The Role of Cities in the Integration of Immigrants in Europe

Abstract

In the era of migration, cities play an important role in integrating immigrants and promoting social cohesion. Sometimes they create and implement integration policies different from these at a national level. The state-run civic integration programs question the thesis of the growing role of cities as these programs have resulted in centralizing integration policies and reducing their role. In recent years, large European cities have been implementing a cultural diversity management model referred to as "intercultural integration". They have also adopted mainstream policies targeted at the entire population. In terms of immigrant integration policy Polish large cities have recently been following a pattern set by their Western European counterparts. This results from the availability of European funds and trends towards cultural diversity rather than challenges.