https://doi.org/10.37815/rte.v34n1.919

Original paper - English

Cities and migration: comprehensive study of cities welcoming migrants
and refugees

Ciudades
y la migración: estudio integral de las ciudades que acogen a migrantes y
refugiados

Olga Kadysheva1 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4810-8964

1Global Migration Policy Associates, Geneva, Switzerland

[email-masked]

Sent:               2022/02/26

Accepted:       2022/03/14

Published:      2022/03/15

Abstract

In today’s globalized world of international mobility, migration is a
major contributor to urbanization. Cities play a crucial role in welcoming
migrants and refugees and in their integration with local societies. Cities are
spaces for refugee and immigrant reception, rights protection, and inclusion in
local communities. Migration represents significant challenges for city
governance, social cohesion, and realisation of human
rights for all. This paper is based on describes UNESCO-ECCAR-GMPA-Marianna V. Vardinoyannis Foundation ongoing research project on
‘Cities Welcoming Refugees and Migrants’ launched in May 2016. The 6-year
research project analysed contemporary experiences,
policies, and practice of cities with a particular focus on Europe. This paper
discusses the research project, its methodology, key types of data, documents
and literature reviewed, and key findings. This paper discusses the trilogy of
research questions: how to obtain knowledge and assessment of place, policy,
and practice of cities welcoming migrants and refugees; whether there are
common approaches and policies referencing values and rights; and do common
approaches, policy, and practice represent a coherent values-based framework
across multiple cities in Europe. The study of city experiences shows a largely
common welcoming city agenda regarding the reception and integration of
refugees and migrants. The research findings highlight that deliberate values
and rights-based approach is the foundation of a welcoming city.

Keywords: urbanisation, welcoming cities, local authorities, human
rights, inclusion, integration, non-discrimination, research methodology.

Summary: Introduction,
State of Art and Key Definitions; Methodology,
The Analysis Process and Results, Outcomes: Identified Welcoming City
Values, Approaches and Action Areas and Conclusions.

How
to cite: Kadysheva, O. (2022). Cities
and migration: comprehensive study of cities welcoming migrants and
refugees. Revista Tecnológica - Espol, 34(1), 170-192. http://www.rte.espol.edu.ec/index.php/tecnologica/article/view/919

Resumen

En el mundo globalizado actual de
movilidad internacional, la migración es un factor importante que contribuye a
la urbanización. Las ciudades juegan un papel crucial en la acogida de
migrantes y refugiados y en su integración con las sociedades locales. Las
ciudades son espacios para la recepción de refugiados e inmigrantes, la
protección de los derechos y la inclusión en las comunidades locales. La
migración representa desafíos importantes para la gobernanza de las ciudades,
la cohesión social y la realización de los derechos humanos para todos. Este
documento se basa y describe el proyecto de investigación en curso de la
UNESCO-ECCAR-GMPA-Marianna V. Vardinoyannis Foundation sobre 'Ciudades que
acogen a refugiados y migrantes' lanzado en mayo de 2016. El proyecto de
investigación de 6 años analizó experiencias, políticas y prácticas
contemporáneas de las ciudades. con un enfoque particular en Europa. Este
documento analiza el proyecto de investigación, su metodología, los tipos clave
de datos, los documentos y la literatura revisada, y los hallazgos clave. Este
documento evalúa la trilogía de preguntas de investigación: cómo obtener
conocimiento y evaluación del lugar, la política y la práctica de las ciudades
que acogen a migrantes y refugiados; si existen enfoques y políticas comunes
que hagan referencia a valores y derechos; y los enfoques, las políticas y las
prácticas comunes representan un marco coherente basado en valores en varias
ciudades de Europa. El estudio de las experiencias de la ciudad muestra una
agenda de ciudad de acogida en gran parte común con respecto a la recepción e
integración de refugiados y migrantes. Los resultados de la investigación
destacan que los valores deliberados y el enfoque basado en los derechos son la
base de una ciudad acogedora.

Palabras
clave: urbanización, ciudades acogedoras, autoridades
locales, derechos humanos, inclusión, integración, no discriminación,
metodología de investigación.

Introduction

Cities
everywhere have long benefited from and faced challenges of human mobility.
Cities emerge from, and develop through, processes of migration and urbanisation. Newcomers – whether from rural areas or other
cities within and outside of national borders – contribute to increasing the
diversity and complexity of cities.

Cities
have emerged on the radar of international development partly due to
demographic growth, impacts of climate change, increased human exposure to
natural hazards and other urban risks (UN-Habitat, 2020b, p.3). The role of local authorities and
urban governments in discourse, policy and practice on migration, migrant and
refugee inclusion and integration, human rights protection, and on development
has significantly increased over the last decade, both in Europe (influenced by
2014-16 spike in refugee arrivals) and worldwide (especially in cities located
in countries of immigration, such as USA, Canada, Australia, and others).

As
evoked in the New Urban Agenda, “populations, economic activities, social and
cultural interactions, as well as environmental and humanitarian impacts, are
increasingly concentrated in cities, and this poses massive sustainability
challenges in terms of housing, infrastructure, basic services, food security,
health, education, decent jobs, safety and natural resources, among others”
(United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, 2016,
p.3). Migration represents significant challenges for city governance, social
cohesion, realization of human rights for all, and for ensuring vibrant,
productive cities today and tomorrow. These challenges include addressing the
risks and vulnerabilities that migration entails in general and specifically
for human rights protection across the whole of city governance and welfare of
all denizens.

Migrants,
refugees, and internally displaced persons are addressed throughout the New
Urban Agenda adopted at the Habitat III conference held in Quito, Ecuador, in
2016. The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2015)
explicitly recognizes the positive contribution of migrants to sustainable
development, as well as features migration, migrant, and refugee concerns. The
Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (2018) and the Global
Compact on Refugees (2018) also affirm the crucial role of local authorities as
key actors in migration governance and refugee response.

While a
growing number of academic studies, policy reports and other publications
feature the challenges migration brings for urban governance (see Literature
Review section below), until recently, there was little policy guidance and
even less practical guidance and experiences collected and published.

This paper presents the result of six years of research, data collection
and analysis, literature review, and studies of city policies and practices in
Europe and worldwide done by the collaborative project Cities Welcoming
Refugees and Migrants, among UNESCO, ECCAR (European Coalition of Cities
against Racism), and GMPA (Global Migration Policy Associates), realised with the cooperative support of the Marianna V.
Vardinoyannis Foundation, launched in May 2016.
This paper draws on and presents the key points and findings included in the Handbook
on Cities Welcoming Migrants and Refugees: Rights, Inclusion, Integration,
Sustainability’ (Taran and Kadysheva,
forthcoming 2022). The Handbook, in turn, builds on previous research
and analysis published as ‘Cities Welcoming Refugees and Migrants: Enhancing
effective urban governance in an age of migration' (Taran,
Neves de Lima and Kadysheva, 2016), and more recent
analysis and elaborations of numerous topics.

The
focus of the research was on Europe as a specific region with certain
commonalities, including geographic delineation and significantly common
development. The researchers also studied numerous publications, reports,
research papers, and policy documents on cities elsewhere in the world, as well
as global policy agendas and international city conference documents.

The
research allowed to articulate a framework for action to guide development and
implementation of city governance, including policy, institutional and
programmatic responses on migration, as an agenda deriving directly from
contemporary city policy and practice.

The
study addresses the following key issues that make up an interlinked trilogy of
research questions:

1.     How to obtain knowledge and assessment of the
evolving place, policy, and practice of cities welcoming migrants and refugees?

2.     Core question: Are there consistent common
approaches and policies referencing values and rights, versus discourse and
analysis that is utilitarian city self-interest in economic growth and social
cohesion?

3.     Do the common approaches, experiences, policy, and
practice of cities represent a coherent values-based framework across multiple
cities and to what extent cities as a whole in Europe?

State of Art and Key Definitions

Definitions of key terms and concepts

Cities:
In the absence
of an internationally agreed normative definition, this paper considers cities
as established urbanized concentrations of population in specific territorial
space with an operational governance system, administrative apparatus, economic
activity, and social organization. As the OECD (Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development) notes, “despite intense global discussions around urbanisation, a global definition of a ‘city’, ‘urban area’
and ‘rural area’ has been lacking, and thereby, limiting meaningful
international comparisons (OECD/European Commission, 2020, p.3). This report
recognizes the relevance of the welcoming cities notion and practice to
small size cities of several thousand inhabitants as well as cities of larger
populations.

Right
to city – “the
right of all inhabitants present and future, to
occupy, use and produce just, inclusive and sustainable cities, defined as a
common good essential to the quality of life. The right to the city further
implies responsibilities on governments and people to claim, defend, and
promote this right” (United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban
Development, p.26). The right to the city includes several elements and
implications, such as right to inclusion, to services, and to participation.

Welcoming
cities are those
that recognize that all refugees, asylum seekers, migrants, immigrants,
displaced people and other newcomers to the city are
rights-holders, subject to non-discrimination, equality of treatment and
opportunity, and provision of services regardless of identity, origin,
nationality, legal status or any other grounds of discrimination. Welcoming
cities facilitate engagement of migrants and refugees with local communities to
provide support and orientation to newcomers, and enable settlement, inclusion,
and integration.

Welcoming
culture –
explicit public commitment to the reception and integration of and with
newcomers, particularly immigrants, migrants, and refugees in terms of
equality, participation and justice for the entire
population.

Whole
of city approach
– refers to participatory involvement of and cooperation among all concerned
institutions, departments and agencies of the city government, elected
officials, the city legislative body or council, and concerned civil society
and community groups including representative im/migrant
and refugee community organisations and members of
the population at large.

Whole of society approach – involvement
by and cooperation among community groups,
unions, civil society organizations, specialized NGOs, migrant and refugee
associations, and business/private sector and employer organisations
as well as volunteers and other concerned individuals.

The place of cities in a globalized world of international mobility

“The city, one of the world’s biggest phenomenon
of the 21st century, has evolved greatly over the centuries, particularly in
terms of its size, form, structure and composition, while largely maintaining
its importance in local and regional development” (UN-Habitat 2020a, p.2). The
data shows that the global population living in urban areas has increased from
29.6% in 1950 (UN DESA, 2014) to 56.2 % today; long-term prospects continue to
predict that the world will further urbanize over the next decade, to 60.4% by
2030 (UN-Habitat, 2020b, p. xviii). Cities have become a driving force for
addressing sustainable economic growth, development, and prosperity. They
inspire innovation, promote consumption and investment in both developed and
developing countries (UN-Habitat, 2016).

The research and literature review reaffirmed that cities worldwide have
developed through processes of migration and urbanization. In today’s
globalized world, migration and urbanization are interconnected and
interrelated processes. “Migration has
been a major contributor to urbanization, whether rural-to-urban movement
within countries or the clustering of international migrants in global cities.
International migration accounts for about one-third of urban growth in developed
countries and is increasingly transforming urban areas into heterogenous,
multi-ethnic, multicultural, and multilingual spaces” (UN-Habitat, 2020b, p. xix). The current levels of urbanization
around the world are the result of changes in local population due to natural
increase, but ever more often, the predominant change is due to migratory flows
– between and within the countries, between urban and rural areas, and between
different regions of the world.

Cities are centers of access to jobs and business opportunities,
innovation and entrepreneurship, education, culture, and sports. Globalization
has highlighted the socioeconomic potential of cities. However, in both the
developed and developing countries, economic growth has not resulted in the well-being
of all; there are gaps between the rich and the poor, and ‘formal’ and
‘informal’ cities. Addressing poverty and providing access to local public
services for all, including healthcare and adequate, affordable housing are of
particular concern for local governance.

Over the centuries, cities have faced challenges as well as
opportunities deriving from human mobility. Newcomers and immigrants contribute
to increasing their diversity and complexity of cities. The populations of
cities throughout Europe consists of multiple ethnicities, national origins,
social classes, education and skill levels, and professional occupations. City
residents live in diverse neighbourhoods but interact
with each other on a daily basis. Immigrants into
established and new metropolitan settings transforms urban areas
demographically, culturally, socially, politically, and economically. In many
cities, officials are actively encouraging immigrants, albeit primarily highly
skilled migrants and business and creative elites, to join their communities.
The availability of jobs and remunerative activity also attracts low-skilled
migrants, both in regular and irregular situations.

Migration
presents significant challenges for city governance, social cohesion, the
realization of human rights for all, and for ensuring equality of treatment and
non-discrimination. These challenges include addressing the areas of health,
education, housing, community welfare and others across the whole of city
governance and for the welfare of all denizens.

Much of
migration governance is developed and implemented at the local/city level,
including provision of basic services such as housing, healthcare,
schooling/education, facilitation of employment and enterprise creation; and
upholding of human rights, equality of treatment and social cohesion. Cities
are crucial for welcoming, reception and integration of migrants and refugees.
Cities are the place and space where migrants interact with the society,
community, and (indirectly) with the country of residence. Nearly every city
across Europe is formally engaged in addressing migration. Research and
analysis of city policies, actions, and practices over several years shows that
cities generally have established a values-based policy on migration to the city,
with comprehensive government approaches, explicit responsibilities and
coordination across administrations, and cooperation with local and regional
NGOs, civil society, private enterprises and community
groups as well as refugees and migrants themselves.

The
International Conference on Population and Development back in 1994 recognized
urbanization as integral to development. The issues of migration, refuge and
internal displacement are addressed explicitly in the New Urban Agenda, which
was adopted at Habitat III in Quito in October 2016. Migrant and refugee
concerns are also present throughout the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development, which recognizes the positive contribution of migrants to
sustainable development. The Global compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular
migration and the Global Compact on Refugees also affirm the active role of
local authorities as key contributors to migration governance and refugee
response.

Contextual data on international migration and
cities in Europe

Review
and extrapolation of data shows that a significant portion of growth in cities
in Europe (and in some cases simply maintaining population levels) is a direct
consequence of migration to cities, notably international migration. For
example, over the past 60 years, the city of Vienna has experienced a very
dynamic population development. Within a few decades, population numbers in the
city first went from stagnant to shrinking and then started to grow rapidly. At
the same time, a previously strongly ageing city was turned into a young
metropolis – mostly due to international immigration (City
of Vienna, 2021).

In 2020,
the estimated number of international migrants, defined as persons
residing outside their country of birth or citizenship for more than one year,
reached 281 million worldwide, with female migrants accounting for 48 percent
of this population (UNDESA, 2020). International migrants make up 3.6 percent
of the global population, a proportion that has remained relatively stable over
the last three decades (UNDESA, 2020). Nearly half of all international
migrants resided in the region from which they originated. Among the major
regions of the world, the largest number of international migrants in 2020
resided in the European region, with a total of 87 million. 70 percent of
migrants residing in Europe were born in another European country (UNDESA,
2020).

According
to European Commissions data, 2.7 million persons immigrated to the EU, while
1.2 million persons emigrated from the EU in 2019. Total net immigration to the
EU was 1.5 million persons. Without migration, the European population would
have shrunk by half a million in 2019, given that 4.2 million children were
born, and 4.7 million people died in the EU. In 2020, according to provisional
data, EU population shrunk by about 300 thousand people (from 447.3 million on
1 January 2020 to 447.0 million on 1 January 2021), due to a combination of
less births, more deaths and less net migration (European Commission, 2021).

In 2020,
about 2.25 million first residence permits were issued in the EU, compared to
nearly 3.0 million in 2019. The decrease was due to the travel restrictions
imposed as a result of COVID-19 pandemic, that had a
particularly strong negative impact on education-related permits: their share
decreased from 14% in 2019 to 11% in 2020. In 2020, first permits were issued
for the following reasons: 40% work/employment, 28% family, 11% education, 11%
asylum, 10% other (European Commission, 2021)

Foreign born populations comprise significant portions of populations
across Europe: 47.3% in Luxembourg; 29.7% in Switzerland, 19.5% in Sweden;
19.3% in Austria; 18.1% in Iceland; 17.8% in Ireland; 17.2% Belgium; 16.1%
Germany; 15.6% in Norway; 14.9% in Estonia; 14% in each Spain and the UK; 13.4%
in the Netherlands; 12.8% in each France and Slovenia; 12.7% in Latvia; 12.5%
in Greece; 10.8% in Portugal; 10.5% in Denmark; 10.4% in Italy; etc. (OECD,
2019).

Indeed, the proportions of foreign-born persons in cities in Europe are
significantly higher than their share in the total populations of the
countries. Many European cities are home to large populations of foreign-born
individuals, notably: Brussels (46 per cent), London (38 per cent), Amsterdam
(34 per cent), Stockholm (33 per cent), Milan (32.3 per cent), Madrid (20.5 per
cent) and Paris (19 per cent) (World Cities Culture Forum, n.d.). Analyses of
city populations that distinguish foreign-born individuals and those with at
least one foreign-born parent more fully reflect the outcome of recent immigration:
population counts in Vienna, for example, show that 59 per cent of residents
are either foreign born or have a foreign-born parent.

In 2020,
according to UNHCR estimates, there were a total of 20.7 million refugees under
its mandate, plus 5.7 million Palestinians under care of the UNRWA, and 4.1
million asylum seekers, who represent together 11% of the total global migrant
stock population. 73 per cent of refugees and Venezuelans displaced abroad
lived in countries neighbouring their countries of
origin (UNHCR, 2021).

The
number of first-time asylum seekers who applied for international protection in
Member States of the EU increased gradually from 122 thousand in 2008 to 250.4
thousand in 2012. The numbers spiked to 531 thousand in 2014 to over a million
in 2015 and in 2016 and decreased to 620.3 thousand in 2017; 564 thousand in
2018; and 632 thousand in 2019 and then declined substantially to 416.6
thousand in 2020 (Eurostat, 2021).

In 2020,
40.7% of EU first instance asylum decisions resulted in positive outcomes, that
is granting refugee or subsidiary protection status, or an authorisation
to stay for humanitarian reasons, some 50.1% of which resulted in granting
refugee status. In absolute terms, 106,200 persons were granted refugee status
in the EU in 2020 at first instance, 50,300 were given subsidiary protection
status, and 55,400 were given authorisation to stay
for humanitarian reasons. Another 69,200 asylum applicants in the EU received
positive final decisions based on appeal or review in 2020, of whom 21,600 were
granted refugee status, 22,400 were granted subsidiary protection, and 25,300
were granted humanitarian status (Eurostat, 2021).

At the
end of 2020, the EU hosted 10% of all the world’s
refugees (almost 2.6 million) (European Commission, 2021), some of whom were
long settled, with the majority in urban locations. In comparison, Turkey alone
hosted nearly 3.7 million refugees, the largest population worldwide. Colombia
was second with more than 1.7 million, including Venezuelans displaced abroad.
The share of refugees in the EU is only 0.6% compared to its total population
(UNHCR, 2021). For comparison, at the end of 2020, the numbers of refugees as
share of total population for Lebanon was 12.9%, Jordan 6.4%, Turkey 4.4%, Uganda
3.3%, Sudan 2.4%, and Germany 1.5% (European Commission, 2021) These refugee
numbers are generally included in total migrant population figures that count
foreign-born individuals’ residents abroad for at least a year,
but may not capture numbers of recently arrived refugees and asylum
seekers.

Methodology

UNESCO and ECCAR established the project “Cities Welcoming Refugees and
Migrants” as an open-ended collaborative research and city advisory effort in
early 2016, with the support of Marianna V. Vardinoyannis
Foundation. The project was carried out by a specialized multi-disciplinary
international expert group GMPA, in collaboration with a specialized UN agency
UNESCO and in consultation with city leaders in a leading European city network
ECCAR. Core GMPA team included a researcher specializing in urban policy; a
university professor-researcher on economics and socioeconomic development; and
senior migration specialist with background in cities services, national
governance, and international organizations.

The research: a combination of components

The methodology of the project leading to validated research findings
was a mixed method using a qualitative and quantitative complex combination of:

·
literature review across a variety of relevant types of materials,
sources, entities, such as academic papers, city documents, European and
International city networks reports, international institutions publications,
normative documents including international conventions, etc. as outlined
earlier in the paper;

·
detailed surveying of multiple cities of different characteristics in
different national-subregional contexts across Europe;

·
interfacing with prior and parallel team member research on substantive
city and refugee issues, in particular discrimination-integration; health;
COVID-19 and migrants; and EU refugee and migration law and policy;

·
engagement directly with city officials and other stakeholder
practitioners in city and intercity consultations, sharing of information,
participation in conferences and policy debates;

·
academic schooling by a team member on urban planning and city management;

·
prior team member knowledge and experience in directing a city-based
refugee social services agency.

In general, the methodology and structure of the project allowed the
expert team to:

1.     Summarize and
reiterate solid general research findings from surveys and recent follow-up
with 22 cities in 11 countries across Europe.

2.     Carry out
comprehensive literature review, complemented by analysis of international
policy papers and discussions and documents on cities and migration.

3.     Identify key
political, ideological, legal, social and other issues
and contentions in city discourse and action articulated in responses to
surveys.

4.     Perform an analytical
review and discussion of key issues, premises and responses identified from
research and city discourse and policy as well as
multi-stakeholder/constituency positions and practice.

5.     Review the subsequent
extensive research done over the period of 2017-2022 for the forthcoming
comprehensive handbook for cities welcoming migrants and refugees.

Key stages of the research

The research was done in several sequential and interrelated stages. It
started with the circulation in April 2016 of a survey questionnaire, designed
by UNESCO with GMPA, to member cities of ECCAR. The questionnaire was sent to
local authorities and city departments working on migrant and refugee issues.
The survey sought to obtain contextual data on cities, identification of issues
city governments are faced with in reception and
integration of refugees and migrants, and description of city policies,
practices and local initiatives. In addition, the researchers sought comparable
data from other cities. The research team compiled and analysed
results; prepared an extensive matrix of survey responses to identify
similarities and differences in policy, practice, and actions, and wrote a
survey report.

A stakeholder consultation in May 2016 at UNESCO headquarters in Paris
presented a summary of survey responses, shared findings, and identified key
issues, approaches, and a project plan of action. High-level ECCAR member city
officials comprised nearly a third of the 70 participants.

In addition to the survey, the overall research comprised literature
review and analysis of existing data by the GMPA core team, such as academic
articles, research papers, policy briefs, publications by international organisations and city networks, conference presentations
and outcomes, official city policy documents, statements, reports, and
data/statistics on international migration and on refugees. The normative base
of the research included International/UN conventions, ILO and UNESCO
instruments, International Labour standards, Regional
–and especially European Union– Conventions, Declarations, Directives, UN
treaty body recommendations and comments, international conferences
declarations, programs of action and agendas, and city charters and
declarations. The section on Literature Review presents the sources used
classified into key groupings.

A further round of web-search of complementary information on city
websites was done, to complement, expand and develop the city survey responses.
This allowed to enhance and fill in detailed profiles of each city providing
substantial information, data and perspective, and to
develop 2-page city briefs on 24 cities, outlining concrete city actions and
policies.

During the project, the researchers drew on team background knowledge,
approach and methodological inspiration and previous work and/or research
experience, in such areas as city governance and urban planning, academic
research on economics and mobility in Eurasian regional context, empirical
discrimination testing of immigrants/immigrant origin persons in twelve cities
in Europe and setting up and directing a city-supported refugee reception,
resettlement and integration social service agency.

Over the course of project, team members participated in conferences on
cities and on migration, in city consultations and inter-city meetings among
city executives, practitioners, academic researchers focussed
on cities and city institutes, sharing experiences, concerns, presenting joint
activities, assessments and analyses.

The data, findings, and conclusions of the first phase of the research
were written up as a 75-page book subsequently published jointly by UNESCO,
ECCAR and GMPA titled ‘Cities Welcoming Refugees and Migrants: Enhancing
effective urban governance in an age of migration'. The manuscript went
through peer review in September 2016; comments and suggestions from 7
reviewers as well as from UNESCO team colleagues were addressed by the authors.
The publication was launched at a 2-day high-level conference in Athens in
November 2016. The event, the participants and the space allowed for broad peer
discussion and vetting of the study and for testing the research hypotheses,
findings, and conclusions among some 60 participants from across Europe, North
America, and other regions, representing cities, universities, international organisations and migrant groups.
The research team presented the draft structure and outline of a broad-spectrum
multidisciplinary handbook for city governance practitioners. The discussion
allowed the project tram to receive suggestions and inputs towards shaping the
structure, content, and key issues to be elaborated in the handbook.

The research has been ongoing since 2017 up to early 2022. Over that
five-year period the team collected and studied another two hundred plus
documents, publications, reports, as well as relevant data, city practice
examples over nearly 30 distinct thematic areas (discussed below). Further
research, consultations, revisions allowed to draft and subsequently rewrite
most chapters at least twice again as new material, more sophisticated analysis
and more complex inter-relationships emerged.

Over the course of the project, the GMPA team interfaced the cities
research with complementary research, notably an assessment of EU law and
policy on protection of refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants at EU borders
and in member countries (Caritas Europa, 2016); a study on migration, health,
and human rights (ILO, 2017); research on migration and development in Europe
(Caritas Europa, 2019) including contributing to 11 national reports; and
recently on COVID-19 and migrants and refugees (article 3 in this issue).

The draft of the handbook went through peer review in early 2018 with
feedback, comments and suggestions received from academic and practical experts
at Università Iuav di
Venezia (Venice), Centre for Social Innovation (ZSI, Vienna), European Training
and Research Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (ETC-Graz), University of
Zagreb, OHCHR and several experts at UNESCO.

In October 2020 UNESCO circulated an updated short questionnaire to
those cities that replied to the original survey in 2016. The follow-up
questionnaire sought new examples of city action, focusing on impactful and
successful activities in different policy areas. The questionnaire requested
brief descriptions of several initiatives undertaken by the city and a
hyperlink to webpages, as well as updates on current status
of initiatives reported in 2016. Additional information was also obtained
directly from city websites.

The handbook manuscript has undergone UNESCO institutional review and
editing of each component. Some of its separate chapters have also been
reviewed by experts in cities, ECCAR officials, and specialists in relevant
international and European organisations.

The resulting handbook includes 30 chapters, each containing: key facts
and data, including on COVID-19 impact; legal/normative framework, such as key
legal instruments for governance of migration and protection of rights of
migrants; description of key challenges; discussion of specific issues; key
policy and practice responses, and actions in cities. The latter contains
relevant examples of city actions, whether by city authorities themselves, or
by city/local NGOs
often in partnership with and the support from city administration.

The Analysis
Process and Results

The
questions were deliberately formulated to obtain city government views on the
nature and characteristics of the challenges at the local level and to identify
positive and innovative city policy approaches and recent response initiatives.
The 10 questions requested information and data on refugee and migrant
presence; city policies and practice frameworks regarding refugees and
migrants; specific services provided; identification of practical initiatives;
and actions tackling stereotypes and prejudices. The full questionnaire is
provided in Figure 1. The questionnaire was circulated in English and French. With the
responses, many cities included extensive documentation and links to city websites
with information in the national language(s).

ECCAR leadership promoted
participation in the survey and responses to the questionnaire designed by
UNESCO with GMPA by key cities across a spectrum of counties in different parts
of Europe. The responses reflected a diversity of city characteristics, sizes,
economies, and regions. The 22 cities in 11 countries
that responded to the initial survey questionnaire in 2016 were: Athens,
Greece; Barcelona, Spain; Berlin, Germany; Bologna, Italy; Darmstadt, Germany;
Erlangen, Germany; Esch-sur-Alzette,
Luxembourg; Geneva, Switzerland; Ghent, Belgium; Graz, Austria; Helsingborg,
Sweden; Karlsruhe, Germany; Lausanne, Switzerland; Liège, Belgium; Metz,
France; Malmö, Sweden; Nancy, France; Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Soest, Germany; Stockholm, Sweden; Uppsala, Sweden; and
Vienna, Austria. Relevant data on Bristol, UK and Lisbon, Portugal was also
included, thus providing information on a total of 24 cities in 13 countries.

Figure 1

UNESCO -ECCAR-GMPA
city survey questionnaire (2016)

Source: Taran, Neves de
Lima and Kadysheva (2016)

The ECCAR-UNESCO-GMPA team assessed the
responses as ample and representative of the diversity of cities in much of
Europe. Most replies were multiple pages of written text plus multiple
documents attached. The survey responses and additional data from cities that
range in population and territory sizes, experiences, and circumstances across
13 countries in Europe offered a relatively representative breadth and
diversity of situations. Responding cities ranged in size from capital and large
cities with populations exceeding one million to small cities with less than
50,000 inhabitants. The majority of responses came
from medium-sized cities with populations ranging from 100,000 to 300,000
inhabitants.

It is important to note that the three major
challenges indicated by cities and local governments related to welcoming and
integrating migrants and refugees are housing, education, and employment. In
general, the survey responses allowed for comparing the obtained data to
identify convergences, similarities, and differences in the actual situations
as well as policy and practice responses among the variety of cities. This
permitted the researchers to identify common areas of concerns, policy
approaches, city government organization, and strategies on reception,
inclusion, and integration. Survey responses identified numerous innovative
initiatives in cities, successful practices, and examples of local
partnerships. The information obtained from the surveys, complemented by
extensive literature review and review of materials on city websites allowed
for the preparation of 25 detailed city case-study profiles on topical areas of
policy concern.

Barcelona, Esch-sur-Alzette, Ghent, Graz, Helsingborg, Karlsruhe, Lausanne,
Liège, Soest, Stockholm, and Vienna provided
responses to the October 2020 follow-up questionnaire. These cities provided
brief descriptions of recent initiatives (most in cooperation/partnership with
local partners) as well as updates on previously reported initiatives.

Selection and
Analysis of the Literature Review

The total bibliography analysed
combining the 2016 publication and the forthcoming handbook includes at current
count nearly 400 sources. The sources were classified
into the following categories (examples):

·
International Conventions, Treaty Body Recommendations, World Conference
Declarations, UN Declarations and Agendas, and international cities bodies
declarations on international migration and protection of rights of migrants
and refugees.

·
Academic papers, reports and studies specifically on cities and migration
(given that the main literature review was done during the first stage of
the project back in 2016, many of the key sources used were issued before that):
Bravo (2018), Brown and Kristiansen (2009), Çağlar (2014), Glick Schiller and Çağlar (2010), Gomes da Silva,
(2018), Juzwiak (2014), Juzwiak,
McGregor and Siegel (2014), IOM (2015), Price
(2014), Price and Chacko (2012);

·
Publications and reports on international migration, migrants, and
refugees: ILO (2021), OECD (2020), UNDESA (2020), UNESCO (2019), UNHCR (2021), WHO (2018), WHO (2019);

·
Data sources: European Commission, Eurostat,
OECD, UNDESA, UNHCR databases

·
Reports, papers and publications on human
rights of migrants, equality of treatment, non-discrimination and integration:
Caritas Europa (2016), EMN (European Migration
Network), FRA (Fundamental Rights Agency), ILO (2010), ILO (2017),
ILO/IOM/OHCHR (2001), IPU/ILO/OHCHR (2015).

·
City documents: policies, strategies, brochures, plans, program
documents, etc.

·
City networks charters, declarations, reports, briefs, strategies, plans
and online materials: Cities of Migration global
initiative (CERC Migration/Ryerson University), CLIP (European network of
cities for local integration policies for migrants), ECCAR (European Coalition
of Cities Against Racism), Eurocities, the
Hague Process on Refugees and Migration, ICCAR (International Coalition of
Inclusive and Sustainable Cities), Rainbow Cities
Network, UCLG (United Cities and Local
Governments), etc.

·
Migration and city high-level international conferences and forums
outcome documents, agendas for actions, international
commitments: United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban
Development-Habitat; Global Mayoral Forum on Mobility, Migration and
Development; etc.

·
Specialised migration and city conference papers and presentations.

·
Articles on city policies, initiatives and practices published in city,
local and regional journals, online media.

The literature review provided a
broad overview of the conditions, situations and issues of cities and migration
across Europe and elsewhere, as well as theory of cities and urban development,
right to the city and related concepts. The literature provided ample
information and analytical perspective on city approaches to migration, policy
frameworks and applied city practices. In particular,
the literature review supported generating a comprehensive understanding of the
human rights aspects of city policies and services that ensure no migrant or
refugee is ‘left behind’. Furthermore, the literature provided a basis to
develop the research analysis and framing of the welcoming city approaches,
common values, and city-wide practice inclusive of other stakeholders and
migrants and refugees themselves.

Outcomes: Identified Welcoming City Values, Approaches,
and Action Areas

Values and
rights-based approach of the welcoming city

The research combining and interfacing
literature review, surveys, and direct consultations with city officials,
inputs by other experts and practitioners, and summation of concrete experience
of cities across Europe and elsewhere found that there is a largely common welcoming
agenda advocated and implemented in practice regarding the reception and
integration of refugees and migrants. This agenda includes a set of approaches
to address the challenges and opportunities of migration in cities and
responding to the needs of newcomers while integrating the concerns of host
societies.

This welcoming agenda is compiled
from the contemporary experience of cities, derived from the responses to two
surveys of twenty-two city members of ECCAR, widely reported across academic
literature and indicated in the findings and recommendations of international
associations and networks of cities. For its realization, this agenda depends
on the commitment of local authorities in designing and implementing inclusive
policies and services with support from regional and national governments, the
engagement of civil society and the private sector, and meaningful
participation on the part of all denizens and newcomers.

The research found that nearly all cities
explicitly defined themselves as welcoming and inclusive. This was explicitly
elaborated in formal city policy, usually through consultative and deliberative
processes that involve the city’s legislative and executive governance bodies
and the mayor’s office. Among the main values – that also reflect the
governance principles – commonly cited by cities in terms of their engagement
with refugees and migrants are the following (see Table 1).

Table 1

Main principles and
values of welcoming cities

Inclusivity: cities
are explicitly inclusive of all denizens and newcomers in law, policy,
administration, services, and practice, often with reference to
non-discrimination, equality of treatment, welcoming culture
and participation.

Integration:
distinct from inclusion, integration is referred to as a purpose or goal
as well as a process and relates to the mutual incorporation and
accommodation of immigrants in the city and with its inhabitants
in community, social, economic, cultural, and political spheres, while
respecting the cultural identity and heritage of each
and every person.

Equality and services for all: all
essential services are available, accessible, affordable, adaptable and
are offered with quality to all without discrimination on any basis.
Equal treatment and opportunities are provided for all persons living in
the city regardless of their immigration/legal status.

Non-discrimination: a value
expressed and understood as a universal principle in international
law and usually in national and local legislation across a wide range of
grounds including race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, religion,
migration status and sexual orientation.

Rights protection and realisation: refers
to the respect, protection and fulfilment of human rights as recognized
in international standards (usually reiterated in national law and local
legislation), and the responsibility of city governance to uphold and
provide for the fulfilment of human rights for all denizens.

Welcoming culture: policy
formulations in many cities make specific reference to a welcoming
culture as a main underlying value.

Solidarity: an
integral part of the welcoming and integration processes, as stated by
some city pronouncements and policy documents, usually referring to
mutual support and common interests between the city and its newcomer
immigrants and refugees.

Participation:
inclusive and active participation of all in the life of the city,
particularly at the community and neighbourhood
level, in social, economic, cultural, and political activities.
Participation includes not only the engagement of all stakeholders in
the advisory, decision-making, and implementation bodies of city
governance, but also encouraging and facilitating involvement of people
in community-based organisations and local and
city level associations, unions, clubs, groups, etc.

Diversity:
expressed as a value and reality of the city with corresponding
expectations of enhancing diversity, respecting the different
ethno-socio-cultural identities of denizens, and facilitating the
visibility of and exchange among the diverse community identities in the
city.

Dialogue: articulated
as a value, dialogue requires openness to communicate across the city
and its diversity of actors and denizens as well as deliberate measures
to organize, facilitate and support mechanisms and forums for dialogue.

Social cohesion: for
cities, it is both a fundamental value and a core objective. A cohesive
society is one which ‘works towards the well-being of all its members,
fights exclusion and marginalisation, creates
a sense of belonging, promotes trust, and offers its members the
opportunity of upward social mobility’ (OECD, 2011). As such social
cohesion is both a desirable end and a means to inclusive development.

Development: some
cities make specific reference to development – economic, social, and
cultural – as a value underlying policy on immigration/immigrants,
usually with reference to terms of inclusive economic growth,
sustainable cities, social development, and recognition of a
migration-development nexus.

Table by author

Key areas of city
concern and policy action

The research looked at specific areas of
policy, administrative and practical activity, and services. At the local
level, migration governance includes specific attention to the following areas.
Each of these areas is discussed in corresponding chapters of the Handbook (see
Table 2).

Table 2

Key areas of concern
and policy action for Welcoming Cities Governance

Keys for governance for a welcoming city:

human rights-based approach and leaving no one behind

articulating and realising the
welcoming city narrative

communicating inclusive cities welcoming refugees and migrants

data collection,
analysis, and application

exercising leadership
by cities

comprehensive ‘whole
of city’ approach

obtaining resources
and efficient budgeting

building cooperation
and partnerships

accountability

Cross-cutting considerations:

addressing discrimination,
xenophobia, and racism

enabling diversity, equality, inclusion, and integration

achieving meaningful local participation of migrants and refugees

Responsive approaches, rights
protection, and inclusion for specific groups

gender dimensions,
women, and girls

migrant and refugee
family concerns

migrant and refugee
children

youth and adolescents

migrants in irregular situations

LGBTQI refugees
and migrants

Functional-operational domains of city
governance

holistic approach to urban health

availability and access to affordable housing

accessible employment and decent work, (recognition of
qualifications and experience)

social security
and social protection

schooling, education, vocational training, recognition of
qualifications, tertiary education and language
learning

public utilities/services, transportation, infrastructure

public safety, emergency services, policing, law enforcement

access to justice

culture, sport, leisure
and recreation

Table by autor

Functional-operational
domains of welcoming city governance

The study allowed to identify major ‘new’
points coming up in handbook research and revision. Some of
functional-operational domains of city governance crucial to inclusion,
integration and human rights protection of migrants and refugees are presented
below.

Holistic approach to urban health: Cities recognize that public health inclusive of newcomers,
immigrants and refugees is among the most fundamental concerns. The COVID-19
pandemic amplified the centrality of this issue. All cities reviewed in the
research had made efforts to design health prevention, care and treatment
policies without discrimination, stigmatization, or inequality. Most cities
have taken comprehensive and holistic approaches recognizing that it is the
circumstances faced by immigrants to the city, particularly living and working
conditions and other social determinants of health, rather than migration
itself, that put people at risk of medical pathologies or negative health
outcomes. Increased exposure to health risks and the limited ability to cope
with illness that arise from these living and working conditions, expose
migrants to higher health risks, as amply demonstrated by the pandemic and
often inappropriate responses to it that either were discriminatory against
migrants or provided little or no response to their particularly circumstances,
risks and needs. Therefore, it is crucial for cities to ensure that the right
to health and health-related rights are enshrined in local law, policy, and
practice. City authorities need to pay deliberate attention to providing for
appropriate and affordable health prevention, care and
treatment services accessible by all migrants, accommodating for language
barriers, and regardless of migration status.

Availability and access to affordable
housing: Housing is one of the fundamental concerns indicated by city
authorities in addressing migration to cities. Housing is inevitably a major
issue for any city growing in population. It also constitutes a challenge for
cities growing in economic activity and affluence, as expectations rise among
the population for larger housing space and quality, even when urban
populations may not be growing significantly. It is important therefore to
ensure that immigration figures in urban planning.

Accessible employment and decent work:
Employment and access to the labour market for
immigrants/migrants to the city is among the key challenges recognized by
cities. Unrecognized educational attainments, qualifications and/or prior work
experience, language barriers, discrimination and in some cases irregularity of status were mentioned as major factors in
migrant exclusion from employment, as well as from engaging in business
activity and thus self- and family-supporting income. City survey responses and
city discourse emphasized that these problems are transversal and hinder
inclusion of migrants and refugees in the city. Cities are taking a wide range
of actions to facilitate migrant and refugee employment, including local
recognition of qualifications, retraining, apprenticeship programs for migrant
and refugee youth, language training, widening access to technical and
vocational education and training, providing incentives to local employers to
hire im/migrant and refugee workers.

Social security and social protection:
Ensuring migrants and refugees access to social protection raises particular challenges as social security rights are usually
related to periods of employment, contributions or residency. Social protection
includes support benefits in situations of need for medical care,
sickness, unemployment, old-age, employment injury, family/children need,
maternity, disability, and survivors (widow/er) benefits. Migrants –
particularly those in precarious temporary or seasonal regimes – often face
distinct and greater risks of exclusion from social protection. Similarly,
asylum seekers and refugees with a precarious status are often excluded from
even minimum guarantees of social protection. City attention to supporting
income security, reducing poverty and inequality, and advancing social
inclusion improves employability and productivity for migrants, for economies
and for all of the city. A key concern
is ensuring effective implementation of national social security systems and
complementing and extending support at the local level to ensure provision of
basic benefits as needed across the situations enumerated above.

Schooling, education, vocational training,
recognition of qualifications, tertiary education and
language learning: Schooling and education in general are among the fundamental
challenges urban governments recognize they must address with immigration to
the city, regardless of its origins. The schooling of migrant girls and boys,
including unaccompanied minors, allows for their inclusion in society and the
training for adults offers them the possibility to enter the labour market. Key concerns include: provision of public
schooling accessible by and adapted to diverse child and youth populations;
proximity of schools and appropriate class size/teacher-student ratios for all
children and students in the city; rapid inclusion of all arriving
migrant/immigrant/refugee children in schools including by local language
learning, and providing for appropriate and adequate teaching, learning and
educational content ensuring that schooling supports inclusion of and
integration with children and youth migrants to the city.

Public utilities/services, transportation,
infrastructure: Public utilities/services and
infrastructure are basic to city physical structure and its means and ability
to support its population as well as economic and other activities. They
include supply, connection, and distribution of energy – namely electricity,
natural gas and in some cities central steam heat distribution; water, sewage, garbage and recycling collection services; public
transportation; and telephone and internet services, both fixed-line and
mobile. Growth and change in population impact all aspects of city
governance and administration, especially functions relating to spatial
distribution and the organization of metropolitan life and activity. They
necessitate planning, major cost investments, sophisticated organization and
political negotiation on public utilities, transportation
and infrastructure, including taking into account immigrant and refugee
populations, particularly to ensure that infrastructure and utilities are
available, affordable and equitable throughout the city. This requires
particular attention and resource allocations in city planning and
administration.

Public safety, emergency services, policing,
law enforcement: Cities need to address deliberately and substantively
migrant-responsive public safety, policing, emergency services, and disaster
preparedness. It is especially crucial to ensure the proximity of fire, rescue,
medical and other emergency services as well as policing concerning migrants
and refugees equal to that of all city residents. City planning, resource
allocation, preparation and training also needs to include major emergency and
disaster preparedness. It is not only an issue of equipment and facilities, it is also a major concern for training of police, other
emergency responders and disaster preparedness personnel to ensure that
migrants are treated with respect and feel included and perceived as equal
human beings in the communities in which they live. It is also a matter of
building trust with public safety, police, and emergency responders.

Access to justice: Cities need to ensure
access to justice, both in law and in judicial and administrative mechanisms,
processes, and institutions, for migrants and refugees equal to that of all
city residents. Particular attention is needed to ensuring access to justice
for migrants in irregular or undocumented situations as well as for refugees
and asylum seekers.

Culture, sport, leisure
and recreation: Culture, sports, leisure and recreation are each vital
components of community life and human activity in the city, that have
important implications for inclusion, participation and integration of every
individual in the city, especially for welcoming migrants and refugees. Culture
is also a means for empowerment and self-expression of migrants, through which
they are able to create bonds with people from their
origin-based communities and ‘established’ communities, offer their
contributions and also reshape their self-identities in new environments. It is
important for local governments to also culturally integrate
migrants within their societies and offer them tools and opportunities
not only to learn the language of the host country, but also their historical
and cultural traditions. At the same time, however, it is fundamental that
cities promote and valorise the important
sociocultural contributions that migrants themselves bring in the country of
destination. Well-established and newer migrant communities have always made
significant sociocultural contributions to the countries of destination, in
terms of sport, music, arts, food and many other fields. This means ensuring
that museums and libraries as well as city departments and facilities
addressing sports, parks and public spaces deliberate ensure inclusion of
migrants, migrant led activities and spaces and events that feature migrant and
refugee cultural expression, preservation of cultural identities, histories and manifestations. It also means specific
attention to ensuring accessible and appropriate sports, parks, open spaces and meeting places in proximity to where migrant and
refugee communities live.

Conclusions

This
review demonstrates that the three research questions stated in the
introduction were amply addressed and answered.

1. The six-year project and its methodology allowed the
research team to explore evolving place, policy and practice of cities
welcoming migrants and refugees. The combination and each component of
academic-scientific research, detailed surveying of city actors, direct
engagement with city officials and practitioners, along with specialized team
competences and practical experience in relevant city activity provided a
unique comprehensive study system permitting obtaining accurate and
authoritative findings, conclusions and recommendations that have been
subsequently validated by city experts, officials, academics, and
practitioners.

The applied methodology and process of the project permitted to
document, accurately assess and validly articulate the
well-established and evolving governance frameworks, policy and practice of
cities welcoming migrants and refugees. Notably, this included common
expression of a values and rights-based
approach shared across diverse cities in Europe
in city policy and day-to-day practice on the
ground in the community.

2. The research found a common
deliberate, values-based, and comprehensive “whole of city” approach by
city governments as well as multi-stakeholder engagement with partners,
including migrants and refugees, broadly across the “whole of society”. Within this
approach, nearly all cities sought
to provide:

·
specific attention across the board to the spectrum of arrival,
reception, settlement, self-sufficiency, integration and participation support
actions and services;

·
services for all without distinctions of any kind on any basis, whether
grounds of prohibited discrimination or legal status or recognition;

·
focused attention to reach groups considered at higher risk of
exclusion, discrimination, isolation, etc. (e.g. women,
children, youth, unaccompanied minors), while several cities also cited
specific attention to protection and assistance for LGBTQI refugees and
migrants; and

·
deliberate mobilization across the entire city administration in liaison
with regional and national government, and efforts to coordinate with other
municipalities.

3. The research found that the common approaches,
experiences, policy, and practice of cities represent a coherent values-based
framework across multiple cities. The study of city policy and practice across Europe shows that a
comprehensive and deliberate city governance approach to welcoming and
including refugees and migrants is common to and
prominent in all the cities directly reviewed. While this does not necessarily
establish that the same is generally true for cities throughout Europe, the
literature, city discourse and participation in welcoming cities networks and
initiatives by many cities across the whole of Europe certainly suggests that a
welcoming cities approach is at the least widespread and manifested in some way
in at least some cities in all countries of the wider Europe.

The approach in all 24 cities reviewed and mentioned in the literature regarding
many other cities was explicitly based on a set of values such as
inclusion, non-discrimination and equality of treatment, city services to all,
and participation in the city of all the residents. These values also reflect
ethical norms. Many city laws and policy documents make specific references to
international human rights laws, norms, and standards. At the same time,
proactive, public leadership by city mayors, leaders, officials, and executives
was found to be equally important. This kind of leadership is usually
demonstrated through public discourse, official statements on welcoming city
policies, practices, and initiatives, and in engaging city population and the
media.

Focused attention
to fostering mutual respect between ‘citizens’ and existing populations and
newly arriving refugees and migrants is also a nearly universal theme in city
responses to refugee and migrant inflows. Most cities in Europe studied or
referred in literature undertake deliberate activities to address the concerns
of existing populations, to counter racism and xenophobia, and to promote
accurate, well-founded, non-antagonistic stories and other media coverage.

All
cities reviewed emphasized extensive and widespread self-mobilization by
community, civil society and charity organizations in
solidarity with and in support of refugees and migrants. This was consistently affirmed in literature and
information from many other cities in Europe. Several cities have also
experienced outpourings of individual volunteers. City governments similarly
seek to encourage, support, and facilitate better coordination with and among
civil society, local and community responses, and individual volunteers. Some
city governments also deliberately engage support by private sector
businesses/employers and business associations.

Another
point worthy of note is that most cities have longstanding policy and practices
of welcoming immigrants and in several cases prior refugee influxes, with
several cities formally devoting attention to migrants and refugees over
decades.

Migration
and associated responses at the city level are similarly at the forefront of
international dialogue, networking, and cooperation among cities. This is manifested
in the expanding number of international metropolitan networks on migration and
the growing compilation of collective international city commitments and
statements on migration.

Contemporary experience shows that city authorities and constituents need
to engage in dialogue and negotiations with national authorities, taking a firm
stance on upholding fundamental city governance responsibilities, fully
implementing human rights and humanitarian obligations, and defending
subsidiary autonomy of local authority, responsibility, and competence. As
current news indicates, cities may be obliged to engage in legal defence of welcoming city law, policy
and practice in judicial proceedings, in addition to spirited public advocacy
and mobilizing public opinion.

This article features and assesses the applied research approach itself,
to encourage similar multi-disciplinary, multi-method, practitioner-inclusive
approaches for research and for policy development and assessment on topics
concerning governance, populations, society, social work, international relations and others.

Acknowledgements

The
author wishes to express gratitude to Patrick Taran
and Gabriela Neves de Lima, the co-researchers and
co-authors of the original cities book, and to Patrick as co-author of the
forthcoming Handbook on Cities Welcoming Migrants and Refugees: Rights, Inclusion,
Integration, Sustainability. The author also thanks the colleagues of
UNESCO’s Inclusion and Rights Section who collaborated in the ongoing project:
Konstantinos Tararas for his coordination and
research guidance since 2016; to Golda El-Khoury, Andrea
Konstantinidi, Anna Maria Majlöf,
Liana Petruccelli, Kayin Venner,
Michela Zaghi for their contributions to drafts of
the manuscript, and to Karina Gomes da Silva and Mila Siskovic
for their editorial work and support in finalising
the Handbook.

The author is especially grateful to Marianna V. Vardinoyannis,
UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador and President of the Marianna V. Vardinoyannis
Foundation, for underwriting the project and for her ongoing encouragement. The author is also thankful to
the peer reviewers of this article for valuable suggestions and to Nayeth
Solórzano for editorial support.

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