The Workshops

WORKSHOP 1

Migrant entrepreneurs: integration success stories . (file MP3 - 95,3 MB)
In accordance with the conference objectives, this workshop is intended to draw attention and evaluate in greater depth a positive aspect related to the arrival of immigrants in European cities: the creation of commercial enterprises and of non-profit organizations led and/or promoted by migrants. The workshop will present success stories and explore the cultural, social and economic dynamics they are based on, resulting in the production of wealth and added value for the benefit of the community. The aim is on one hand, to understand how public services and policies encourage individual or community initiatives, and on the other hand, to maximize the integration opportunities such businesses may present for migrants who are not yet sufficiently intcluded in the labour market. Finally, this workshop will also investigate the so called co-development process: the engagement of migrant communities in the international cooperation programs directed towards countries of origin.

WORKSHOP 2

Working together to support migrant children: cooperation between family groups, networks and schools. (file MP3 - 78 MB)
The workshop is intended to focus on the role and the cooperation potential between family and school for the integration of migrant children in the European school and university systems. The study will specifically address the policies intended to control and prevent problems such as school abandon and dispersion, bullying and child-gangs and those intended, conversely, for the rehabilitation of immigrant youth with a criminal history. This aspect is also important in relation to the need to develop a dialogue between the school and migrant families, in order to address the various challenges that migrant children and youth are facing. The aim is to strengthen educational and extra-curricula activities and be in a position to identify issues and prevent problems before they arise.

CASE STUDY

Multicultural food : dietary identities and new challenges for public services. (file MP3 - 131 MB)
The increasingly multicultural population in European cities implies a new diversity of nutritional needs and dietary styles which have to be faced by public services. There is an increasing need to re-think and determine new parameters for an array of services based upon this new social context, including public catering in schools, hospitals and homes for the elderly respecting numerous different traditions and limitations with a consequent substantial increase in costs. Furthermore, it poses severe challenges to health services that have to be accessible and sensitive to the cultural backgrounds of immigrants. The case study will address these issues through a number of local examples relating to foreign workers in the agricultural, commercial and craft trade enterprises.

WORKSHOP 3

A new home: the role of housing in integration. (file MP3 - 109 MB)
Housing affects different parts of the population, often far beyond the groups commonly affected by social exclusion and poverty. The precarious situation connected to housing (and of work) often determines a further discriminating factor and deeply affects the quality of life. In this context, policy interventions in the field of housing need to be part of a broader planning that balances housing and social needs and activities in the urban setting. That is, action that goes beyond the building of housing spaces, to the general quality of city life. The housing problem of migrants is therefore a part of the complex urban issues affecting the quality of life of all citizens.

WORKSHOP 4

Civic citizenship: social and civic participation in the community.
(file MP3 - 93,9 MB)
True and sustainable social integration requires advanced civic participation that is the sharing of common rights and obligations, equal participation and citizenship. From this standpoint, attention will be drawn to social and civic participation of certain minority groups in the city. The purpose is to compare experiences and attempts for integration of minority groups in the city and to explore which role cities can play in promoting anti-discriminatory and anti-racist behaviour.