Cities of Migration showcases good ideas in immigrant integration and promotes innovative practices that create inclusion and urban prosperity.

Browse the Good Idea Index

Conversations

Featured StoryPico Iyer: The Foreign Spell

“To be a foreigner is to be perpetually detached, but it is also to be continually surprised.”More.

Featured StoryCorrecting a Diversity Gap

The award-winning DiverseCity onBoard program will launch nationally, replicating the Toronto model in cities across Canada.More.

Featured StoryInterview with Ramon Sanahuja, Barcelona

amon Sanahuja, Director of Immigration and Interculturality, Barcelona City Council speaks with Cities of Migration about the BCN New Families Programme, the city-sponsored immigrant family reunification service.More.

Learning Exchange

Webinar Big Ideas Webinar: Migration and the Resilient City: Bristol

Bristol boasts the strongest economy of any UK city outside London, and is one of the country’s fastest growing city. Like many dynamic, booming cities its growth includes rapid demographic change, increasing diversity and a growing gap in prosperity. How do resilient cities address the challenges of deepening social and economic inequality? Why is diversity, migration and inclusion essential to a conversation about city resilience and livability? Read More.

Conference Videos Mayors Panel and the Big Debate

Watch videos from the Mayors Panel on Re-imagining the City and the Big Debate: Beautiful Game? Or Racist Quagmire? (2014 Cities of Migration Conference, Berlin).Read More.

New Webinar Video Parks to Farms: Urban Migration and Community Development in Tower Hamlets and Thorncliffe Park

Neighbourhoods like Tower Hamlets (London) and Thorncliffe Park (Toronto) have become destination and “arrival cities” for successive waves of urban migrants. Join us online to learn how community-led initiatives organized by local residents are bringing down social barriers, empowering residents and building a vibrant sense of community.Read More.
Municipal Leadership

Mayors on Migration

  • Jussi Pajunen

    “Immigrants are a positive force in Finnish society.”

    Jussi Pajunen Mayor of Helsinki

  • Raquel Castaneda

    “Immigrants tend to open more small businesses, which leads to more jobs.”

    Raquel Castañeda-López Council member from Detroit

  • Olaf Scholz

    “Naturalization is much more than an administrative act. It is the declared belief in our state and our society.”

    Olaf Scholz First Mayor, Hamburg

  • “Promoting and embracing diversity is essential in today’s context, as it is a reality faced by more and more cities the world over.”

    Dr. Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman Mayor, Southeast District, Singapore

  • Rahm_200x200

    “I want our city to be the first destination for immigrants because they are going to create the jobs, create the new companies, the businesses of the future. We have to be the most welcoming cities we can be.”

    Rahm Emanuel Mayor, Chicago, US

  • “Bilbao is an open city. At the City Council we encourage values of coexistence, dialogue and management of cultural diversity. In Bilbao, all persons, whether from Bilbao or outside, have the same opportunities and access to services offered by the city.”

    Iñaki Azkuna Mayor, Bilbao, Spain

  • Boise was built by immigrants. Our city has long been a place where people came from around the world to find economic opportunity and build a better life.

    David H. Bieter Mayor, Boise, US

Mayors on Migration

 

View our Good Ideas around the World