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Urban Transformation for Interethnic Cities

Marina Lalovic

ROME, Jun 6 2011 (IPS) - Urban centres, marked by globalisation, migration and the intermingling of culturally and ethnically diverse communities were among the major topics of the International Conference on the Inter-ethnic City held in Rome last week on the eve of the celebrations of Italy’s national day.

The necessity of preserving the roots and the cultures of immigrants – especially in big European cities – is crucial according to Emma Bonino, vice president of the Italian Senate. “The most common error in dealing with the interethnic issue of the contemporary big cities represents the illusion of assimilation,” Bonino said. “Expecting that those who arrive to our cities must become like us is an error.”

The European Union is expected to receive 30 million immigrants over the short term.

Sharing practical solutions to manage and promote integration and tolerance in multicultural and multiethnic societies, plus the rising incidence of ethnic stereotyping in major European cities were the driving forces behind the conference – organised for the first time in Europe.

“The problem today is not necessarily immediate assimilation, but a recognition of different cultures,” said Axumite Gebre-Egziabher, director of the global division of the U.N. Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT). “Not a clash of civilizations but bringing them together, creating awareness and complementing each other is needed as soon as possible,” Egziabher told IPS.

Jorge Sampaio, U.N. high representative for the Alliance of Civilizations said that today we mustn’t just think about multicultural, but intercultural cities where new intercultural citizenship is necessary.

“Rome in particular has been dealing with the interethnic issue since ancient times, mainly respecting two elements: the careful definition of citizenship, as well as the rights of its citizens,” said Mayor of Rome Gianni Alemanno.

The conference, organised by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the support of the municipality of Rome, was a follow up to discussions held in New York in 2009 as well as in Rio de Janeiro in 2010 when emphasis was placed on the merits of finding ways and means to address the complex issues of inter-ethnic cities.

“European cities are international, but at the same time these urban centres are mostly mono-ethnic. However, today everything can be changed starting from urban design, and organisation of services – social and cultural,” Vincenzo Scotti, under secretary of state of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told IPS.

Irena Guidikova, coordinator of the Intercultural Cities Project of the Council of Europe, presented the new project developed by the Council of Europe which specifically helps cities to integrate migrants – while stressing the importance of building an intercultural community.

The Intercultural Cities Project creates a new space, new culture and pluralistic identity in the society were it is employed, Guidikova said. She explained that the programme stresses the following attributes: diversity as a resource; diversity as a heart of urban policies; and the city as a space for integration.

In order to create a public inter-cultural space in European cities, it is necessary to de-segregate them, not just physically open them up to migration, but to provide new ideas too, Guidikova said, adding that people in the cities should not just be treated as a people with needs. We must focus on the resources people bring to cities, she said.

“This is a new way of dealing with integration and we have been experimenting with it in many European cities such as Copenhagen, Berlin, Lisbon, San Sebastian, London, Amsterdam, and Dublin,” Guidikova told IPS. The Intercultural Cities Project also includes some national networks.

Various other concrete urban proposals, mainly aimed at responding to citizens’ needs, were suggested by the participants – a new urban environment designed to promote respect and civil coexistence among different peoples was just one of them.

High level representatives of international and regional organisations agreed that continuous involvement of civil society organisations and academics in the process of devising and implementing measures to respond to the problems of today’s inter-ethnic cities represents a first step in fighting back against intolerance.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon pointed out that: “Immigrants do not always fit into the stereotype of an unskilled group of people with low levels of education doing the so-called ‘3D’ jobs” – tasks that are considered “dirty, dangerous and difficult”. He also invited mayors to regard inter-ethnic issues in cities with much greater urgency.

“We want to organise the next event dedicated to the inter-ethnic issue in September at the U.N., inviting countries that share our ideas in order to present, together, a resolution to U.N. This resolution would help us find concrete solutions and would permit us to experiment with better ways of integration and redesigning the cities,” Scotti said.

Ban underlined the importance of the Rome conference in the lead-up to the next U.N. High-level Dialogue on Migration, to be held in 2013.