Migration is a fundamental force shaping many of our societies today. Indeed, it is now more important in determining the demographics of cities than fertility and mortality.
We are seeing the emergence of super-diverse cities arising from massive migration flows. In cities like Dubai, migrants account for over half the population. The forces of migration are significantly altering the faces of cities along cultural, social, economic and class lines, with people of diverse ethnicities, creeds and statuses living alongside each other in an unprecedented manner. Unlike in the past, minorities and immigrants are vocal and demand to be recognised and to take part in the collective lives of cities.
As a result, cities around the globe are grappling with the governance of urban cultural diversity.
Unesco upholds that culture is one of the pillars of sustainable development, in addition to economic, social and environmental well-being. Culture is important in terms of our individual and collective identities. It extends well beyond historic buildings or museums to encompass practices, expressions, bodies of knowledge and skills that people are constantly recreating. In the context of migration, the cultural practices that people bring from home -- food, language, beliefs and traditions -- sometimes go through a retrenchment (becoming ever more essentialist), but more often evolve upon contact with new circumstances and external influences.
Many of migration's negative stereotypes have a cultural dimension, for instance, that migration disrupts societal cohesion. Unfortunately, in many countries we still see migration linked to discrimination, exclusion and xenophobia. But migration can also have positive effects, both at the places of origin as well as destinations, with flows of people driving us towards plural societies and the dynamic reinvention of cultural identities and social networks.
Cities record the collective memory of people, with historical, societal and cultural deposits old and new accumulating over time. In super-diverse cities, new migrants tend to live where previous migrants still live, leading to a complex process of social and cultural layering.
Migrants in cities tend to assimilate economically out of necessity, especially among voluntary migrants whose main motivation is to seek economic opportunities. Finding work, however, does not necessarily mean economic empowerment, as migrants all too often labour in exploitative conditions.
Social assimilation tends to be even trickier. In many cases, we find migrants creating social and cultural sub-communities that are separate from host communities, with replacement social networks often bearing the markers of their hometowns. These pockets and ghettos of cultural minorities face social exclusion and tension with host communities. Such tensions are exacerbated in the context of non-welfare states: where there is little or no support for employment, housing or social protection, migrants and local residents have to compete for scarce resources and opportunities. Under these circumstances, migration influences the physical and social pattern of the city, with clear spatial divisions and segregation along class and cultural lines.
How should urban leaders and policy-makers overcome such divisions?
In the past, there have been three prevalent policy models in assimilating migrants. The first is the approach of civic cultural integration used in France and the United States. The second is the German approach in the 1960s, where guest workers were invited to work, but not given rights for extended residence or citizenship. The third is the model of multiculturalism, such as in Canada. However, multiculturalism has too often ended up being a mechanism to pigeonhole people along ethnic and cultural lines, leading to the perverse effect of perpetuating divisions rather than breaking them down.
To ensure that cities are inclusive, Unesco promotes intercultural rather than multicultural approaches. This calls for increased interaction and relationships among different cultural groups, with the ultimate goal of encouraging diverse communities to "live together in productive harmony rather than leading parallel lives". With this vision in mind, cities should consider four policy takeaways for the governance of urban cultural diversity. First, cultural diversity, including of migrants, should be seen as an asset. Second, urban policies must take to heart the principles of cultural equity. Third, urban diversity requires collaborative decision-making processes. And finally, intercultural competences should be developed among city-dwellers and decision-makers alike. Only in this way can migration and cultural diversity be leveraged for a truly sustainable urban future.
