In the fourth episode of the Urban95 Academy Podcast, Katie Beck, Policy Fellow and Programme Manager at LSE Cities, explores how cities can respond to displacement and migration driven by conflict, climate change, economic precarity and other forms of violence and instability, with a particular focus on the impacts on young children and their parents and caregivers.
The conversation builds on a public lecture hosted by the Urban95 Academy in London in October 2025, which examined displacement not as a one-off event, but as an ongoing condition and way of life for many families living in cities.
Katie explores this topic with experts Lucy Earle, Director of Human Settlements at the International Institute for Environment and Development, whose work focuses on the intersections of urbanisation, urban poverty and humanitarian crises, particularly forced displacement into and within urban areas, and Gabriella Brent, CEO of the Amna Refugee Healing Network. Gabriella is a psychotherapist and organisational leader with extensive experience in trauma-informed mental health care and grief work.
Together, they consider how urban systems can better support displaced families, what wellbeing looks like in contexts of prolonged instability, and how cities can measure, understand and respond to the needs of children and caregivers who are still on the move.
