Migrant and Refugee Integration in Global Cities: The Role of Cities and Businesses

The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of United Nations University. Migrant and Refugee Integration in Global Cities: The Role of Cities and Businesses M is a local reality. According to Singer (2012) “while we often think of immigrants as moving from one country to another, really they arrive from a particular place and settle in a particular community, usually a metropolitan area”, forming multi-ethnic communities (p9). It is primarily in cities that migrants and non-migrants interact, be it through working, studying, living, playing or raising their families. This brief provides a synopsis of a research project designed as result of a partnership between The Hague Process on Refugees and Migration (THP) and UNU-MERIT and its School of Governance. The main aim of the project was to ascertain how businesses and governments in global cities are contributing to the integration of migrant and refugee populations, either through outreach, specialized programmes, the provision of services, or targeted funding of non-governmental organizations (NGOs); and to what extent these contributions can be deepened or expanded. The research involved the study of eight cities worldwide representing a diversity of immigration experiences: Auckland (New Zealand), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Chicago (USA), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Lisbon (Portugal), Nairobi (Kenya), Rotterdam (The Netherlands), and São Paulo (Brazil). A total of 56 interviews with a broad range of stakeholders were conducted. By looking at integration from the perspective of public-private partnerships between city level governments and businesses, this research blazes a trail and presents a number of important findings that can be of value to the policy community. number 1, 2014