantep, Istanbul, and Izmir—including semi-structured interviews with policymakers, experts, and NGOs—the study finds that while aspirations for urban justice persist, they rarely translate into decentralization or institutional innovation. Instead, uncertainty emerges as the central condition shaping both refugee experiences and urban governance. In practice, urban resilience in Turkey follows a conservative trajectory, stabilizing centralist ideologies and reinforcing hierarchical state–city relations. Two additional drivers consolidate this pattern: first, a resilient mentality within policymakers and civil society, guiding loyalty and adaptation within state-defined limits; and second, the enduring influence of Ottoman collective memory, which shapes urban political rationalities and reinforces ontological security, ensuring continuity. These findings suggest that urban resilience is not inherently transformative but operates as a context-dependent political strategy and stabilizer of the regime. The study concludes that further comparative research is necessary to determine whether urban resilience in migration governance serves as a catalyst for transformative change or, alternatively, as a mechanism of loyalty, adaptation, and continuity within an established migratory political regime.