Intercultural cities: Newsletter N° 26

Newsletter N° 26 - March 2013

Can cities learn to perceive cultural diversity not as a threat but as an opportunity? How can they make diversity work to their advantage? Can the city become the focus of collective identity bridging ethnic and religious identities? In the context of the Intercultural Cities programme several pilot cities will review their policies through the "intercultural lens" and develop intercultural strategies in order to meet the challenges of a world in motion.

Milestone event in Dublin: a new impetus for the Intercultural cities approach

250 participants from 4 continents, 60 countries and 100 cities, including over 40 Mayors, Deputy Mayors and Councilors, representatives of cities, national authorities, civil society, business, media, foundations, and academia met in Dublin on 6-8 February to critically review the Intercultural integration approach and its impact in pilot cities that have embraced it. This was the first opportunity since the Intercultural cities programme began in 2008 for a broad range of thinkers and practitioners to assess the achievements and challenges ahead and contribute to the enrichment of the Intercultural cities concept and knowledge base.

The event through the participants’ eyes "diversity advantage":

In Dublin with Intercultural Cities: Local Strategies for diversity advantage by Kim Turner, Project Leader, Cities of Migration, MAYTREE

Intercultural Cities: Laboratories for Intercultural Integration by Sabine Frank, Director of Platform for Intercultural Europe

Interculturalism will require a bigger effort from the majorities by Carlos Rojas, COE, Founder, MIKLO

Photo © Fennell Photography

ICC Tools

Designing intercultural strategies with citizens : a handbook

Immigration city Erlangen. Revising the relationship between migrant and receiving societies

We have learned where Lampedusa is located, have discussed why in 2005 French suburbs burned and understand that climate change will increase the number of immigrants to Europe. Despite this expertise, one popular fallacy still dominates Europe's immigration discourse: understanding immigration as a modern phenomenon. Sure, the IOM is rightly describing migration – besides climate change and international terrorism – as one of the key challenges of the 21st century. However, this has been always the case. (more...)

A more inclusive ICC network for Portugal

The Portuguese Network of Intercultural Cities (RPCI) met for the second time on February 20th, with an enlarged number of cities participating. Present were the municipalities of Amadora, Azambuja, Beja, Cascais, Coimbra, Lisbon, Loures, Santa Maria da Feira, Setúbal and Portimão, the Portuguese High Commission for Immigration and Intercultural Dialogue (ACIDI) as well as coordinator of the Spanish network of Intercultural Cities (RECI) Daniel de Torres. (more...)

SONETOR Seminar - Contribution of intercultural mediators to the social inclusion of migrants

Patras, Greece, 15 January 2013

The European project SONETOR is the first systematic effort internationally to design services that meet the professional needs of intercultural mediators1.Within this framework, a seminar on, the “Contribution of intercultural mediators in the social inclusion of migrants" was held on Tuesday 15th January 2013 in Patras with great success, both in terms of audience numbers and the level of presentations and debate. (more...)

Building Intercultural Strategies with Citizens: The Community Based Results Accountability Approach

Phyllis R Brunson, Center for the Study of Social Policy - March 2013

This handbook describes how the method of Community Based Results Accountability (CBRA) has been applied by some Intercultural Cities going step by step through the process taking as examples Tilburg (the Netherlands), Melitopol (Ukraine) and Lisbon (Portugal) and Izhevsk (Russia). Phyllis Brunson cleverly uses her undeniable experience and professional intuition to focus on the conditions of well-being or results the community wants to achieve, the community can create a constructive course of action that many can participate in for the purpose of realizing measurable progress. Opportunities can and will emerge if the right combination of support, follow-up and action are provided to these cities that are aligned with marked intent and expectations.

Strong gesture to promote civic rights of children of foreign parents

The municipality of Campi Bisenzio (province of Florence, Tuscany) has a long tradition of supporting human rights. In 2012 the city of 40 000 inhabitants collected 2200 signatures in favour of a legislative change to allow children born in Italy of foreign parents to obtain more rapidly Italian nationality – a campaign launched by the Italian network of Intercultural cities. A ceremony will be held on 21 April 2013 in Campi Bisenzio to give symbolically the Italian citizenship to 1766 such children that live and study in the city.

Laboratorio Diritti Fondamentali publishes report on right to health

The Laboratorio Diritti Fondamentali (LDF) has recently published "Health as a Fundamental Right: A study on migration and healthcare in Turin" (Italy) co-authored by Irene Biglino and Anthony Olmo. The study aims to identify the various barriers encountered by migrants- despite their legal status- in accessing and utilizing health services in Turin. (more...)

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