Chapter 5 Urban partnerships to manage mobility
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An important implication of increasing urban diversity is the need for new and innovative policy instruments and governance arrangements that recognize urban diversity as a positive aspect and that increase interaction and communication between the diversity of groups in urban society and improve participation to satisfy the needs of the communities. In this new policy approach, equal rights, access and opportunities for all urban inhabitants are assured while addressing some specific social and material needs of vulnerable groups, women, and children, the elderly and migrants with an irregular status (UCLG, 2013). Cities are thus at the centre of a shift in the debate on multiculturalism and migrant integration to a more inclusive approach to community building and public participation in municipal tasks that involves, but does not single out, immigrants. Local initiatives, such as Berlin’s “socially integrative urban development” projects, are offering new integrated models of urban citizenship for the whole community. Under these projects, monitoring of various social conditions such as employment and housing for all residents is implemented throughout the city as part of neighbourhood management.1 A holistic approach for community development is necessary, yet it is equally important to look beyond the conventional actors in migrant inclusion. Broadening the scope is especially relevant for cities of countries where some of the major local governance actors are either absent, less relevant or unwilling to contribute to migrant inclusion at the local level (OECD, 2011). The shift to urban “governance” and its broad-based partnership has led to some of the most innovative responses to decision-making in cities of less-developed countries, for example, participatory budgeting in Brazil (see text box 30, Participatory Budgeting and Migrant Inclusion (Kingsley, 2012)) and South Africa’s integrated development plans. Integrated Development Planning involves the entire municipality and its citizens in finding the best solutions to achieve good long-term development and is an attempt to overcome the racial division in areas of work, residence and services, a legacy of Apartheid.2 However, significant groups of people continue to be excluded from urban policymaking and planning (Stren, 2012). In cities everywhere, urban governance should be both inward- and outwardlooking in order to manage migration for optimal development outcomes. Affordable local solutions to housing, health, clean air, water and transportation are key markers not only for migrant inclusion and community vitality but also for global economic development. Local strategies of inclusion and cohesion can strengthen cities and help successfully negotiate connections to global markets, for example as production hubs, knowledge centres and tourist destinations or through remittances. These cities are likely to attract skilled migrants, innovators, investors, students, returnees and diaspora groups who are essential for the city to reap the dividends of investing in migrant inclusion. The lives of urban migrants are dominated by transnational practices including sustained communication, institutional linkages and resource exchanges with home communities and diasporas. Thus migrants can be part of the solution to manage rapid urban transition,3 as they help make the links function between smart migration policy and urban planning. Local migrant communities can 1 2 3
See also www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/wohnen/quartiersmanagement/index_en.shtml See www.etu.org.za/toolbox/docs/localgov/webidp.html See the IOM website on the 7th World Urban Forum in Colombia in 2014: www.iom.int/news/iom-activelyparticipates-7th-world-urban-forum-held-medellin-colombia