Migration, diasporas and planning for cosmopolitan urbanity in smaller municipalities in the UK and Germany

August 2019 - June 2020
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Overview

As part of Oxford University’s new partnership with four Berlin universities, COMPAS is working with TU Berlin on a knowledge exchange project on the dynamics of integration and inclusion in smaller towns and municipalities in the UK and Germany.

Whilst there is growing interest in the role of the local level in integration and inclusion, this has mainly focussed on larger cities with those considered to be ‘super-diverse’ often engaging in wider Europe wide networks to share best practice. This growing gap between ‘cosmopolitan’ cities and smaller cities is the focus of this project, which brings together researchers, policy makers and practitioners from the UK and Germany.

The project aims to identify the needs, opportunities and traps of the urban governance of migration, inclusion, and cohesion and to find ways for smaller cities to develop their own strategies in this field.

A workshop hosted by TU Berlin in September 2019 launched the project and brought together representatives from UK and German smaller cities alongside academic researchers. Officials from Luton, Barnsley and Cottbus highlighted their specific contexts and this was contrasted with findings from both research and networks of peer learning between cities. A further workshop will be held in Oxford in Spring 2020.