Back to Resource Hub

Managing Migration: City-Led Approaches for Being an Inclusive, Welcoming and Socially-Cohesive City

Last updated:

02/12/2024

Publication Date:

01/12/2024

Content Type:

Policy Briefs

Introduction 

Across the world, crises like climate change, regional and international conflicts and rising costs-of-living are causing unprecedented levels of migration. As a result, cities across Strong Cities Network’s global network and beyond are increasingly requesting support, guidance and opportunities to learn from one another on how to accommodate rapidly growing populations. In particular, cities ranging from border towns like Musina (South Africa) to urban centres like London (United Kingdom) have expressed concern to Strong Cities about rising levels of anti-migrant sentiment, resulting from the increased prevalence of on- and offline of narratives that accuse ‘new arrivals’ of causing strains in public service delivery, ‘stealing’ jobs and of being ‘threats’ to local culture and customs.

With migration levels only expected to increase as crises like climate change and conflict continue to impact livelihoods, it is vital that mayors and local governments are supported with the resources, practices and learnings to be able to safeguard social cohesion amidst demographic fluctuations, including to ensure both long-term residents and migrant/refugee communities feel safe, included and provided for in their cities.

Across Strong Cities’ global network, many mayors and local governments are already taking action to address rising levels of anti-migrant sentiment. Whether through public statements to condemn such sentiment and its violent manifestations, or through implementing policies and practices that reinforce their city’s multi-cultural ‘identity’ as one that revolves around inclusivity, Strong Cities has compiled a number of inspiring and replicable city-led practices for managing migration and its impacts on social cohesion.

This policy brief captures some of these practices, consolidating them into a series of considerations to support mayors, other local leaders and local governments as they seek to maintain the well-being of all residents amidst rapid urbanisation and polpulation growth.  

The views expressed and examples cited in this policy brief do not necessarily reflect those of Strong Cities members, partner organisations or sponsors of the Network’s mission.

Ten Considerations for Mayors and Local Governments

Mayoral Leadership

As the ‘face’ and leader of the city, mayors, governors and other local leaders should model inclusivity, demonstrating in words and action that they are committed to serving all residents, regardless of how long they have been in the city or the circumstances that led them to settle in their new city. 

1. Publicly Commit to and Advocate for the Inclusion of Refugees and Migrants

Mayors and other local leaders should publicly advocate for the rights, safety and inclusion of refugees and migrants. This is particularly important to mitigate the local impacts of the rapid spread and accessibility of anti-migrant content online and in contexts where national discourse explicitly or implicitly threatens to normalise anti-migrant sentiment. For example, at a Strong Cities Transatlantic Dialogue in Berlin (Germany) in June 2023, representatives of the District of Budavar (Hungary) shared how the Lord Mayor of Budapest (Hungary) reached out to mayors from districts across the city to inspire and rally them to mobilise resources and coordinate community organisations to provide support and essentials to Ukrainian refugees, By doing so, he took pushed back against rhetoric from national government officials who portrayed Ukrainian refugees as a threat to local resources, and encouraged others to do the same.

Similarly, in Poland, despite national government reservations about supporting Ukrainian refugees, several local leaders made a concerted effort to welcome them. The mayors of Peremyshl, Rzeszow, Lublin and Chelm were recognised for their efforts and presented with Ukrainian badges of honour by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who thanked them for serving as ‘rescue cities’.

In Mardan (Pakistan), Mayor Himayat Ullah Meyer publicly advocates for and uses his platform as mayor to raise awareness about the needs of the city’s 430,000+ population of internally displaced peoples (IDPs)and why and how the City supports them, while in Koboko (Uganda), Mayor Sanya Wilson demonstrated his commitment to integration by partnering with refugees to establish Koboko’s South Sudanese Refugee Association, a refugee-led initiative to support South Sudanese refugees with psychosocial, economic and social integration.

Mayors and other local leaders can also inspire positive action and demonstrate their commitment to inclusion and integration through:

• Investing in building meaningful relationships with ‘new arrivals’ by meeting and otherwise engaging with them, demonstrating to residents and other public officials that their city leader is committed to understanding and serving the needs of all residents. Mayors should also consider establishing dedicated ‘desks’ or ‘offices’ on migrant integration responsible for coordinating the city’s efforts. Baltimore (Maryland, USA) has a Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs that works with migrants to understand their needs and supports their integration through, among others, investing in public-private partnerships to provide economic opportunities. By branding these as i.e. ‘Mayor’s Office on Migration’, city leaders can ultimately demonstrate their personal commitment to inclusion.
• Taking part in relevant initiatives related to supporting the integration of migrants and refugees in cities. This includes, for example, the Mayor’s Migration Council, a mayor-led initiative that ‘accelerates ambitious global action on migration and displacement to create a world where urban migrants, displaced people, and receiving communities can thrive’. Mayors can submit a pledge related to migration management on behalf of their city and learn from other cities’ integration efforts.
• Mayors can further demonstrate their commitment to inclusivity by pushing their cities to meet the relevant criteria of initiatives that can formally designate them as ‘welcoming’ or ‘inclusive’ cities. In the USA, Welcoming America, a national nonprofit dedicated to building inclusive communities, has a Certified Welcoming initiative, which provides cities with Advocating – including with fellow mayors in their country at a national level for a greater mandate and the requisite resources to support migrant integration. For example, in November 2023, a five-mayor coalition led by Mike Johnson, Mayor of Denver (Colorado, USA) publicly requested a meeting with President Biden to discuss how local governments can be better supported by the federal government with migration management.
• Mayors elsewhere have also started requesting greater national support specifically on integration, citing concerns that a lack of national-local cooperation (NLC) on this topic is leaving cities overwhelmed, unable to process the sheer quantity of ‘new arrivals’ coming to their city, the consequent strain of which is leaving long-term residents concerned about their own access to city resources. For example, in South Africa, mayors and other senior city officials from cities such as Musina and Johannesburg are working with the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) to advocate for greater NLC on migration management.

2. Stand Against All Manifestations of Anti-Migrant and Anti-Refugee Hate

Mayors and other local leaders should also stand against all forms of hate – including that which targets migrants – whether or not it manifests in violence. Failing to do so may give the impression that such hate is acceptable within the city, causing others to feel emboldened to then also express or act on hateful sentiment, while it may also leave those targeted with hate feeling like their mayor – and by extension local government – does not care about their safety and well-being.

There are multiple ways mayors can take a stand against anti-migrant (and other forms of) hate. This includes through public pledges and statements. For example, Claudia López Hernández, former mayor of Bogotá (Colombia), which hosts more than 25% of Colombia’s Venezuelan refugee community, used her inauguration ceremony to call on residents to help build a culture that “once and for all banishes all racism, classism, machismo and xenophobia,” adding that she will “give everything of [her]self so that our Bogota will be in the next four years a more caring, inclusive and sustainable city”.

In February 2020, then-Mayor Jenny Durkan of Seattle (Washington, USA) took a stand against hate by creating and signing an Executive Order to combat hate and bias-motivated crimes, including that which targets migrants and refugees, putting policy into practice by also establishing an Office of the Employee Ombud tasked to conduct training for all city employees on preventing of hate in the workplace.  

Mayors and the local governments they lead can also stand against hate by using their platforms to debunk anti-migrant conspiracies. In Springfield (Ohio, USA), the recent subject of national anti-migrant discourse, the local government has an Immigration FAQ page that serves in part to address and debunk anti-migrant conspiracies, including those that posit refugees as inherently prone to crime and violence and that they kill geese in local parks for food. By including a dedicated page on the city website to address such narratives and create transparency more broadly about how Springfield supports immigrants, city officials and community-based partners have a resource to refer to when they are asked difficult questions about immigration.

Inclusive Local Governance

Local governments can also support integration and inclusivity by implementing policies and programmes that accommodate and reflect the diverse backgrounds of their residents.

3. Ensure City Resources and Public Service Delivery Accommodate the Diverse Backgrounds of Residents

Local governments should ensure public service delivery, city resources (such as brochures, flyers, content on the website) and city-sponsored events consider the diverse backgrounds (including cultural, national, religious and ethnicity) of both long-term residents and migrant and refugee communities. At its most basic, this includes making sure the city website and other city-generated information is accessible to all residents, regardless of when they arrived in the city. This means, for example, that this information is available in the main languages spoken across the city. Where resources may impede the ability for a local government to translate their website and/or key resources into languages, it could ask for volunteers from within the community or otherwise partner with community-based organisations or a local university.

Having multi-lingual resources is particularly important given that migrants and refugees often come to a new city from different legal and cultural contexts. Their experience with local government may diverge greatly from how local government operates and interacts with residents in the city in which they are now settling. Having city resources available in key languages spoken by migrant communities enables them to get clarity as to how they can interact with local government and about public service delivery more broadly. Ideally, resources specific to migration management and integration are housed in a single digital platform and are accessible offline (e.g., flyers, brochures, etc.). See Consideration 8 for examples of how local governments have invested in ‘one-stop shops’ to support migrant and refugees coming to their city.

Accessibility should go beyond just language, however. Local governments should recognise that ‘new arrivals’, like long-term residents, will have different levels of comfort with digital platforms and digitalisation. For example, Mayor Sanya Wilson of Koboko (Uganda), which shares a border with both South Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has told Strong Cities that to understand the demographic composition and needs of its significant Sudanese refugee population, the Municipality invests in both digital and in-person surveys, recognising that some refugees may be unfamiliar or uncomfortable with digital forms. Importantly, recognising that some refugees may arrive in the city apprehensive or fearful of local government, and may thus avoid interacting with city officials, the in-person surveying is done in partnership with community members, who meet with refugees on behalf the Municipality and support them with completing the form.

4. Invest in Cultural Sensitivity and Unconscious Bias Training for City Officials and Community-Based Partners

Inclusive local governance also requires that city officials are aware of and sensitive to the various cultural heritages and religious affiliations of their residents, including migrants and refugees. For example, as part of its commitment to being a ‘welcoming city’, the City of Columbus (Ohio, USA), which is home to the largest immigrant population in Ohio stat, organises cultural competency training for city officials.

Similarly, a core component of São Paolo (Brazil)’s Municipal Plan of Policies for Immigrants, which launched in 2021, is to build the capacity of city officials on various aspects of migration management. This includes:

• Training municipal officials and community-based service providers on how to provide support to migrants and refugees in a way that respects their cultural and religious customs, as well as traditional health practices. The plan specifically prioritises training to enhance gendered competencies, for example, around working with women and LGBTQI+ migrants and refugees.
• Strengthen hate incident reporting by training staff monitoring reporting channels on relevant (coded) language used to express anti-migrant sentiment or incite violence.

Importantly, such trainings also provide an opportunity to partner with migrant and refugees themselves – they can be used to support developing and delivering training, while ensuring that it accurately reflects their cultures and customs.

5. Institutionalise Support for New Arrivals in Local Government Policies and Structures

Whether through the establishment of a dedicated immigration plan or department, local governments should institutionalise migration management as a core part of their mandate. For example, Aurora (Colorado, USA), has a dedicated immigrant integration plan that was developed in consultation with migrants across the city. The city is the most diverse in the State of Colorado (one in five residents are foreign-born) and currently the only one with a dedicated, public strategy for migration management. Beyond demonstrating a clear city-led commitment to supporting migrants, the plan gives the local government milestones and actions against which it (and the public) can hold itself accountable, while also making it clear to residents how and with what resources the local government intends to support integration.

Sao Paolo’s above-mentioned Municipal Plan is another good example of what a dedicated immigrant integration plan can entail. The plan is categorised into several key axes, with examples including ‘social participation and immigrant protagonism in local governance,’ ‘valuing and fostering cultural diversity’, ‘protection of human rights and combat of xenophobia, racism, religious intolerance and other forms of discrimination’. Each axis contains a number of strategic goals, which in turn outline actions to achieve the goals, implementation partners, indicators for measuring implementation and targets to reach per indicator.

In both cases, the plan’s development was preceded and informed by a comprehensive citywide mapping and consultation exercise to determine the needs of the city’s diverse migrant and refugee communities, as well as to understand general sentiment about migration.

Psychosocial Support, Social and Economic Integration

Local governments should work with community-based partners to ensure migrant and refugee communities have access to services, platforms and initiatives that can support their social and economic integration and, where relevant, their psychosocial recovery.

6. Raise Awareness about the Experiences of Migrants and Refugees by Collating and Amplifying their Stories

Cities can offer a platform through which migrants and refugees can share their stories. This can support them with processing what they experienced while also humanising and individualising their stories. For example, eThekwini / Durban (South Africa), which is home to approximately 200,000 refugees and asylum seekers, regularly hosts special cultural days for local refugee communities that serve as a space where they can share their stories and perspectives, the purpose of which is not only to empower them, but also to humanise their experience and thus tackle anti-refugee conspiracies and sentiment. In 2018, city officials also took part in a project by the Democracy Development Programme, Africa Solidarity Network and Urban Futures Centre at Durban University of Technology to inform a city-led, gender-informed approach to migrant inclusion. This was done through dialogues involving migrants, civil society actors and the local government and collecting stories and insights from women migrants to capture and share their specific experiences with city officials.

City Practice: Strasbourg (France)

Through its Espace Egalité, the City of Strasbourg uses role-playing and simulations to broach the topic of hate and discrimination with children as young as six. The Espace serves as an education centre on discrimination, teaching visitors the 20+ characteristics that are considered protected in French law, the impacts of discrimination and the steps victims and witnesses of discrimination can take to seek justice. It also humanises the experiences of migrants and refugees by taking children through the typical journey of an asylum seeker, while also teaching children to think critically through games and puzzles that seek to raise awareness about (unconscious) biases.

7. Invest in Counselling, Language and Employability Classes

Local governments can further support the socioeconomic integration of migrants and refugees by offering language classes, other educational opportunities and more broadly supporting their employability, including by ‘translating’ relevant foreign job qualifications so they are applicable locally. For example, in Milan (Italy), the local government provides job training, language courses and cultural workshops to migrants and refugees. Further, concerned about the emotional and developmental impacts on migrant and refugee children of disruptions to their education as a result of their migration, the City has also invested in establishing a dedicated team of educators and social workers to support with creating and delivering individualised education plans while they wait to be processed by nationally-managed migrant/refugee reception centres. Berlin (Germany) has an initiative called Berlin Develops New Neighbourhoods (BENN), which provides migrants and refugees with job training, as well as tips and tricks for navigating Berlin, to help them become active members of society. In Trincomalee Town and Gravets (Sri Lanka), the City organises language classes to help strengthen interactions between its diverse communities.

Recognising the trauma that many migrants and refugees carry, local governments have also started investing in psychosocial support as a core component of integration. For example, the provision of counselling and trauma care features heavily in Sao Paolo’s Municipal Plan of Policies for Immigrants, while in Koboko, the Municipality established a trauma-healing centre for refugees, which employs refugees from DRC, South Sudan and local Ugandans as counsellors to accommodate diverse language and cultural needs and to ensure refugees can obtain mental health support from those that have similar lived experiences. The centre was established at the recommendation of refugees themselves, who are consulted – alongside long-term residents – during the Municipality’s annual policy and budget planning processes. The Municipality also provides classes on local and national laws and safeguards 30% of municipal jobs for refugees to ensure they are not only integrated into the social fabric of the city, but also core to the local government itself.

City Practice: Bratislava (Slovakia)

Bratislava developed a comprehensive approach that responds to both immediate and long-term integration needs of nearly 35,000 Ukrainian refugees (close to 7% of Bratislava’s total population). In the weeks following the first arrivals of Ukrainian refugees in the spring of 2022, the City mobilised and allocated resources from its various departments for crisis management and coordination.  

To ensure the delivery of a comprehensive approach, the City created and filled a position for coordinating integration of foreigners which by the end of 2022 turned into a full-fledged local government department. Additionally, the City adopted a multi-pronged ‘one-stop shop’ service-provision model, where a variety of integration-related resources are housed on a single online platform, thus ensuring easy access to resources and information. To this end, the City also established a physical Assistance Centre of Help after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. There, Ukrainian refugees can access multiple city services, such as housing, education, employment and psychosocial support, in one location. It also encourages residents to volunteer at the Centre to promote a sense of unity between long-term and new residents. Importantly, the City recognises the importance of long-term social integration and has thus also facilitated the provision of language courses and leisure activities for Ukrainian children.

It is not enough to give young people a platform; a city should also help them develop the capacities needed to utilise it effectively. Incorporating capacity building and training into a youth council is essential for empowering young members to participate effectively and confidently in civic decision-making. Training equips them with knowledge about government processes and policy and builds vital skills like leadership and communication, which enable them to advocate for themselves and their peers. Paired with meaningful experiences, the chance to develop their capacities fosters personal and professional development, which helps the youth council members take on responsibilities, make informed contributions and work collaboratively. By investing in members’ growth, a youth council ensures that members can excel in their duties on the council and grow into fully engaged citizens who can make lasting, impactful contributions to the city.

To ensure all such support offerings are accessible and easy to find, some cities have invested in ‘orientation’ platforms to serve as a ‘one-stop shop’ for migrants and refugees, ultimately providing a single, streamlined location where they can find out what opportunities and support the local government and community-based actors can provide. For example, Birmingham (United Kingdom) has created a Migrant Advice Portal, which is also available as a mobile application, where migrants and refugees can learn more about services available to them locally. The Portal can also be used by practitioners that seek to e.g., refer a migrant or refugee to a specific service. It has an interactive triage tool where a migrant/refugee or practitioner can provide information about the support they require and their location. The tool then provides recommendations for community-based and city-led services locally. Sousse (Tunisia) similarly has a dedicated orientation desk that serves as a streamlined resource for migrants as they settle in the city.

8. Invest in Initiatives to Build Trust Between Migrant/ Refugee Communities and the Local Government

As mentioned, some migrants and refugees may arrive in a new city apprehensive or fearful of government, whether local or national. To support their integration and to further reinforce the city’s ‘identity’ as one that serves all residents, local governments should invest in building trust with their migrant and refugee communities.

While all the practices shared in this brief can contribute to creating strong relationships between local governments and their migrant and refugee communities, there are more explicit steps cities can take to strengthen trust. For example, the City of Montpellier (France) has a mentorship programme for migrants called Republican Mentoring, in which newcomers are connected to an elected official and an NGO representative. The goal is that both migrants and long-term residents get to know each other personally to facilitate better integration and improved mutual understanding.

In Beirut (Lebanon), to address marginalisation, strengthen trust and interactions between city services and migrants/refugees, the local government proactively meets them where they are based, rather than expecting them to come seek out a city official, service or attend town hall meetings when they need something. This includes through mobile health clinics that provide essential healthcare and information about local government services to the most marginalised of Beirut’s significant refugee population, who may otherwise struggle to access such services.

Similarly, the Commune of Mittelhausbergen (France) supplements citywide town hall meetings with neighbourhood-specific ones that bring city officials to particular communities, helping to ensure that residents who may find it challenging to go to the town hall due to mobility or other reasons have the opportunity to share. Officials from Luton (United Kingdom) also regularly visit ‘new arrivals’ rather than relying on them to come to the town hall to share concerns, citing the importance of ensuring all residents feel they are part of local democratic processes and recognising that those who are new to the city may not immediately feel comfortable to seek out and share concerns with city officials.

9. Invest in Initiatives and Platforms to Bring Migrant/ Refugee and Long-Term Residents Together

Key to long-term migrant/refugee integration is their exposure to and interaction with long-term residents. Local governments can play a vital role in creating platforms and providing resources to do so, including with community-based partners. For example, Singra (Bangladesh) regularly hosts dialogues between long-time and migrant/refugee communities, where the latter gets to share their experiences and answer any questions the former may have (thus also serving to debunk anti-migrant conspiracies).

In New York City (New York, USA), its citywide Breaking Bread, Building Bonds (B4) initiative seeks to address hate and discrimination through empowering ‘everyday New Yorkers to host dinners and break down silos between communities’. Community members can apply to host a dinner through the B4 website. If successful, they are provided with funds, training and coaching to enable them to convene at minimum 10-12 diverse residents Yorkers and lead constructive conversations that build understanding of and appreciation for cultural, religious, ethnic and other differences. The programme involves multiple city- and community-based partners, including the City’s Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes, Office of Faith-Based and Community Partnerships and Community Affairs Unit, who use their collective networks to raise awareness about the programme and can leverage their insights from community members to identify where such dinners are needed most. From the community, this includes The People’s Supper, which works with city partners to coordinate trainings, support and coaching to hosts, and the UJA Federation of New York, which provides a reimbursement of $150 to each dinner host. Since learning about the initiative in Strong Cities’ activities, the cities of Vancouver (British Columbia, Canada) have implemented. 

While offering spaces for dialogue as such is important, there other ways local governments can bring migrant/refugee communities and long-term residents together. This includes through:

• Sports & Creative Arts: Sports and creative and performing arts can be an exciting modality through which to bring long-term residents and ‘new arrivals’ together, particularly to integrate young refugees and migrants into the sociocultural life of their new city. In London (United Kingdom), Mayor Sadiq Khan’s Shared Endeavour Fund, a grassroots funding initiative to tackle hate, racism and extremism across the city, has invested in multiple sports and arts projects that not only bring diverse communities together, but also use sports and arts as age-appropriate mechanisms through which to discuss difficult topics, such as hate.
• Cultural Exchanges: Cities can facilitate positive inter-communal interactions through cultural ‘galas’ and exchanges. These can be delivered not only with community-based partners but also other cities. For example, in Nebbi (Uganda), which hosts a significant refugee community from Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Mayor Geoffrey Ngiriker is working with counterparts across the border in Mahagi (DRC) to host cultural ‘galas’ that convene Nebbi’s local Ugandan population, its Congolese refugee community and Mahagi’s local Congolese population. This brings these various communities together to celebrate their cultural similarities and differences and ensure Nebbi’s Congolese refugee community is afforded the opportunity to ‘reconnect’ with home through interactions with Mahagi’s residents.

10. Consider how Urban Planning and Design can Support Integration

Cities should consult with community members to understand how the physical design and infrastructure of their city is impeding or supporting integration and social cohesion. Inclusive housing policies, accessible local transport that serves all neighbourhoods and the establishment or ‘regeneration’ of safe public spaces can remove the infrastructural barriers preventing migrant and long-term residents from interacting with one another. In Greater Amman Municipality (Jordan), for example, the local government has created a new public park to serve as a Children’s Climate Academy and provide a safe and welcoming space for refugee and Jordanian children to play, while also giving them a shared objective (e.g., climate action) around which to interact and partner.

In Helsinki (Finland) Mayor Jan Vartiainen committed to “fill[ing] [the city] with places where people can be at ease, like parks or public libraries, where people can gather around whatever activities they want to have”. The City is also working on applying a social cohesion lens to its housing policies, with a view not only to help people get housing who need it but also to reduce segregation (for example, between migrants and long-term residents).   

The importance of urban planning and design on social cohesion is particularly palpable in South Africa, where local governments are taking action to implement policies and programmes to overcome apartheid-legacy segregation. In this context, municipalities like Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, eThekwini/Durban and others are partnering with community-based organisations and consulting community members to understand how urban ‘regeneration’ can create more equitable access to city services and local infrastructure, reduce crime and otherwise bring communities together. In Nelson Mandela Bay, the Municipality ‘recognises that the involvement of the Helenvale community is key’ and developed a grassroots advisory committee to guide urban ‘regeneration’. In the years since the Municipality launched this initiative, it has focused on enhancing the safety of public spaces and community facilities such as pedestrian routes, partnering with schools to create in-school counselling infrastructure, improving local housing to ensure residents feel better provided for, and engaging unemployed or idle youth in local waste management efforts to create a cleaner and more liveable environment. While the programme is not specific to migrant management, it can be replicated with the explicit intent to reduce segregation between migrant and long-term residents and support the overall integration of migrants.

City Practice: Boise (Idaho, USA)

Boise’s rapid urban growth combined with a growing refugee and migrant population caused concern for local residents who were worried about the increased pressure on public service delivery and uneven development across the city. Local authorities therefore updated their approach to urban planning by adopting a new zoning code for the first time in 70 years. Its aim is to encourage fair and affordable housing, stimulate economic opportunity and promote diverse, inclusive communities with a variety of housing choices for present and future residents. With the new zoning code, the city administration changed its approach from investing in urban renewal projects, which gentrify neighbourhoods, to remove urban blight and developing a mechanism to ensure residents are not priced out of their neighbourhoods. Additionally, the City seeks to make each neighbourhood a ‘hub’ where residents determine the personality of their urban space with support from existing neighbourhood associations. Further, in response to residents’ concerns, the City has given priority to creating more green spaces, supporting small businesses and enabling subsidised child-care.

While properly evaluating the impact of the new zoning code will take time, the approach has helped enhance trust between residents and local government and improve public places. For instance, instead of acting on perceptions of what residents want, under the City’s new approach to urban planning, local officials started going to communities to better understand their urban development needs.

Conclusion

Around the globe, cities are on the frontlines and intersection of two complex challenges: unprecedented levels of migration that are being fuelled by consecutive global crises like climate change and regional and international conflicts and rising levels of hate, intolerance and social polarisation that are often propelled by disinformation and conspiracy narratives. Each challenge on its own, if not effectively mitigated, can undermine social cohesion in a city. When they converge, the threats become magnified, with ‘new arrivals’ becoming the frequent targets of the hateful and dehumanising rhetoric.

Mayors and local governments, however, are perhaps uniquely placed to mitigate the impacts of these converging challenges. They can provide essential services to support migrants, refugees and other ‘new arrivals’ with their integration into their new community and can implement inclusive policies and programmes that weave these newcomers into social fabric of the city.

As this policy brief highlights, there are numerous examples to demonstrate that a city can be both welcoming of newcomers and remain socially cohesive city. In fact, some mayors have maintained that refugees and migrant can lead to enhanced social cohesion and economic prosperity.  

However, many cities feel they are currently ill-equipped to handle the sheer scale of migration, as well as the rising levels of hate, including that linked to global crises, and are calling for support and practical guidance so that can accommodate ‘new arrivals’ while meeting the needs of all residents and ensuring no one feels left behind. This brief highlights some of the innovative practices and steps that mayors and local governments are taking and can take to foster inclusion and safeguard social cohesion through supporting migrant and refugee integration. While the specific examples cited in this article may not be appropriate for all contexts, they illustrate approaches that may inspire and support other cities.

Resources 

Strong Cities Resources

• Creating Safe, Cohesive and Resilient Cities through Urban Planning & Design: Ten Considerations for Mayors and Local Governments (November 2024)
• Countering Hate Speech in Times of Crisis: Considerations for Mayors and Local Governments (November 2024)
• City-Led Prevention of Hate, Extremism and Polarisation: Leveraging Local Youth Councils (November 2024)

Related Resources

Explore other similar resources

Policy Briefs

Countering Hate Speech in Times of Crisis: Considerations for Mayors and Local Governments

Read more

Policy Briefs

Creating Safe, Cohesive and Resilient Cities through Urban Planning & Design: Ten Considerations for Mayors and Local Governments

Read more

Policy Briefs

National-Local Cooperation: A Pillar of City-Led Prevention of Hate, Extremism and Polarisation – A Practice Update

Read more

Policy Briefs

City-Led Prevention of Hate, Extremism and Polarisation:  Leveraging Local Youth Councils  

Read more

Looking for something in our Resource Hub?

Or explore all resources

Nominated for Best Animated Short at Cannes

Watch now

Join US

Looking to become a Strong City?

Get in touch