Funding through the PME – Metropolis Research Initiative is intended to support the initial set-up phase of comparative research projects; successful applicants are encouraged to use these funds to strengthen their applications for other sources of research funding.

The call in the first round asked for pre-studies that would cover one of the following research themes that the foundation and the International Metropolis Project jointly identified as areas where comparative research is most needed:

· The first area related to the effects of urban policies on immigrant integration. Ideally, the research would focus on policy outcomes rather than on the political, institutional or cultural determinants of policy formulation. Proposals that inquire which policy strategies promise to be most effective in enhancing participation of immigrants in specific sectors (such as labor market, housing, etc.) were most welcomed.

· The second topical area was "possibilities and limits of influencing migration flows". The proposed research would have to further our understanding of migration systems; more specifically how different policies (labor market, asylum, security) influence migratory flows between countries, especially between developing and developed countries. The goal would be to arrive at a clearer picture of the possibilities and limits of influencing these flows and of which policies do in fact have a measurable effect on these flows.

The pre-study should lead to a fundable research proposal that could be submitted to national and international research funding bodies, including foundations.

A project was funded in the first round :

1) The second generation in European and American Metropolis, submitted by Maurice Crul and Hans Vermeulen

The results of this pre-study, expected in 2004, will be published on the PME and International Metropolis website.