Intercultural cities: governance and policies for diverse communities

Joint action of the Council of Europe and the European Commission

As communities across Europe grow increasingly diverse, the way they manage diversity becomes a key challenge for the future. Successful cities and societies of the future will be intercultural: they will be capable of managing and exploring the potential of their cultural diversity to stimulate creativity and innovation and thus generate economic prosperity and a better quality of life. Diversity can be a resource for the development of a city if the public discourse, the city's institutions and processes, and the behaviour of people, take diversity positively into account.

Interculturalism - what it is about

The origins of the intercultural city concept

Interactive map of participating cities

Click on the name of the cities to discover their intercultural profiles and activities.

Associated cities

Cities participating in the Intercultural cities Index and national Intercultural cities networks: Amadora, Arezzo, Barcelona, Duisburg, Bari, Campi Bisenzio, Capannori, Castelvetro di Modena, Erlangen, Fermo, Fucecchio, Genova, Lodi, Mexico city, Montréal, Munich, Offenburg, Pompei, Rijeka, San Giuliano Terme, Sechenkivsky, Senigallia, Turin, Turnhout, Unione dei Comuni-Savignano sul Rubicone, Västeras and Zurich.

The Intercultural Cities Strategy

The genuine intercultural city cannot emerge from disconnected initiatives or small-scale policy changes. It can only be the result of a shared vision and the concerted efforts of a range of institutional and civil society stakeholders. Therefore the Intercultural City Strategy includes a wide range of actors in the city: local authorities, professionals, social services, civil society organisations, and the media. Focusing on the sustainability and effectiveness of the results, the Intercultural City Strategy includes the establishment of partnerships and alliances within each city but also on national and international levels. The latter ensures that participating cities are closely linked with key international actors working in the field of integration and diversity at the local level.

Intercultural cities: examples of good practices

National Networks

Italy

Spain

Ukraine