Intercultural cities: good practice examples
The first step is the adoption (and implementation) of strategies that facilitate positive intercultural encounters and exchanges, and promote equal and active participation of residents and communities in the development of the city, thus responding to the needs of a diverse population. The Intercultural integration policy model is based on extensive research evidence, on a range of international legal instruments, and on the collective input of the cities member of the Intercultural Cities programme that share their good practice examples on how to better manage diversity, address possible conflicts, and benefit from the diversity advantage.
This section offers examples of intercultural approaches that facilitate the development and implementation of intercultural strategies.
Ensuring political and public participation in Sabadell
Purpose: The City Council deploys different Initiatives to encourage people with migrant/minority backgrounds to engage in political and public life. Stimulus/Rationale: The Sabadell Intercultural...
Castelló Intercultural City Plan
Purpose: As part of the actions of the Council of Social Welfare – Social Mediation and Intercultural Department, the city of Castelló de la Plana launched the “III Castelló Intercultural City Plan...
Knowledge Cartography
Purpose: The project ‘Cartografía de Conocimientos’ (Knowledge Cartography) was born in 2012 aimed at approaching health and education from an intercultural perspective. It is a project that works...
Bilbao, City of Values
Purpose: Bilbao, City of Values is a project that aims to generate a space for analysis, dialogue, reflection, and collaborative work among institutions, social entities, companies, media, schools,...
Complaints of Discrimination
Concept The City of Geneva funds and works with the Centre – Écoute contre le Racisme (C-ECR), which defends, advises and assists people affected by racism. The Center-Écoute contre le Racisme is...
The Intercultural acceptance survey to build intercultural competence skills
The Republic of Korea conducts a triannual survey of locals on their intercultural acceptance. The findings from the survey serve as reference data for policy development. To ensure even more...
Promoting multilingualism in a multicultural city
Ansan City offers Korean language education for non-nationals. The city itself runs Korean language education programmes while commissioning private organisations to complete the offer. There is a...
Research Circles
Concept A research circle is a methodology to enable in-depth, participative, and longer-term examination of an issue. It was piloted in Botkyrka to examine issues of racism and discrimination, in...
Planned and Systematic Approach to Equality
Purpose: Galway City Council (GCC) is progressing a planned and systematic approach to equality and human rights. This is based on developing an internal infrastructure to drive its implementation...
Reinvigorating Employee Networks
Purpose: Kirklees Council has identified that equality related employee networks play an important role in informing decision-making and enabling innovation. In doing so, they contribute to...
Conscious Inclusion
Concept Camden Council has adopted a process of ‘Conscious Inclusion’ to ensure all staff ‘can be their best self at work’. The approach taken involves a focus on leadership, staff, and systems in...
Listening Circles on ‘Race’, Racism, and Inequalities
Purpose: Kirklees Council has identified and pursued the potential in Listening Circles to contribute to addressing systemic discrimination. Listening Circles are to provide time and a safe space...
Anti-Racism as an Urban Common
Purpose: The concept of “the commons” draws from the English legal term for common land and traditionally refers to shared resources held in common. The commons tend to be understood as material...
An Equality Infrastructure
Concept Mexico City has established an internal infrastructure to express and sustain its commitment to equality and non-discrimination. This encompasses a Constitution for the City of Mexico...
An international policy in Leeds
Leeds have a policy to encourage international cooperation in economic, scientific, cultural, or other areas. The policy further has a specific financial provision and the city actively takes...
Housing policy in Leeds
Creating sustainable communities is one of the six Leeds Housing Strategy themes. Housing Leeds officers have worked with community based Housing Advisory Panels to support a number of...
Intercultural Mediation in Leeds
Leeds provides intercultural mediation in a number of ways: Equalities Assembly: forum up of Equality Hubs, helping ensure the council engages/involves diverse communities. Public Sector Equality...
A Strategic, Coordinated and Inclusive Approach to Migration
The development of the city’s Strategic, Coordinated and Inclusive Approach to Migration was the result of a year’s consultation and research over 2016 - 2017. The process included focus groups...
The Leeds Citizens Panel
Leeds has implemented the Leeds Citizens Panel[1], to ensure broad consultation and engagement in co-design involving people with diverse backgrounds in policy formulation. The panel enables the...
Diverse interaction on display in Cascais
Purpose: This initiative aims to celebrate the local diversity by showcasing the diverse interactions in the City. Stimulus/Rationale: Cascais is now a municipality of the world, with according to...
Limassol’s Intercultural Council helps the city to handle challenges with an Intercultural Strategy
Purpose: The purpose of the intercultural integration strategy in Limassol is to foster diversity as a source of strength and prosperity by promoting inclusive interactions, empowering all...
Community action plan — community development (CAP-CD 2022-2023) of the city of Sherbrooke
In the interest of the residents’ quality of life, Sherbrooke wants to support community organisations in delivering projects related to the fields of activity identified in the Community and...
Human Libraries
Purpose: Within the project "Braga: an Intercultural Journey", Human Library sessions are promoted in the schools of the municipality, until December 2021. The Human Library is a strategy of social...
Akadimia - an Intercultural Centre for Social Integration
Purpose: The purpose of the Intercultural Centre for Social Integration in Ioannina is to provide support and assistance primarily to refugees and migrants residing in the area. It aims to improve...
Integration project for newly arrived refugees with urban farming
Purpose: The project aims to create sustainability through urban farming and distributing the harvest of urban farming to restaurants, and to integrate newly arrived refugees by involving them in...
Everyone different, Everyone matters
In Calderdale (United Kingdom), the local authority has led the development of a social cohesion strategy, produced in consultation with the local public, under the banner of ‘everyone different,...
Botkyrka: Anti-Rumour Cafés – Stop the Rumour
Purpose: The Anti-Rumours Cafés, now called Stop The Rumour (Stop Ryktet) and are carried out for the municipality of Botkyrka by the environmental and social impact agency The Good Tribe that set...
Collaborating to change local food systems
Purpose: Milan is combating food waste by making the most of its food resources while supporting the regeneration of natural systems and the inclusion of migrants. The city has developed circular...
Erlangen: Digital inclusion in the time of crisis, while extending life of IT products
Purpose: With the Covid-19 pandemic, the topic of digitisation has become even more important. At times, participation was only possible digitally. However, the need for digital equipment is not...
Utilising waste land to build community, local resilience, and employment
The largest employer in one of the most deprived areas of Calderdale, United Kingdom, is a voluntary organisation that has created a green kitchen building in a community garden on a piece of...
“Faces of Lublin” awareness raising campaign
Purpose: This public awareness campaign was undertaken by the City of Lublin to strengthen the image of Lublin as an intercultural city by promoting the diversity of its residents through an...
III Bilbao Intercultural City Plan
Purpose: The III Bilbao Intercultural City Plan aims to guide public policies, from an intercultural perspective, in order to strengthen social cohesion and urban development in the city. To this...
Employment opportunities as a factor of cohesion
Purpose: Employment supporting cohesion Stimulus/Rationale: Process: In Manchester (United Kingdom), the Manchester International Festival’s Factory Academy partnered with the construction firm...
The Inclusive Anchors Network
In Leeds (United Kingdom), a group of the thirteen largest (primarily) public sector employers, including the city council, local universities and Yorkshire Water, have formed the Inclusive Anchors...
Ciga Giro Project
The Ciga Giro Project – People and Identities, Answers and Options is a social intervention, in the municipality of Vila Verde, focusing on the fight against the social segregation of the Roma...
Welcoming guides
Purpose: This activity had the purpose of improving the welcoming of people with an international protection status coming from Ukraine. The city wanted to ensure access to information for everyone...
Integrating and supporting the ethnic minorities in Camden’s businesses
Camden takes action to encourage businesses from ethnic minorities to move beyond the ethnic economy and enter the mainstream economy and higher value-added sectors. Good Work Camden has partnered...
Cultural projects reflecting and promoting the diversity of Camden’s communities
Culture is at the centre of Camden Council’s work. It aims to deliver inspiring arts projects on Camden’s estates and neighbourhoods that are co-created, engage with the most disadvantaged...
Involvement of Camden’s communities in its urban planning
Camden always takes into account the diversity of the population in the design, renovation and management of new public buildings or spaces. The Camden Local Plan (2017) is the key strategic...
Information sharing with civil society and grassroots organisations on intercultural inclusion goals
Camden collaborates with civil society and grassroots organisations that are active in the various fields concerned by intercultural inclusion, through regular meetings but also information sharing...
Initiatives of hospitality in Camden
Camden is currently welcoming a number of Afghan evacuees for support from the Council, such as housing, health care, food and education (see Asylum Seekers and Refugees - Camden Council). The...
Barcelona Intercultural Plans
Purpose: The Barcelona Intercultural Plan (2010) was a mandate of the City Council’s Immigration Working Plan 2008 and its main goal was to define a clear intercultural policy strategy about how...
The Office for Religious Affairs: a comprehensive approach
Purpose: The Office of Religious Affairs (OAR) of the Barcelona City Council is a municipal service whose main objective is to serve as a reference point for religious and spiritual matters, as...
"Citizen Coin Bradford"
Purpose: The city of Bradford (United Kingdom) has developed a project called “Citizen Coin Bradford” as part of the “Stronger Communities Partnership’s Strategy and Delivery plan” as one of its...
“Lublin for All” Project for strengthening intercultural approaches in collaboration with Canton of Neuchâtel
Purpose: The purpose of this project was to design and test a participatory system of diversity management in the city of Lublin and to learn from the experience of the Swiss canton ofNeuchâtel in...
Barcelona Municipal Immigration and Refuge Council
Purpose: The Barcelona Municipal Immigration Council (Consell Municipal d'Immigració de Barcelona, CMIB) is an advisory and participatory body of the Barcelona City Council and was established in...
Lublin’s Civic Dialogue Committee
Purpose: Lublin’s Civic Dialogue Commission for the City Support System for the Integration of Migrants constitutes a key element of Lublin's participatory system for managing cultural diversity....
School Participatory Budgeting - Vinnytsia
Purpose: School participatory budgeting for community participation Stimulus/Rationale: Citizen participation in government decision-making is one of the common democratic principles of the Council...
The inclusive employers toolkit
Purpose: Bradford Council champions inclusive business practices Stimulus/Rationale: Process: In Bradford (United Kingdom), the accountancy and consulting firm Grant Thornton have developed an...
Generational Dialog
Purpose: The project aims to create a better basis for communication between generations (i.e., between “second-generation” children born and living in a foreign country and parents that migrated...
Art-therapy in Lutsk
Purpose: Providing psychological relief to internally displaced children and helping them coping with the stress and challenges derived from Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine....
Gender-responsive budgeting to improve the impact of public policies on gender equality
Purpose: Gender-responsive budgeting allows for better consideration of the impact of public policies on gender equality. In the long run, it will allow for a sustainable and transversal...
Intercultural mediation to promote living together
Purpose: The overall objective is the promotion of mediation as a mechanism of alternative conflict resolution that will help to foster peaceful and inclusive cohabitation in the municipality of...
Capacity building on diversity: City staff and Police
Purpose: The training of the staff of this City Council is seen as a tool for raising awareness, as it contributes to broadening knowledge, tools and resources aimed at effectively managing...
Welcoming and social inclusion of newcomers in the city
Purpose: Valladolid promotes social inclusion and respect of the human rights of asylum-seekers and migrant people living in the city. Besides guaranteeing the reception of newcomers, the Council...
The Leeds City Region Diversity Dashboard
The Leeds City Region Diversity Dashboard is a project by the Leeds Inclusive Anchors Network. Leeds Inclusive Anchors Network is a group of the city’s largest (mainly) public sector employers....
Creating the conditions for an equality data strategy in Ireland
Equality data is of critical importance and significant interest to all those involved in this initiative. It is required to feed into the policy cycle to enhance evidence-based policy making in...
Reaching a point from which to take action in Oslo
Purpose: Oslo Municipality undertook a research initiative to gather data on experiences of discrimination, alongside an initiative to develop indicators to measure progress made in response to the...
Territorial and cultural equity in Montréal – Population focus
Targeted Equality Data Initiatives Purpose: Population data is gathered and analysed to inform and guide the design and implementation of city interventions, ensuring they are as just and...
Salisbury’s Intercultural Strategic Plan 2017-2027 encourages the intercultural exchanges
Purpose: The Intercultural Strategic Plan includes the idea to: “encourage intercultural exchanges”. This idea is supported via actions in the Implementation Plan and is manifested through the...
Salisbury’s strong effort in the educational sphere
Purpose: The regular intercultural projects carried out by Salisbury’s schools highlight the intercultural nature of the City. Process: Great examples of this effort are the programmes “Community...
Salisbury shows its intercultural commitment with a public declaration and a Strategic Plan
Purpose: The Australian City of Salisbury has shown its intercultural commitment through a public declaration and the adoption of an Intercultural Strategic Plan for the period 2017 -2027. Process:...
The Equality Space
Purpose: The Equality Space (Espace Égalité) hosts a one-of-a-kind experience for children and young adults to get familiar with 26 discrimination criteria and fully understand the impact of...