How do IDPs integrate into cities?

Short answer

IDPs integrate through a mix of informal social ties, work, housing, and access to urban services, often settling within host communities rather than in camps. Yet exclusion, insecure housing, discrimination, and weak recognition can keep them marginalised. The strongest evidence points toward inclusive city planning, participation, and long-term development alongside humanitarian support.

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Lived Pathways

Source weight 50%

Research centred on lived experience presents integration as often informal and uneven. IDPs may rely on kinship, community networks, self-settlement, and local economic relationships rather than formal programmes. These pathways can provide belonging and practical support, but restrictive camp policies, segregation, discrimination, and marginal locations may turn urban residence into prolonged exclusion.

In eastern DRC, IDPs primarily seek refuge in host communities, where informal social pathways can support integration outside formal camps.
In Ethiopia, IDPs’ marginality is spatial, social, and symbolic, and is compounded by displacement-related vulnerabilities.
Evidence from Nigerian cities shows that restrictions, segregation, and discrimination can make settlement and integration more difficult, with outcomes varying by city.
The practical question is not only whether IDPs are physically present in a city, but whether they can access the city’s opportunities, institutions, and social life.

Short answer

The deeper question

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How do IDPs integrate into cities?

Short answer

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Lived Pathways

Follow the white rabbit