As forced displacement crises escalate worldwide, ensuring access to essential resources like food and water for displaced populations and host communities has become a critical challenge. Cities, as primary points of entry and settlement, play a pivotal role in addressing the needs of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees. However, they also face significant pressures on their economic, political, and social systems, particularly during sudden population influxes driven by conflict, climate change, or labor migration. This paper investigates the challenges and solutions for urban food and water security in the context of forced displacement, focusing on four case study cities in Poland and Ukraine—Uzhhorod, Rzeszów, Lviv, and Kraków—following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Using a comparative case study methodology and building on in-depth interviews, this study has three primary objectives. First, it identifies the key challenges in ensuring food and water supply in these cities amidst a surge in forcibly displaced populations. Second, it explores effective solutions implemented to address rapidly evolving needs. Third, it examines the roles played by various stakeholders, including international organisations, national governments, local authorities, and civil society in mitigating these challenges. The findings contribute to understanding how cities can effectively respond to the immediate needs of IDPs and refugees, with a particular focus on the differing capacities of smaller and larger cities. The findings from the four case studies illustrate the challenges and innovative solutions implemented in response to the displacement crisis. The paper concludes with practical recommendations for improving urban resilience and preparedness in managing displacement-related crises, offering insights relevant to cities.

This paper examines the interplay of regulatory power and food safety standards in the context of the European Union (EU) and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). It argues that food safety regulations, while ostensibly technical, serve as tools of geopolitical strategy. By situating the analysis within the current context of intensified geoeconomic competition between the EU and Russia, particularly amidst the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the study highlights the role of economic sanctions and regulatory measures used by Russia under the pretext of food safety. The findings reveal that regulatory competition between these two blocs creates both constraints and opportunities for neighbourhood countries. Through the lens of sectoral compliance and macroeconomic integration, this paper demonstrates that domestic actors in Moldova and Armenia navigate these dual pressures to exploit access to both regimes, challenging the notion of exclusive alignment. The study offers new insights into the geopolitics of regulatory power and the strategic use of food safety regimes as a mechanism of influence, contributing to broader debates on regional hegemony and the weaponization of economic interdependence.

The full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia has fundamentally transformed the security dynamics in Eastern Europe, prompting a reassessment of European Union (EU) policies in the region. While the Euromaidan revolution and the conflict in Donbas initially spurred EU Member States to prioritize stabilizing Ukraine, broader strategic considerations for Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus have been sidelined. This paper examines the imperative for recalibrating the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and the Eastern Partnership (EaP) to address the shifting geopolitical realities. The static nature of current neighbourhood policies limits the EU’s ability to effectively respond to emerging conflicts and rapidly changing conditions in its southern and eastern peripheries. As both the EU and its neighbouring regions experience significant flux, this paper argues for a reconfiguration of the policy of conditionality underpinning the ENP to better align with the EU’s strategic objectives and interests in the region.