The “Double Regeneration” and the “Double Displacement”: The Evacuation of Eleonas, the Last Refugee Camp of Athens, and the Convergence of Migration and Urban Governance.

At the intersection of Urban and Refugees Studies the paper suggests the appearance of new figures of displacement following the turn in European migration governance. As new governmental instruments of containment, dispersal and concentration combine, new geographies of mobility and immobility (Tazzioli, Garelli 2018) gradually reshape the spaces of the “urban diaspora” described by Arbaci (2018) and new figures of global and urban displacement intertwine, reshaping cities, mobilities and subjectivities (Roast et al. 2022). The contribution therefore analyzes how border regimes, reception policies, displacement strategies intertwine and combine with urban renewal, regeneration projects and gentrification. Adopting an ethnographic perspective, the article moves on the case of Eleonas “double regeneration project” and Eleonas refugee camp eviction, in Athens, highlighting the link between migration policy and urban displacement, a link residing in the neocolonial character of both phenomena.

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