In the afternoon, between two sessions of the Conference Call to Europe IV: “Building Solidarity of Asylum Policy”, FEPS will organise the launch of the book "How European Cities Craft Immigrant Integration. Something to learn”, published by FEPS and Italiani Europei. The book will represented by Irene Ponzo, one of the editors of the publication and will be distributed to the participants on the day of the event.
Summary
How European Cities Craft Immigrant Integration. Something to learn
Edited by Giovanna Zincone and Irene Ponzo
This book is on integration policies developed in several Europe cities (Avilés, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bradford, Cluj-Napoca, Florence, Lisbon, Nuremberg, Rotterdam, Sheffield, Turin) and it deals with different policy sectors (i.e. education, housing and urban policies, young immigrants, Roma, asylum seekers). The main focus of the chapters and of the empirical research studies is not so much on the content of the policies, but on the decision-making processes, on the policy “crafting”.
Consistently, the Introduction by Irene Ponzo highlights the risks in policy transfer such as the risk of limiting the transfer to the reproduction of the “best practices”, focusing on the outputs and neglecting the processes through which they were created: like in the business world, in public policies what counts in replicating a product is know-how, i.e. how to make something, and not just what to make. Conclusions by Giovanna Zincone point to some recurring strategic elements of success or failure regardless of policy sectors, as they emerge from the empirical chapters.
Among the others, the continuity of resources often appears to be crucial, even more than their amount, for success. On the contrary, a lacking knowledge of recipients is a recurring element for failure: attributing demands and behaviours to those recipients based on unfounded prejudices, however well-meaning they may be, can easily generate undesired effects and backlashes. To sum up, the book tries to offer some knowledge-tools for ‘crafting’ local policies by analysing advantages and disadvantages of various strategies developed in European cities to deal with integration issues.
Contents
Foreword by Ernst Stetter and Andrea Péruzy
Introduction. “Travel-Size Policies”: Taking Home No More Than We Need by Irene Ponzo
Migration and culture
Structural Conflict and Ethnicization in Nuremberg Neighbourhoods by Friedrick Heckmann and Claudia Köhler
Policy Logic and the Spatial Segregation of Roma in Europe. The Cases of Florence and Cluj-Napoca by Giovanni Picker
Migration and generations
Reception of Immigrant Children in Secondary Schools. Policies and Practices in Barcelona and Rotterdam by María Bruquetas-Callejo
Second Generations beyond the school: Policies in Turin and Paris by Roberta Ricucci
Migration, housing and urban spaces
Re-Housing Programmes to Foster Integration in Amsterdam, Avilés and in Lisbon Metropolitan Area by Lucinda Fonseca and Jorge Malheiros
Local Political Strategies for Housing Refugees in Bradford and Sheffield by Judith Allen and Orna Rosenfeld
Conclusion. What Can We Take Away With Us From This Book? by Giovanna Zincone
