Staff profile

I am an urban and political geographer interested in the politics and ethics of migration and its relationship with the urban. I joined the Department of Geography in 2018 following a Senior Lectureship at the University of Manchester. Prior to this, I worked at the University of St Andrews as a Teaching Fellow in Geography following a BA, MA and PhD in Geography from Durham University. During my time at Durham, I have undertaken a range of administrative roles, including Deputy Director of Education and Director of the BA Programme. I am on social media at: @jonnydarling.bsky.social and: @Jonny_Darling

I have a broad range of research interests, primarily orientated around the politics of asylum and refuge. My work has been funded by the AHRC, British Academy, ESRC, Leverhulme Trust, and the European Commission. My current work seeks to explore:

1. The urbanisation of asylum. My work has been underpinned by a desire to understand how cities respond to forced migration. My work has theorised the urban as both a means to police, manage, and regulate the lives of refugees, and simultaneously as a complex social formation through which political acts, claims, and subjectivities are forged. In this field, I have also examined the emergence, development, and tactics of urban sanctuary movements, culminating in the co-edited collection Sanctuary Cities and Urban Struggles.

2. Asylum accommodation and support. I am interested in the structures of accommodation, support, dispersal and resettlement that surround asylum policy in the UK and across Europe. My work has explored the forms of distributed violence that surround asylum accommodation, leading to the book Systems of Suffering: Dispersal and the Denial of Asylum, and alongside colleagues in Australia and Switzerland I am currently examining the use of hotels as forms of contingent and carceral accommodation. You can watch my evidence to the Home Affairs Committee inquiry into asylum accommodation here. 

3. Intimate practices of care, hospitality, and solidarity. My past work has explored spaces of care such as drop-in centres and asylum support services, in order to examine the political potentials of radical caring practices. My current work, funded by a BA/Leverhulme Small Grant, focuses on forms of intimate solidarity and hospitality in refugee hosting programmes across the UK.

I have a keen interest in communicating research widely and engaging in public debate on migration and asylum. I have written on sanctuary cities for Open Democracy, and published a series of articles for The Conversation on the use of hotels to house asylum seekers, the need to transform asylum accommodation in Britain, and government plans to restrict the rights of refugees. I am a regular media commentator on asylum policy, refugee rights, and migration, including a recent BBC guide to asylum accommodation in Britain. 

Beyond these research interests, I have a longstanding interest in pedagogy and geographical education. I am a co-editor of Research Ethics for Human Geography: A Handbook for Students, the first textbook within the discipline to offer a detailed account of research ethics within geography. I have also co-produced a range of open access teaching resources on precarious housing in Europe as part of an Erasmus + partnership, culminating in the open access book Precarious Housing in Europe: A Critical Guide.

Authored book

• Systems of Suffering: Dispersal and the Denial of Asylum
  
  Darling, J. (2022). Systems of Suffering: Dispersal and the Denial of Asylum. Pluto Press.

Book review

• Global Migration: patterns, processes, and politics
  
  Darling, J. (2017). Global Migration: patterns, processes, and politics. Geography, 102, 164-165.
• Book review: Movement and the Ordering of Freedom: On Liberal Governances of Mobility, Borderities and the Politics of Contemporary Mobile Borders. Kotef Hagar, Movement and the Ordering of Freedom: On Liberal Governances of Mobility. Durham/London: Duke University Press, 2015; 248 pp.: 9780822358558, £16.99 (pbk).Szary Anne-Laure Amilhat Giraut Frédéric (eds) Borderities and the Politics of Contemporary Mobile Borders. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015; 328 pp.: 9781137468840, £65.00 (hbk).
  
  Darling, J. (2016). Book review: Movement and the Ordering of Freedom: On Liberal Governances of Mobility, Borderities and the Politics of Contemporary Mobile Borders. Kotef Hagar, Movement and the Ordering of Freedom: On Liberal Governances of Mobility. Durham/London: Duke University Press, 2015; 248 pp.: 9780822358558, £16.99 (pbk).Szary Anne-Laure Amilhat Giraut Frédéric (eds) Borderities and the Politics of Contemporary Mobile Borders. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015; 328 pp.: 9781137468840, £65.00 (hbk). Progress in Human Geography, 40(5), 708-712. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132515609018
• ‘Sleepwalking to segregation’? challenging myths about race and migration by N. Finney and L. Simpson. Policy Press, Bristol, 2009. No. of pages: x + 218, ISBN 978 1 84742 007 7 (paperback), 978 1 84742 008 4 (hardback)
  
  Darling, J. (2009). ‘Sleepwalking to segregation’? challenging myths about race and migration by N. Finney and L. Simpson. Policy Press, Bristol, 2009. No. of pages: x + 218, ISBN 978 1 84742 007 7 (paperback), 978 1 84742 008 4 (hardback). Population, Space and Place, 15(6). https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.571
• Book review: Talbot, D. 2007: Regulating the night: race, culture and exclusion in the making of the nighttime economy. Aldershot: Ashgate. 164 pp. £50 cloth. ISBN: 978 0 7546 4752 2
  
  Darling, J. (2009). Book review: Talbot, D. 2007: Regulating the night: race, culture and exclusion in the making of the nighttime economy. Aldershot: Ashgate. 164 pp. £50 cloth. ISBN: 978 0 7546 4752 2. Progress in Human Geography, 33(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132509339261

Chapter in book

• Vulnerable Subjects
  
  Darling, J. (in press). Vulnerable Subjects. In H. Wilson & J. Darling (Eds.), Research Ethics for Human Geography: A Handbook for Students (pp. 159-169). SAGE Publications.
• Precariousness and the Right to Housing
  
  Bolt, G., & Darling, J. (in press). Precariousness and the Right to Housing. In S. Munch & A. Siede (Eds.), Precarious Housing in Europe: A Critical Guide (pp. 11-35). Donatau Press.
• Expectations
  
  Darling, J. (in press). Expectations. In H. Wilson & J. Darling (Eds.), Research Ethics for Human Geography: A Handbook for Students (pp. 73-81). SAGE Publications.
• Geography and Ethics
  
  Darling, J., & Wilson, H. (in press). Geography and Ethics. In H. Wilson & J. Darling (Eds.), Research Ethics for Human Geography: A Handbook for Students (pp. 6-22). SAGE Publications.
• Hosting the displaced: from sanctuary cities to hospitable homes
  
  Darling, J. (in press). Hosting the displaced: from sanctuary cities to hospitable homes. In P. Adey, J. Bowstead, K. Brickell, V. Desai, M. Dolton, A. Pinkerton, & A. Siddiqi (Eds.), The Handbook of Displacement. Palgrave MacMillan.
• Setting the scene: refugee reception and the challenge of 'the local'
  
  Darling, J. (2025). Setting the scene: refugee reception and the challenge of ’the local’. In L. Oesch & L. Lemaire (Eds.), Refugee Reception and Camps: Local and Global Perspectives (pp. 17-36). Bristol University Press. https://doi.org/10.51952/9781529222852
• Carceral adaptability and the global detention hotel
  
  Burridge, A., & Darling, J. (2024). Carceral adaptability and the global detention hotel. In H. Stuit, J. Turner, & J. Weegels (Eds.), Carceral Worlds: Legacies, Textures and Futures (pp. 169-188). Bloomsbury.
• Out-sourcing refuge: distance, deferral, and immunity in the urban governance of refugees
  
  Darling, J. (2020). Out-sourcing refuge: distance, deferral, and immunity in the urban governance of refugees. In S. Pasquetti & R. Sanyal (Eds.), Displacement: global conversations on refuge. Manchester University Press.
• ‘Another politics of the city’: Urban practices of refuge, advocacy and activism
  
  Darling, J. (2020). ‘Another politics of the city’: Urban practices of refuge, advocacy and activism. In E. Cox, S. Durrant, D. Farrier, L. Stonebridge, & A. Wooley (Eds.), Refugee Imaginaries: Research Across the Humanities. (pp. 554-570). University of Edinburgh Press.
• Sanctuary, presence, and the politics of urbanism.
  
  Darling, J. (2019). Sanctuary, presence, and the politics of urbanism. In J. Darling & H. Bauder (Eds.), Sanctuary Cities and Urban Struggles: Rescaling Migration, Citizenship, and Rights. Manchester University Press.
• Introduction: rescaling migration, citizenship, and rights
  
  Darling, J., & Bauder, H. (2019). Introduction: rescaling migration, citizenship, and rights. In J. Darling & H. Bauder (Eds.), Sanctuary Cities and Urban Struggles: Rescaling Migration, Citizenship, and Rights. University of Manchester Press.
• Refugees
  
  Darling, J. (2017). Refugees. In International Encyclopedia of Geography: People, the Earth, Environment and Technology. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118786352.wbieg0059
• The possibilities of encounter.
  
  Wilson, H. F., & Darling, J. (2016). The possibilities of encounter. In H. F. Wilson & J. Darling (Eds.), Encountering the City: Urban Encounters from Accra to New York. (pp. 1-24). Routledge.
• Defying the demand to 'go home': from human rights cities to the urbanisation of human rights
  
  Darling, J. (2016). Defying the demand to ’go home’: from human rights cities to the urbanisation of human rights. In B. Oomen, M. Davis, & M. Grigolo (Eds.), Global Urban Justice: The Rise of Human Rights Cities (pp. 121-138). Cambridge University Press.
• What role might cities play in UK asylum policy?
  
  Darling, J. (2015). What role might cities play in UK asylum policy? In A. Waddington (Ed.), On Devo (pp. 16-18). Manchester University Press.
• Welcome to Sheffield: the less-than-violent geographies of urban asylum
  
  Darling, J. (2014). Welcome to Sheffield: the less-than-violent geographies of urban asylum. In F. McConnell, N. Megoran, & P. Williams (Eds.), Geographies of Peace (pp. 229-249). I.B. Tauris.
• Everyday enactments of sanctuary: the UK City of Sanctuary movement
  
  Darling, J., & Squire, V. (2013). Everyday enactments of sanctuary: the UK City of Sanctuary movement. In R. Lippert & S. Rehaag (Eds.), Sanctuary Practices in International Perspectives (pp. 191-204). Routledge.
• Just being there...: Ethics, experimentation, and the cultivation of care
  
  Darling, J. (2010). Just being there...: Ethics, experimentation, and the cultivation of care. In B. Anderson & P. Harrison (Eds.), Taking-Place: Non-representational theories and geography (pp. 241-260). Ashgate Publishing.

Edited book

• Research Ethics for Human Geography: A Handbook for Students
  
  Wilson, H. F., & Darling, J. (Eds.). (2020). Research Ethics for Human Geography: A Handbook for Students. SAGE Publications.
• Sanctuary Cities and Urban Struggles: Rescaling Migration, Citizenship, and Rights
  
  Darling, J., & Bauder, H. (Eds.). (2019). Sanctuary Cities and Urban Struggles: Rescaling Migration, Citizenship, and Rights. University of Manchester Press.
• Encountering the City: Urban Encounters from Accra to New York.
  
  Darling, J., & Wilson, H. F. (Eds.). (2016). Encountering the City: Urban Encounters from Accra to New York. Routledge.

Journal Article

• Competing Commitments: Experiences of Family Solidarity Among Women Leaving a Violent Relationship
  
  Mayeux, C. R., Saharso, S., Tonkens, E., & Darling, J. (2025). Competing Commitments: Experiences of Family Solidarity Among Women Leaving a Violent Relationship. Journal of Family Violence. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-025-00995-x
• Areas of opportunity
  
  Schmidt, J. J., Lawhon, M., Darling, J., & Lazarus, E. D. (2025). Areas of opportunity. Area, 57(3). https://doi.org/10.1111/area.70041
• Support and Autonomy: Social Workers’ Approaches in Dutch Shelters for Female Survivors of Domestic Violence
  
  Roegiers Mayeux, C., Saharso, S., Tonkens, E., & Darling, J. (2025). Support and Autonomy: Social Workers’ Approaches in Dutch Shelters for Female Survivors of Domestic Violence. Social Sciences, 14(4). https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14040241
• Hotels, refuge, and the rise of carceral hospitality
  
  Darling, J., & Burridge, A. (2025). Hotels, refuge, and the rise of carceral hospitality. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. Advance online publication, Article e70001. https://doi.org/10.1111/tran.70001
• Interview with Jonathan Darling, author of Systems of Suffering: Dispersal and the Denial of Asylum (2022)
  
  Darling, J., & Hughes, S. M. (2024). Interview with Jonathan Darling, author of Systems of Suffering: Dispersal and the Denial of Asylum (2022). Migration and Society, 7(1), 206-213. https://doi.org/10.3167/arms.2024.070117
• Inexhaustible education: on supplementarity and a youth work “yet-to-come”
  
  Torenbosch, J. A., Darling, J., & Vandenabeele, J. (2024). Inexhaustible education: on supplementarity and a youth work “yet-to-come”. Ethics and Education, 19(2), 143-167. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449642.2024.2375946
• Governing through partnership: Strategic migration partnerships and the politics of enrolment and ambivalence
  
  Darling, J. (2024). Governing through partnership: Strategic migration partnerships and the politics of enrolment and ambivalence. Political Geography, 108, Article 103041. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2023.103041
• Institutional Solidarity in The Netherlands: Examining the Role of Dutch Policies in Women with Migration Backgrounds’ Decisions to Leave a Violent Relationship
  
  Roegiers (Mayeux), C., Saharso, S., Tonkens, E., & Darling, J. (2023). Institutional Solidarity in The Netherlands: Examining the Role of Dutch Policies in Women with Migration Backgrounds’ Decisions to Leave a Violent Relationship. Societies, 13(11), Article 243. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc13110243
• Slow violence in the UK asylum system An interview with Jonathan Darling on his book »Systems of Suffering: dispersal and the denial of asylum«
  
  Liebscher, S. (2023). Slow violence in the UK asylum system An interview with Jonathan Darling on his book »Systems of Suffering: dispersal and the denial of asylum«. Movements. Journal for Critical Migration and Border Regime Studies, 7(2).
• The politics of discretion: authority and influence in asylum dispersal
  
  Darling, J. (2022). The politics of discretion: authority and influence in asylum dispersal. Political Geography, 94, Article 102560. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2021.102560
• The In-Between Spaces of Asylum and Migration: A Participatory Visual Approach
  
  Till, K. E., Gill, N., Jacobsen, M. H., Darling, J., & O’Reilly, Z. (2022). The In-Between Spaces of Asylum and Migration: A Participatory Visual Approach. AAG Review of Books, 10(2), 41-50. https://doi.org/10.1080/2325548x.2022.2036549
• The Cautious Politics of “Humanizing” Refugee Research
  
  Darling, J. (2021). The Cautious Politics of “Humanizing” Refugee Research. Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees, 37(2), 56-62. https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.40798
• Refugee urbanism: seeing asylum ‘like a city’
  
  Darling, J. (2021). Refugee urbanism: seeing asylum ‘like a city’. Urban Geography, 42(7), 894-914. https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2020.1763611
• Participation and wellbeing in urban greenspace: ‘curating sociability’ for refugees and asylum seekers
  
  Rishbeth, C., Blachnicka-Ciacek, D., & Darling, J. (2019). Participation and wellbeing in urban greenspace: ‘curating sociability’ for refugees and asylum seekers. Geoforum, 106, 125-134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2019.07.014
• The fragility of welcome – commentary to Gill
  
  Darling, J. (2018). The fragility of welcome – commentary to Gill. Fennia., 196(2), 220-224. https://doi.org/10.11143/fennia.75756
• Acts, ambiguities, and the labour of contesting citizenship
  
  Darling, J. (2017). Acts, ambiguities, and the labour of contesting citizenship. Citizenship Studies, 21(6), 727-736. https://doi.org/10.1080/13621025.2017.1341658
• Asylum in Austere Times: Instability, Privatization and Experimentation within the UK Asylum Dispersal System
  
  Darling, J. (2016). Asylum in Austere Times: Instability, Privatization and Experimentation within the UK Asylum Dispersal System. Journal of Refugee Studies, 29(4), 483-505. https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/few038
• Privatising asylum: neoliberalisation, depoliticisation and the governance of forced migration
  
  Darling, J. (2016). Privatising asylum: neoliberalisation, depoliticisation and the governance of forced migration. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 41(3), 230-243. https://doi.org/10.1111/tran.12118
• Forced migration and the city: irregularity, informality, and the politics of presence
  
  Darling, J. (2016). Forced migration and the city: irregularity, informality, and the politics of presence. Progress in Human Geography, 41(2), 178-198. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132516629004
• Forced migrants in the UK
  
  Darling, J. (2016). Forced migrants in the UK. Geography Review., 30(1), 10-15.
• Emotions, Encounters and Expectations: The Uncertain Ethics of ‘The Field’
  
  Darling, J. (2014). Emotions, Encounters and Expectations: The Uncertain Ethics of ‘The Field’. Journal of Human Rights Practice, 6(2), 201-212. https://doi.org/10.1093/jhuman/huu011
• Another Letter from the Home Office: Reading the Material Politics of Asylum
  
  Darling, J. (2014). Another Letter from the Home Office: Reading the Material Politics of Asylum. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 32(3), 484-500. https://doi.org/10.1068/d13067p
• Reading Angharad Closs Stephens's The Persistence of Nationalism. From imagined communities to urban encounters.
  
  Antonsich, M., Fortier, A., Darling, J., Wood, N., & Closs Stephens, A. (2014). Reading Angharad Closs Stephens’s The Persistence of Nationalism. From imagined communities to urban encounters. Political Geography, 40, 56-63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2014.02.005
• Asylum and the Post-Political: Domopolitics, Depoliticisation and Acts of Citizenship
  
  Darling, J. (2014). Asylum and the Post-Political: Domopolitics, Depoliticisation and Acts of Citizenship. Antipode, 46(1), 72-91. https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.12026
• From Hospitality to Presence
  
  Darling, J. (2014). From Hospitality to Presence. Peace Review, 26(2), 162-169. https://doi.org/10.1080/10402659.2014.906872
• Moral Urbanism, Asylum, and the Politics of Critique
  
  Darling, J. (2013). Moral Urbanism, Asylum, and the Politics of Critique. Environment and Planning A, 45(8), 1785-1801. https://doi.org/10.1068/a45441
• The “Minor” Politics of Rightful Presence: Justice and Relationality inCity of Sanctuary
  
  Squire, V., & Darling, J. (2013). The “Minor” Politics of Rightful Presence: Justice and Relationality inCity of Sanctuary. International Political Sociology, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.1111/ips.12009
• Seeing the city anew: asylum seeker perspectives on belonging in Greater Manchester
  
  Darling, J., Healey, R., & Healey, L. (2012). Seeing the city anew: asylum seeker perspectives on belonging in Greater Manchester. North West Geography, 12(1), 20-28.
• Giving space: Care, generosity and belonging in a UK asylum drop-in centre
  
  Darling, J. (2011). Giving space: Care, generosity and belonging in a UK asylum drop-in centre. Geoforum, 42(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2011.02.004
• Domopolitics, governmentality and the regulation of asylum accommodation
  
  Darling, J. (2011). Domopolitics, governmentality and the regulation of asylum accommodation. Political Geography, 30(5). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2011.04.011
• A city of sanctuary: the relational re-imagining of Sheffieldâs asylum politics
  
  Darling, J. (2010). A city of sanctuary: the relational re-imagining of Sheffieldâs asylum politics. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 35(1). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-5661.2009.00371.x
• Teaching and Learning Guide for: Thinking Beyond Place: The Responsibilities of a Relational Spatial Politics
  
  Darling, J. (2010). Teaching and Learning Guide for: Thinking Beyond Place: The Responsibilities of a Relational Spatial Politics. Geography Compass, 4(6). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-8198.2009.00316.x
• Becoming Bare Life: Asylum, Hospitality, and the Politics of Encampment
  
  Darling, J. (2009). Becoming Bare Life: Asylum, Hospitality, and the Politics of Encampment. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 27(4), 649-665. https://doi.org/10.1068/d10307
• Thinking Beyond Place: The Responsibilities of a Relational Spatial Politics
  
  Darling, J. (2009). Thinking Beyond Place: The Responsibilities of a Relational Spatial Politics. Geography Compass, 3(5). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-8198.2009.00262.x
• City of Sanctuary - a UK initiative for hospitality
  
  Darling, J., Barnett, C., & Eldridge, S. (n.d.). City of Sanctuary - a UK initiative for hospitality. Forced Migration Review., 34, 46-47.

Newspaper/Magazine Article

• UK to overhaul asylum policy – will the new measures work?
  
  Darling, J. (2025, November 19). UK to overhaul asylum policy – will the new measures work? The Conversation. https://doi.org/10.64628/ab.aeasntjte
• After the Epping Forest case, the government needs to be bold and build asylum housing that works
  
  Darling, J. (2025, September 12). After the Epping Forest case, the government needs to be bold and build asylum housing that works. The Conversation. https://doi.org/10.64628/ab.9xmyasshk