THE INTERCULTURAL CITIES CONFERENCE
1-3
May 2008
COMEDIA in association with EUCLID is organising a major
conference to mark the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008.
During the three days, leading speakers from across Europe, UK Cities, as well
the US, Canada and Australia will provide real examples of how being intercultural
works, bringing social, cultural and economic advantages. They include globalization
guru Saskia Sassen, New York Times writer Gregg Zachary who
argues cities and business must ‘mongrelize or die’, the world authority
on cultural diversity and city planning Leonie Sandercock, Lord
Bhikhu Parekh who says it is time to rethink multiculturalism and Keith
Khan, Head of Culture for the 2012 Olympic Games. There will also be
great opportunities to explore the city of Liverpool, the 2008 European Capital
of Culture.
For more information and details of how to book a place, go to http://inter.culture.info/icc
The Intercultural City
planning for diversity advantage
Are mixed societies more creative than homogeneous ones?
Is there a diversity advantage for cities?
If so what are the practical ways of helping communities to realise
their advantage through living and working together rather than
apart?
Throughout the world, migration is rendering communities more diverse
and complex than ever before. This poses one of the great challenges
of our age and how we respond as individuals and societies will
have far-reaching implications. Is diversity a threat to be resisted,
a potential problem to be resolved or an opportunity to be realised?
This website tends towards the latter and calls for a change in
mindset particularly in the way our urban communities are planned
and managed.
In the corporate world, the ’business case’ for diversity
has now largely been made, with companies realising not only that
they need to recruit from the widest possible talent pool in order
to stay competitive, but that their innovative edge is actually
sharpened by the creative tension of bringing diverse cultures,
skills and mindsets together.
So much for companies but what about cities? Few have yet thought
about whether this logic reads across into the complex arena of
the metropolis. Until now. The Intercultural City project is a serious
investigation into this fascinating phenomenon. Comedia is leading
an ongoing programme of research and policy development with the
aim of providing advice and practical tools for cities seeking to
benefit from the diversity dividends.
The conclusions so far are that we need to look afresh through
an intercultural lens at the way our towns and cities are run,
because a greater emphasis on interaction, bridging and the exchange
of ideas can release a diversity dividend of social and
economic benefits for our communities. The catalyst can often be
remarkable individuals or groupings who transgress cultural and
social boundaries, but local authorities often know little or nothing
about these intercultural innovators. Cities can get a
grips with this new way of working by the introduction of a toolkit
of quantitative, qualitative and documentary methods: the indicators
of interculturalism and openness.
On this website you can find out more
about the aims of the project, access findings of the research,
and track ongoing work.