The Importance of 'Arrival Cities'

Heimat is a German word with no direct translation in English, like schadenfreude, or zeitgeist. It describes the relationship between a person and their built environment, somewhere between the feeling of home and homeland. Since August of 2015, Germany has become home to more than 1.1 million refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers. This influx has German architects and urban planners asking the question: “Do we have a refugee crisis on our hands? Or a housing crisis combined with huge challenges to the ability of cities, job markets, and schools to integrate the newcomers?”