Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.31297/hkju.18.1.6
Beyond Migrant Integration Policies: Rethinking Urban Governance of Migration-Related Diversity
Peter Scholten
; redoviti profesor Upravne znanosti na Sveučilištu Erasmus Rotterdam, Nizozemska
Abstract
The key question addressed in this article is how to reconceptualise migrant integration at the level of urban governance in the face of the changing nature of migration-related diversity. There is a growing number of cities in Europe that can be defined as superdiverse cities, or cities where people with a migration background make up such a substantial part of the city population and are so diverse that it becomes difficult to speak of distinct migrant minorities. This article discusses the implications the changing nature of migration-related diversity has for urban governance. First, it argues that rather than thinking of integration in the sense of coherent national models of integration, integration should be redefined as a local issue. If it is conceptualised as a local issue, how should proper relations be developed between various levels of government in order to prevent policy decoupling or policy contradictions? Secondly, not only does this
article argue that we should go through a local turn in our conceptualisation of the governance of migration-related diversity, it also pinpoints a specific direction in which local governance can develop: mainstreaming. Borrowing from the literatures of gender, disability, and environmental mainstreaming, it is argued that the structural character of migration-related diversity in contemporary cities
requires a structural approach embedded in generic policies. Thirdly, the article discusses what this local turn and mainstreaming mean for relations between the local level and other levels of governance. Speaking to the literature on multi-level governance, it discusses to what extent the local turn in the governance of migration-related diversity has led to effective coordination between governance levels, or rather to evidence of what may be described as decoupling or disjointed
governance.
Keywords
migration; integration; urban governance; mainstreaming; multi-level governance
Hrčak ID:
197174
URI
Publication date:
28.3.2018.
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