SIXTH INTERNATIONAL METROPOLIS CONFERENCE

WORKSHOP 6: Immigration and place in contemporary mediterranean metropolis: managing cultural diversity and spatial change

ORGANIZERS

Charles Buchanan (Director - Fundação Luso-Americana para o Desenvolvimento)
Rua do Sacramento à Lapa, 21
1249-090 Lisboa
PortugalTel. 00-351-21-3935800
Fax. 00-351-21-3963358
E-mail. flad@individual.eunet.pt

Jorge Macaísta Malheiros
(assistant - Dept. Geography-University of Lisbon and Centro de Estudos Geográficos)
Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa
Alameda da Universidade
1600-214 Lisboa
Portugal
Tel. 00-351-21-7920000
Fax. 00-351-21-7960063
Email: jmalheiros@hotmail.com

Natália Ribas-Mateos
(lecturer - Dept. Sociology, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona)
Email: to be confirmed

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION

The last quarter of the 20th century has changed the face and the colour of the Southern European Metropolis. In the big cities of the Southern EU countries, after the significant internal migration waves of the previous decades that enlarged urban population and converted the cities into metropolitan areas, indigenous newcomers have been replaced by external migrants. However, in other places like Istambul, the migratory process is still dominated by internal movements. However, whether internal or external, migrants are fundamental to understand the contemporary spatial and cultural changes of the cities within a framework largely dependent on transnational links.
This workshop will address the city challenges brought on by the settlement of a growing number of external population, both nationals and foreigners. On the one hand, the diversity of this population leads to a challenging process of cultural reinvention associated to hybridity and diversity; on the other hand, obliges urban planners and policy makers to rethink the spatial dynamics of the city like a complex process where the needs and the demands of the old and the new groups of population are frequently different and sometimes conflictual. The final goal for local authorities of the Southern European countries is related to the promotion of urban governance strategies in order to build socially sustained environments in pluri-cultural contexts. The question is not simply whether institutional rules are comprehensive enough to incorporate the issues of participation and equality. It is whether the daily practices that determine the access to cultural practices, facilities, public space and housing are comprehensive and fair.
The workshop will bring together academics, NGO experts, policy-makers and urban planners working in the Mediterranean cities that will present and discuss both place-based and community-based experiences. The workshop will privilege the cross-comparative dimension of the cultural and spatial change processes associated to the presence of immigrants and their offspring. The main goal is to identify best practices developed at local level that contribute to strengthen the opportunities and the participation levels of immigrants as well as a compatible and innovative cohabitation of culturally diverse groups.

DURATION

2 sessions of 1,5 hours (afternoon and evening)
The first session will be supported by the presentation of 5 papers (cases of Barcelona or Madrid, Istanbul, Lisbon, Milan or Rome, Toulose or Andorra) about relevant city experiences on the workshop topic.
The second session intends to be a small discussion forum, supported by the presentations and also by some short statements m(5-6 min.) made by the representatives of the municipalities and the NGOs.

Structure of the workshop

For each section: 3 presentations (10-15 min.; mixing academics and experts/policy makers from municipalities and NGOs) followed by interventions of two discussants (max. 10 min.). Open discussion will take place in the final part of each session

Section 1: Housing, segregation and socio-spatial practices

Presentations:
Prof. Mehmet Çubuk and colleagues (Istambul case)
Sonia Arbaci (comparison between Milan and Lisbon)
Representatives of a municipality in the Oporto Metropolitan Area

Discussants:
Prof. Paul White
Joanna Apap

Section 2: Place dynamics and cultural diversity

Presentations:
Mariagiulia Grassilli (Bologna case)
Representatives of a municipality in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (cultural division)
Prof. Lucinda Fonseca and colleagues (Lisbon case)
Representatives of the Andorran UNESCO Commission (Andorran case)

Discussants:
Prof. Jorge Gaspar
Deputy-mayor of the Lisbon Town Hall

PRESENTERS

· Alina Esteves (Professor, Centro de Estudos Geográficos - University of Lisbon)
· Erbatur Cavusodlu (Research Assistant Dep. City and Regional Planning Mimar Sinan University - Istambul; Chamber of City Planners, Istanbul Branch)
· Erdem Erbas (Researcher, Dep. City and Regional Planning Mimar Sinan University - Istambul; Chamber of City Planners, Istanbul Branch)
· Fatma Unsal (Lecturer, Dep. City and Regional Planning Mimar Sinan University - Istambul)
· Joanna Apap (Maltese researcher, Project Co-ordinator at ECAS, Brussels)
· Jorge Gaspar (Professor, Centro de Estudos Geográficos - University of Lisbon)
· Maria Calado (Deputy-maior of the Lisbon municipality)
· Maria José Boavida (assistant researcher, University of Minho, Portugal)
· Maria Lucinda Fonseca (Professor, Centro de Estudos Geográficos - University of Lisbon)
· Fabio Quassoli, University of Biccoca Milan, Italy
· Paul White, University of Sheffield, UK
· Alina Esteves, University of Lisbon, Portugal
· Jordi Plana, City of Barcelona, Spain
· Maria Helena Bedoya, CITE, Spain