This month we would like to draw your attention to the new OECD paper that has come out "Recession, Recovery and Reinvestment: the role of local economic leadership in a global crisis" by Greg Clark, Chair of the OECD LEED Forum on Development Agencies and Investment Strategies and OPENCities expert.

Media.Fair:Migration & Diversity in Vienna and the OPENCities faces exhibition launch in Cardiff are two exciting forthcoming project events.

OPENCities Poznan news
Workshop on Multicultural/ OPENCity projects in Poznan
Thursday 28 May
and collaboration with Gazeta Wyborcza

Poznan recently showed active involvement in OPENCities. Firstly a successful meeting held on 28 May 2009 between Poznan residents of both Polish and foreign origin. The OPENCities initiative was coordinated by Poznan City Council, supported by the British Council and a local NGO Forum Kultur. The aim of the meeting was to gather foreigners living in Poznan and to find out what the city needs in order to be considered an open city, which is to say a city attractive to foreigners as a place of residence. Two other workshops are planned for September and December after areas for discussion are agreed by the Local Support Group. Under consideration will be the availability of public services, safety and educational facilities with the idea of inviting members from the public sector such as the police and local education authorities.

Secondly OPENCities Poznan has linked with the daily Gazeta Wyborcza. An article about the Poznan migrants’ experiences shall feature regularly. Poznan residents have been asked to write in to the daily and contribute with stories about themselves or others they may know and their experiences of foreigners living in Poznan. They can write about the obstacles they have come across, what they like and what would make their experience and life in Poznan better and easier. An English version of one of these articles can be seen in Poznan City News Section.

"Recession, Recovery and Reinvestment: the role of local economic leadership in a global crisis"
By Greg Clark, Chair of the OECD LEED Forum on Development Agencies and Investment Strategies

This new OECD paper addresses local economic development actions that have been taken to respond to the current economic crisis. Local economic development leaders met regularly over the past six months to discuss how their economies are being impacted by the crisis and what responses they have begun to take at a local level to complement what is being done at national and wider levels.

The paper proceeds through an assessment of the different types of actions taken and is completed by a serried of short “snapshots” of the key impacts and responses in forty localities of different roles, size, location and complexity. The cases were selected to provide variety and to illustrate a range of different impacts and responses. The full report can be found within the OPENCities website or accessed directly here.

"Shall We Stay or Shall We Go? Re-migration trends among Britain’s immigrants", Institute for Public Policy Research - ippr

A new report by ippr shows that more and more immigrants to the UK are staying for a short time and then leaving. The outflow in the last couple of years is close to 400,000. Major findings from the report, "Shall we stay or Shall we Go: Re-migration trends among Britain’s immigrants" include:

• More than 3 million immigrants to the UK in the last thirty years have subsequently left  - around half the total
• The size of the exodus is increasing, with more than 190,000 leaving in 2007  - a number that is likely to be exceeded in 2008
• Short stay migration is a growing phenomenon - immigrants spending less than four years in the UK doubled between 1996 and 2007
• 85% of migrants currently in the UK who took part in an on-line survey said they were only planning to stay short term.

You can listen to an interesting extract from an interview with Tim Finch, head of migration at ippr on The Guardian Website.

The Economic Integration of Immigrants in Metropolitan Vancouver Institute for Research on Public Policy

The purpose of this report is to provide basic knowledge about economic outcomes of immigrants to metropolitan Vancouver based on characteristics such as language ability, educational attainment, year of arrival, gender, age, country of origin and admission class. The report is meant to provide a basic, descriptive analysis of the economic outcomes of immigration to the Vancouver area. Read the complete report.

Medien.Messe. Migration & Diversität (Media.Fair:Migration & Diversity)
Vienna
10-11 September 2009

Numerous media institutions, their diversity mirroring society, will use the two days to present their contributions and products aiming at a truthful portrayal of our society. The British Council OPENCities Panel will focus on Immigrants in the modern city - both challenge and opportunity. What possibilities do cities have to shape the migration process and how are spatial and social integration connected?

More details available at the OPENCities Website Vienna City News section.

OPENCities would like to hear from you if you would like to share your research, relevant project activity and contribution on city openness issues. There are possibilities for involvement via the Newsletter or directly via the OPENCities website

Call for bloggers - please get in touch with us if you would like to blog for OPENCities.
Please contact aneta.quraishy@britishcouncil.es

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