Investing in 'Welcoming Spaces' in Europe: revitalizing shrinking areas by hosting non-EU migrants

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.