“We have to look at immigration not as a threat but – when well-managed, and that is our new task – as an enrichment and as an inescapable phenomenon of today’s world,” Franco Frattini, EU justice commissioner

PARTICIPATING CITIES

OPENCities is a British Council project led by Madrid and Belfast City Councils. We will put forward a bid under URBACT II and are currently asking cities to join the project.

Project Advisors

To guarantee the project has the necessary support and expertise, we have the following project advisors:

Greg Clark, project adviser on governance & city transformation.
Cosmopolis, experts on immigration and the relationship between new populations and the cities they choose to settle in
Len Grant, expert photographer specialising in urban areas and people

OPENCITIES

This project will explore how immigration can significantly contribute to city success. By tracing the links between new migrant population (first and second generation) and other drivers of success within cities, we will put forward a portfolio of best practice case studies and index of OpenCities and a set of guidelines for city policies. These will allow cities to build upon the potential of these new populations and to facilitate integration.

AN INCLUSIVE PROJECT

The project will undertake research, peer reviews and set up working groups & international conferences which will be led by participating city councils and aimed at city leaders. This activity will be complemented and tested by a series of varied cultural and creative events aimed at widening the debate to and receiving feedback from all citizens.

For city leaders

Our objective is to agree a definition of OpenCities and an index of Openness for cities that allow cities to maximise the potential of migrants as drivers of success for their cities. At the end of the project, participating cities will have produced openness profiles and strategies for policy and implementation changes

For all citizens in participating cities

Cities have a long tradition and vast experience in adapting to new in-coming populations. Local debates, exhibitions, educational programmes, youth participation and art activities will focus on this tradition. The work of city officers and researchers will be open to debate and provide host citizens and migrant communities alike a more comprehensive view of migration to minimise negative perceptions and prejudices. These activities will also feedback the work performed by cities to write and review their profiles.

For national and EU governments

“We have to look at immigration not as a threat but – when well-managed, and that is our new task – as an enrichment and as an inescapable phenomenon of today’s world,” Franco Frattini, EU justice commissioner. The EU and nation states will recognise the invaluable role that cities can play for the successful implementation of the Lisbon Agenda. We hope this project will lead to a wider international index of city openness.

Open Cities is a British Council project led by Madrid and Belfast City Councils together with up to other 10 EU cities. The British Council is the United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. Our purpose is to build mutually beneficial relationships between people in the UK and other countries and to increase appreciation of the UK’s creative ideas and achievements. We are registered in England as a charity.