Resources, City Spotlights Fuenlabrada

City Spotlight: Fuenlabrada, Spain

Fuenlabrada is a mid-sized, working-class city in the metropolitan area of Madrid. Since 1970, its population has grown from around 7,000 to almost 200,000, driven by both rural-to-urban and cross-border migration. Fuenlabrada has been recognised by the Spanish government as one of the safest cities in the country. The City attributes this success to its social policies and its effective use of diversity as a strength.

Categories:

What is the local government concerned about?

One of the City’s main challenges is navigating rapid population growth and the strain this puts on public service delivery. The City also grapples with high unemployment rates, which – like in other parts of the continent and in Spain more broadly, is among the highest unemployment rates in western Europe. This is driving anti-migrant sentiment, with migrants and refugees often scapegoated for ‘flooding’ the job market and ‘stealing’ opportunities from long-term residents.

How is the local government responding?

Core to Fuenlabrada’s approach to preventing and responding to hate and social polarisation is the understanding that all aspects of local governance and public service provision can support (or impede) social cohesion, inclusion and community wellbeing. To ensure its various municipal mandates – from urban planning to local policing, employment, health and social welfare – reflect and meet the needs of its diverse population, the local government therefore operates with a strong focus on co-governance, where residents are relied upon as partners in public service delivery, policymaking and programmatic implementation. This is achieved through several initiatives:

Coexistence Board (Mesa de la Convivencia)

The City Council established a citizen participation body called Mesa de la Convivencia (Coexistence Board), which brings together individual volunteers, trade unions, cultural groups and local NGOs to co-design initiatives that promote social cohesion and integration. The body:

Fosters constructive conversations amongst different cultural, ethnic and social groups about life in the city and how this can be improved;
Promotes integration by organising activities (e.g., cultural expositions) that help immigrants and other minority groups integrate into the broader community;
Implements co-designed anti-discrimination measures that reflect the experiences and needs of those historically discriminated against; and
Engages community members in local government decision-making processes more broadly.

Solidarity Network (Red Solidaria de Fuenlabrada)

Another component of the City’s approach to citizens’ participation is its Solidarity Network, which comprises community-based volunteers and public officials and was established in collaboration with the Mesa de La Convivencia and Local Coordinator of Neighbourhood Associations. While the Network was originally launched to collect donations and coordinate food distribution and other essential services to those most impacted by COVID-19, it continues to operate and has since expanded its mandate to focus on poverty alleviation more broadly, as well as socioeconomic integration. For example, it now regularly partners with local charities to improve housing, education and employment opportunities for marginalised communities.

Citizen Auditors (Auditores Ciudadanos)

Further, through its Citizen Auditors and Municipal Services against Structural Discrimination (CAMUS) project, Fuenlabrada is partnering with residents to address structural discrimination within the local government and in public service provision. The project trains and empowers citizens to monitor and report on discriminatory practices by the City itself, particularly in employment and policing practices, aiming to ensure the local government ‘practices what it preaches’ when it comes to inclusivity and equity. The project also sees the delivery of training sessions and awareness campaigns for other residents (beyond the citizen auditors) to build communitywide confidence and capacity to identify and report incidents of discrimination.

The City is also committed to expedient and efficient socioeconomic integration of migrants, whether these are domestic or cross-border. This is done through several initiatives such as:

Socioeconomic Integration

The City has a dedicated Social Welfare Council responsible for overseeing the arrival, immediate reception of and (long-term) support for migrants. Among others, the Council provides intercultural mediation counselling for newcomers and has established a physical centre to serve as a ‘one-stop shop’ for migrants that seek legal and occupational advice.

Further, between 2018 and 2022, the City partnered with the Fuenlabrada Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation on the European Union-funded Migrants Labour Integration Model based on Acculturation (MILMA)initiative. This programme helps migrants enhance or ‘translate’ their professional qualifications so they are applicable in the Spanish context and can thus help them find employment in the local job market. This has improved the integration of participating migrants into Fuenlabrada’s socioeconomic fabric and reduced unemployment amongst migrant communities.

Finally, Fuenlabrada is also one of several European cities involved in a European Union-funded initiative called the MUST-a-Lab Project, in which participating cities commit to hosting regular policy labs with migrants, integration-focused and other relevant community-based stakeholders and public officials to jointly create and implement integration policies and projects. In Fuenlabrada, the project focuses in particular on migrant youth. Recommendations from the policy labs, many of which have been implemented, have included greater inclusion of youth in the Mesa De La Convivencia and the delivery of a survey to Fuenlabrada’s migrant youth population to gather more perspectives on how they ‘experience’ the city and how city-led integration efforts can be improved. The project has also resulted in the establishment of MUST FuenLab, an organisation comprised of project participants and which will continue to foster multi-stakeholder dialogue on integration to sustain and build on MUST-a-Lab’s impact.

Addressing Anti-Migrant Sentiment

Fuenlabrada is also one of multiple Spanish cities that runs an anti-rumour initiative, which was originally piloted in Barcelona and involves a commitment from implementing cities to train citizens, such as local community and business leaders, to combat stereotypes and prejudices against migrants and other foreigners. It is a communication and awareness-raising initiative aimed at driving long-term social change through promoting positive social discourse about coexistence and to counteract the negative stereotypes and false rumours that circulate about immigration and cultural diversity, which can lead to discriminatory and racist attitudes.

What’s next?

Fuenlabrada will continue to invest in its various co-governance and migrant integration efforts, working with residents to ensure a positive feedback loop that enables such initiatives to respond to the actual needs of local communities. The City was also recently selected to implement another EU-funded project. Called ‘Consolidate’, the project focuses on labour integration and will build on the impact of existing initiatives, such as MILMA.

Further, inspired by the peer-learning opportunities Fuenlabrada has benefitted from through Strong Cities – including at in-person exchanges in Cape Town (South Africa), Manchester (United Kingdom) and Strasbourg (France), as well as virtual follow-ups facilitated by Strong Cities staff – the City has offered to host a Strong Cities workshop as part of the Network’s Transatlantic Dialogue Initiative.

To learn more

Explore or Search for City Spotlights

Search for spotlights by city names or themes

Spain

Budavár

Is your city a Strong City?

Strong Cities membership is open to local authorities at the city, municipal or other subnational level. Membership is free of charge.

Join the Network

City Spotlight: Fuenlabrada, Spain

What is the local government concerned about?

How is the local government responding?

What’s next?

Explore or Search for City Spotlights

Fuenlabrada

Los Angeles

Prizren

Albuquerque (NM)

Columbus (OH)

Nineveh

Weißenfels

Lviv

Nitra

Strumica

Addu City

Budavár

Is your city a Strong City?