At the intersection of scholarship and activism, A Thousand Cuts: Architectures of Displacement examines the entrenched entanglements between illegalized migration and environment-making practices.

According to UNHCR, by June 2025 some 117.3 million people worldwide were displaced—double the number of a decade ago. Through case studies from global ‚hotspots‘ of forced migration, the authors analyze the material regimes designed to keep displaced populations at bay. They trace how the right to move and resettle is denied through transcontinental border walls, militarized zones, detention and deportation systems, restrictive laws, digital surveillance tools, and even buses that relocate “undesirable” groups. These cuts no longer run simply between a developed North and a Global South.

Angélil and Siress also identify potential sites of resistance to the violent dynamics of separation that fracture socio-spatial fabrics. Exposing architecture’s complicity with power, the book reimagines its role as an agent against division, advocating concrete countermeasures—from a global pact against climate apartheid and inclusive refugee settlements to vital infrastructure along migration routes, legal assistance, and anti-anti-migration protests.