When it comes to integration of immigrants and refugees, cities play a vast role in that they function as sites where migrants and refugees integrate and participate in society. Nation states’ often exclusionary policies and decision making over selection of migrants and refugees resulted in emergence of various initiatives at the local level such as “sanctuary cities” that focus on accommodating non-status residents in Canada and the US or “sea bridges” between Mediterranean port cities and cities in Central Europe that offer refuge to migrants and refugees rescued at sea. Similar initiatives can also be found in Latin America and Africa.

This 7-year interdisciplinary partnership between 36 academics and 36 partner organizations in Global North and Global South explores migrant and refugee inclusion by addressing the following questions:

What are the structural commonalities and differences between urban and municipal initiatives, policies and practices in accommodating migrants and refugees, including those who are unwanted by national governments?
What can urban and municipal stakeholders in different countries and in different parts of the world learn from each other in respect to accommodating migrants and refugees?
How can academic and practical knowledge be mobilized to enhance local capacities to accommodate vulnerable migrants and refugees?

By using local empirical studies, networking activities, collaborative community-academic research projects and assessing urban initiatives, the aim is to help urban decision makers develop innovative municipal and community-based policies of migrant and refugee inclusion that will eventually lead to increased capacities to provide sanctuary for migrants and refugees through international collaboration. The idea is based on cross-sector co-creation of knowledge.

The project is supported in part by funding from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). The project administration is located at Ryerson University in Canada, at Ryerson Centre for Immigration and Settlement.

 

MEMBERS:
DR. HARALD BAUDER – PROJECT DIRECTOR
Dr. Harald Bauer is a professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Ryerson University in Toronto. Alongside his career as a professor, Dr. Bauer is also the founding director of the Ryerson Centre for Immigration and Settlement (RCIS). During his career he received the Konrad Adenauer Research Award, in 2015, and the Sarwan Sahota Distinguished Scholar Award, in 2016. Dr. Bauer has a PhD in Geography from Wilfrid Laurier University, and MA and BA degrees in Geography and Urban Studies from Wayne State University.

DR. OMAR LUJAN – PROJECT COORDINATOR
Dr. Omar Lujan is a social scientist and an educator specialized in immigration and community development. He received a PhD in Policy Studies from Ryerson University, has MA in History from Queen’s University, B.Ed. from the University of Ottawa, and BA in History from the University of Toronto.
 

REGIONAL HUBS MEMBERS:
NORTH AMERICA HUB (TORONTO)
Dr. Usha George is a Professor of Social Work at Ryerson and Academic Director of RCIS. She served as Dean of the Faculty of Community Services and Interim VP Research and Innovation at Ryerson University and had a role of PI on several large projects. Dr. George provides expertise in policy and program impacts at the federal and provincial levels.

Dr. Mireille Paquet is an Associate Professor and Research Chair in Politics of Immigration at Concordia and co-founder of the Centre for the Study of Politics and Immigration (CSPI) and Équipe de Recherche Sur l’Immigration dans le Québec Actuel (ÉRIQA). With Dr. Bauder, Dr. Paquet will co-lead the research in North America.

AFRICA HUB (ACCRA)
Dr. Joseph Kofi Teye is an Associate Professor of Geography and Resource Development, Director of the Centre for Migration Studies (CMS) at University of Ghana and co-director of the UKRI South-South Migration, Inequality and Development Hub. He will lead the projects’ activities in Africa.

LATIN AMERICA HUB (SANTIAGO DE CHILE)
Dr. Luis Eduardo Thayer Correa is a Sociologist at the Catholic University Cardinal Raúl Silva Henríques, and founder of the Central University of Chile in Chile’s Observatory for Migration Policy. Dr. Correa has led the creation of the Migrant and Refugee Plan for the municipality of Quilicura in Chile. Moreover, he has also served as advisor to the National Migration Council.

EUROPE HUB (OSNABRÜCK AND AALBORG)
Dr. Andreas Pott is a Professor of Social Geography and Director of IMIS at Osnabrück University, and Dr. Martin Bak Jørgensen is an Associate Professor at the Department of Culture and Global Studies at Aalborg University. Both have managed large research projects.