Project description
How migrants revitalise integration
Newly arrived migrants and refugees can play an important role in revitalising shrinking areas of the EU through their successful integration. Many villages or towns in the EU Member States are in decline due to a wide range of reasons. In many of them, the gap provoked by the demographic change attracts non-EU migrants who successfully integrate and provide new prospects in the declined area. These examples of 'Welcoming Spaces' can be a solution to both support migrants' integration and enhance revitalisation of declined areas. The EU-funded WelcomingSpaces project will direct research towards two goals: ways of contributing to the revitalisation of shrinking areas through the successful integration of non-EU migrants, and new forms of government-citizen-migrant interaction.
Objective
This proposal aims at ‘rethinking’ ways forward in creating inclusive space (see OECD 2016) in such a way that it will contributed to the revitalisation of these places and the successful integration of migrants in demographically and economically shrinking areas.
WELCOMING SPACES aims to search for new ways to merge two policy challenges: how to contribute to the revitalisation of shrinking areas while also offering space for the successful integration of NON-EU migrants in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (‘leaving no one behind’). new types of government-citizen-migrant relations. Our point of departure are existing examples of places of ‘welcoming spaces’ which do exist in some places, but often remain invisible and dispersed. Examples of small towns and villages offsetting declining population by attracting non-EUinternational migrants are found in various European counties in Italy, Spain, but also Germany, the Netherlands and even Poland. Such initiatives to create ‘welcoming spaces’ and initiating new types of government-citizen-migrant engagement are often citizen-based, but can equally be the outcome of initiatives by governments, NGOs or business, or they can be migrant-based. Going against the current of ‘anti-migration’, most initiatives are highly contested. Their success seems to depend on a combination of collective action, multi-stakeholder collaboration and institutional innovations. Given the local or regional scale of most of these initiatives, the dispersion in space and political sensitivity, much of what is happening around these ‘welcoming spaces’ remains under the radar. The possibilities for upscaling such initiatives are hence underexplored. The programme aims to answer the following question: How to achieve inclusive and sustainable development in shrinking regions, contributing to revitalisation while providing opportunities for the successful integration of non-EU migrants?
Fields of science
- social sciencespolitical sciencespolitical policiescivil societynongovernmental organizations
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringinformation engineeringtelecommunicationsradio technologyradar
- social sciencessociologydemographyhuman migrations
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
Topic(s)
Call for proposal
H2020-SC6-MIGRATION-2018-2019-2020
See other projects for this callSub call
H2020-SC6-MIGRATION-2019
Funding Scheme
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinator
3584 CS Utrecht
Netherlands