The International Metropolis Project is a set of co-ordinated activities carried out by a membership of research, policy and non-governmental organizations who share a vision of strengthened migration policy by means of applied academic research. The Metropolis membership, now from over twenty countries and a number of international research and policy organizations representing a wide range of policy and academic interests, is sustained by the attractions of its core idea. It is the promise of more effective policy making, more socially meaningful research practices, and the excitement of international collaboration towards common goals that bring people to the Metropolis table to turn a vision into a concrete project. The underlying idea is that the members will work collaboratively on issues of immigration and integration, always with the goal of strengthening policy and thereby allowing societies to better manage the challenges and opportunities that immigration presents, especially to their cities.
Metropolis is an evolving project and has witnessed considerable growth since its beginnings in 1995. Members are now from:

North America:	Canada, United States
South America:	Argentina
Europe:	Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom
Middle East:	Israel
Africa:	South Africa
Australasia:	Australia, New Zealand
International Organizations and NGOs:	European Commission, UNESCO, OECD, International Organization for Migration, Migration Policy Group, Quartiers en Crise, International Centre for Migration Policy Development

The Underlying Idea: Research Enriching Policy

The idea of using academic research to stimulate and strengthen policy making now enjoys considerable currency. Metropolis is an attempt to advance the role that research plays in policy-making on an international scale. There are many ways that one can try to link policy with academic research. A traditional way is to follow a broadly consumer transaction model, a very simple transfer of knowledge from a supplier, the researcher, to a consumer, the policy analyst or decision maker. Metropolis does provide many fora for conveying the research products from the supplier to the consumer, including the internet, conferences and seminars, and publications of various sorts. However, Metropolis goes beyond such traditional means of transferring knowledge by creating settings in which policy makers and researchers can, in complete confidence, engage one another, explore situations or problems, challenge assumptions and probe each others' expertise, all to advance the policy process and to create the basis for solutions in practice.

Metropolis places a premium on serious conversation among researchers, policy makers, and practitioners and encourages joint initiatives to:

• identify and articulate issues and problems for policy and research work
• develop appropriate data;
• conduct international comparative research directly related to our policy priorities;
• exchange and analyze experiences amongst the partnership regarding the effects of immigration, especially in our cities, and the effects of government and non-government interventions to facilitate integration;
• develop conclusions, especially with regard to best policy practices; and
• exchange and analyze information about effective practices where these have been identified and explained on the basis of rigorous empirical research.

Metropolis encourages these joint initiatives by fostering the growing international network of researchers and policy makers, by convening events that provide opportunities for its members to hold informed discussions, to discover where potential for collaboration exists, and to plan accordingly. There is no question that a partnership arrangement is more demanding than a mere supplier-consumer relation; there is also no question that its potential is far richer. Metropolis has organized its activities on the premise that one reason for the relatively low level of exchange that often has existed between the academic and the policy communities is that neither organizational culture was attuned to work with the other. Consequently, Metropolis has conceived of itself as a project wherein opportunities would be provided for intensive face to face collaboration on active policy issues. The means for doing so have been conferences, seminars and workshops that emphasize conversation over presentation, organizational meetings, international comparative research projects, an interactive internet website, and a new peer-reviewed policy-research journal.

Brief Recent History

The first International Metropolis Conference took place in Milan in November, 1996. This initial event presented commissioned research and consolidated interest in the partnership. Importantly, it also provided many fora for academics and decision-makers to speak with one another about substantive issues of interest to them, about their current research and policy work and what it was indicating about migration phenomena, and about what were the issues that the project ought to regard as priorities for the next few years. The participants agreed that there was fruit to be harvested from this venture and it established areas of long-term priority including immigrant labour market and economic participation; spatial concentration, housing, and neighbourhoods; immigrant mobility; social cohesion; and the effects of integration and immigration policies on cities.

Three of these were chosen as topics for special attention in preparation for the second annual conference, which took place in Copenhagen in September, 1997. They were Social Cohesion and Tolerance, Spatial Concentration and Mobility, and Economic Integration and Labour Markets. Theme papers on these topics were written for the conference and there were many presentations on the effects of migration on specific cities.

The Third International Metropolis conference was held in Zichron Yaacov, Israel. The primary themes of its plenary sessions concerned the management of multi-ethnic societies and cities. Fourteen workshops on a variety of narrowly focussed topics were held, in some cases as continuations of the discussions at the previously mentioned seminars, or as inaugural events for international comparative research. Furthermore, special excursions to Israeli towns that have witnessed rapid population growth brought about by immigration provided a real-life setting for mini-seminars on managing immigration in an urban context.

The Fourth Annual International Metropolis conference took place December 7 - 11, 1999 in Washington D.C. and saw the number of workshops grow to 35. The primary themes of its plenary sessions were: Building Communities: Civil Societies and Citizenship; Immigration and Neighbourhood Development: Housing and Labour Markets; and Governments and NGOs in Partnership.

The Fifth Annual International Metropolis conference took place in Vancouver, Canada from November 13-17, 2000. It marked a major advance for the Project with well over 700 in attendance from 31 countries. Policy makers from all levels of government, researchers, graduate students, and over 100 people representing non-governmental organizations marked attendance increases on all fronts. The plenary sessions reflected the Project's expanding strategic interest in the global contexts within which international migration takes place. These included the implications for migration policy of the demographic changes that will see many of our societies age rapidly and even decline in population; the links between border policy and immigration policy; migrant smuggling and criminal corporatism; the moral challenges of liberal democracies and their implications for immigration and refugee policy; and the relations between migration, trust and social order. Workshop activity grew substantially with over 50 sessions organized by over 80 volunteers.

The Sixth International Conference took place in Rotterdam, The Netherlands from November 26 - 30, 2001. The conference was organised by the municipality of Rotterdam, the Ministry of the Interior Affairs and Kingdom Relations (BZK), Minister for Urban Policy and Integration of Ethnic Minorities and the International Metropolis Secretariat, which has its offices at the federal ministry for Citizenship and Immigration in Ottawa, Canada (CIC), and the University of Amsterdam Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies (IMES). In addition to these partners, a representative of the Dutch migrant organisations (NGO) had a seat on the national steering committee.

The Seventh International Metropolis Conference was held in Olso, Norway from September
9 - 13, 2002. The theme for this conference was "Togetherness in Difference". The conference was a success with over 600 participants in attendance from 25 countries. Policy makers from all levels of government, researchers, graduate students, and over 140 people representing non-governmental organizations. Almost 100 workshops on policy relevant topics were organized by the participants.

The Eighth International Metropolis Conference was held in Vienna, Austria. This Conference focused on the opportunities created by a responsible and broadly welcoming approach to immigration for both receiving and sending societies. Rather than formulating the policy agenda from a problem-driven perception - currently dominant in debates on immigrant minorities in Europe - a very different treatment of migration will flow from policies that embrace economic growth, positive demographic change and cultural diversity.

The Ninth International Conference will be taking place in Geneva, Switzerland from September 27 - October 1, 2004. The theme of the Conference will focus on Co-operative Migration Management, International, national and local answers.

Interconference seminars and comparative research

Following the second annual conference, the Metropolis International Steering Committee agreed that the work between the policy and research communities should be intensified by structural adjustments to the annual conference and to the activities of the Metropolis Project. The Steering Committee decided to introduce changes to the format of the annual conference and to create additional activities. The conference was restructured to make possible a larger number of highly focussed workshops that provide an opportunity for intense discussions with results of concrete value to specific policy communities. The initiative for the workshops comes from the partners, not from the central conference organizers. In a similar vein, between annual conferences Metropolis partners have begun hosting small scale, highly focussed events that encourage intense and productive discussions of benefit to policy making. The inter-conference seminars are reflected in the annual conferences, either through formal reports of their results, through conference workshops that follow directions set at the preceding Metropolis event or that set directions for subsequent Metropolis events, as well as by making reports of the event available. The first of these seminars took place in Gothenburg, Sweden on the topic of ethnically divided cities; the second was held in Lisbon, Portugal on immigrant integration to the labour market, and the third was held in Montreal on the barriers to employment for immigrants. Others have taken place in Lisbon, Rome, London, and Wellington (New Zealand). Of particular note was a seminar on migration held in Lisbon in September 2000 wherein the European Commission worked with Metropolis towards the development of an immigration policy for the European Union.

Comparative research has begun, for example, between Metropolis affiliated researchers in Canada and with the Research Programme on Transnational Communities at Oxford University as well as a major comparison of the effects of immigration in Sydney and Vancouver. We have initiated a study of existing funding sources for comparative research, the results of which will accelerate our efforts in this regard.

Journal of International Migration and Integration

The year 2000 witnessed the inauguration of the Journal of International Migration and Integration, a peer-reviewed journal for research and policy papers, published by the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada and co-edited by Dr. Baha Abu Laban of the Metropolis Centre of Excellence in Edmonton and Dr. Hans Vermeulen of the University of Amsterdam. This multi-disciplinary forum for the study of human migration and resettlement will provide a serious opportunity for researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners to explore common issues and promote co-operation.

How to Contact the International Metropolis Project

Additional information on the International Metropolis Projects is available on the WebSite whose address is www.international.metropolis.net. Extensive information on the Canadian Metropolis Project is available at www.canada.metropolis.net.

For other information, you can contact the Metropolis International Secretariat at:

Dr. Howard Duncan Executive Head Metropolis Project Citizenship and Immigration Canada 365 Laurier Avenue West Ottawa, Canada K1A 1L1 +1 613 957 5916 +1 613 957 5968 (FAX) howard.duncan@cic.gc.ca www.metropolis.net

Dr. Rinus Penninx International Metropolis Secretariat Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies University of Amsterdam Rokin 84 1012 KX Amsterdam +31-20-525 3627 +31-20-525 3628 j.m.a.pennix@uva.nl http://www.pscw.uva.nl/imes

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