Project description
Migrant integration in towns and rural areas
After 2014, the number of migrants in barely prepared small and medium-size towns and rural areas has grown, affecting local social cohesion and challenging Europe’s future integration. The EU-funded Whole-COMM project will contribute to the scientific knowledge and theorisation on the dynamics and causal mechanisms that impact the relationship between immigrant integration policy and community cohesion. The research method used by this project perceives migrant integration as a community-making process. Whole-COMM will use a cross-country and cross-locality comparative methodology comprising 8 EU and 2 non-EU countries and 40 localities, mixed methods matching qualitative and quasi-experimental approaches, and quantitative analysis on the impact of policies on social cohesion and immigrants’ integration directions.
Objective
Over the last few years, the EU has received unprecedented numbers of migrants and asylum seekers, often in an unorderly way. This has led to a growing immigrant presence in scarcely prepared small and medium-size towns and rural areas (SMsTRA). The way in which these local communities respond to this challenge will deeply shape the future of integration in Europe.
Whole-COMM proposes to address these issues through an innovative Whole-of-Community research approach which conceives of migrant integration as a process of community-making that: takes place in specific local contexts characterised by distinct configurations of structural factors; is brought about by the interactions of multiple actors with their multilevel and multi-situated relations; and is open-ended and can result in either more cohesive or more fragmented social relations.
By focusing on SMsTRA, Whole-COMM contributes to filling a serious gap in existing research and policy debates which so far have been concerned primarily with big cities.
Whole-COMM pushes forwards scientific knowledge and theorisation on the dynamics and causal mechanisms that shape the complex relationship between immigrant integration policy and community cohesion through a cross-country (8 EU and 2 non-EU countries) and a cross-locality (40 localities) comparative approach, and a mixed-methods research design which matches qualitative and quasi-experimental methods, a survey on attitudes, and quantitative analysis on the impact of policies on social cohesion and immigrants’ integration trajectories.
On the policy level, Whole-COMM provides a fresh impulse to policy debates thanks to the new comparative knowledge generated by the project and the engagement with a variety of actors in a structured process of policy learning and co-creation, with the overarching goal of trigging innovation in SMsTRA and building more cohesive and more resilient communities, that proactively embrace change, making the most of each and everyone.
Fields of science
Keywords
Programme(s)
- H2020-EU.3.6. - SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Europe In A Changing World - Inclusive, Innovative And Reflective Societies Main Programme
- H2020-EU.3.6.1.1. - The mechanisms to promote smart, sustainable and inclusive growth
- H2020-EU.3.6.1.2. - Trusted organisations, practices, services and policies that are necessary to build resilient, inclusive, participatory, open and creative societies in Europe, in particular taking into account migration, integration and demographic change
- H2020-EU.3.6.1.4. - The promotion of sustainable and inclusive environments through innovative spatial and urban planning and design
Call for proposal
H2020-SC6-MIGRATION-2018-2019-2020
See other projects for this callSub call
H2020-SC6-MIGRATION-2020
Funding Scheme
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinator
10128 Torino
Italy