By Bruce Katz and Luise Noring, the Brookings Institution.

The global refugee crisis is one of the great humanitarian challenges of our time. In Europe alone, the scale of the migration, the human suffering that has driven it, and the political complexities of resolving it have created tremendous strain. The crisis is roiling the political systems of individual countries and threatening the solidarity of the European Union. Leaders in Europe know that they must get a handle on the situation, and fast.

To date, most of the focus has been on the responsibilities of host countries. But looking only to national governments ignores the key role and actions of host cities. Refugees settle in specific places, and those places shoulder the burden of addressing the economic and social issues necessary to accommodate the influx.

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Bruce J. Katz is the inaugural cross-disciplinary Centennial Scholar at the Brookings Institution. Luise Noring is a program director and assistant professor at Copenhagen Business School, and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.