Last september, I had the pleasure to be invited to a series of meetings organized by RECI (the Spanish network of intercultural cities), the Council of Europe and GRITIM-UPF (Ricard Zapata-Barrero).
Here is a summary of the activities:
RECI- Barcelona European Summer School
MONITORING INTERCULTURAL CITIES: DISCOURSES IN ACTION
Barcelona, September 21 and 22, 2012 CaixaForum (Av. Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia, 6-8 – Barcelona)
Organised by: RECI-Red Española de Ciudades Interculturales, Council of Europe and GRITIM-Universitat Pompeu Fabra, With the collaboration of Obra Social “La Caixa”
This meeting aims to discuss two essential topics for the intercultural cities programme: the implementation and evaluation of intercultural policies. The Implementation topic is approached through the relationship between intercultural discourse and intercultural practice, and reveals the importance to reduce the gap between concept and policy. Questions on how to translate the diversity into action will be central, as well as issues related to the viability and feasibility of intercultural strategies for urban diversity management. Required resources and existing restrictions for the implementation of intercultural integration will also be discussed. Through the Evaluation topic we want to promote an open discussion on how to monitor intercultural policies, in terms of qualitative and quantitative indicators, and how to measure policy outcomes in terms of social cohesion and city development. The main purpose of the meeting is to engage city policy makers and politicians, civil society and academics, to promote knowledge transfer and encourage a policy/research alliance, through open debates and cooperation between local authorities and stakeholders across Europe and beyond.
The meeting was very stimulating with the participation of researchers, administrators and practitioners specialized in intercultural policies from everywhere in the world. Patrice Allard and Claudie Mompoint (Direction de la Diversité Sociale, City of Montreal) were also invited to these meetings and presented a conference on social and cultural diversity in Montréal that generated much interest from the other participants.
Here is the french version of the program: Barcelona école d’été ICC programme
Through my discussions my our Barcelona colleagues, we explored future collaboration possibilities between Montreal and Barcelona that developed very innovative intercultural program in the last ten years. For more informations on the subject, visit this website: http://www.bcn.cat/novaciutadania/arees/en/dialeg/dialeg.html
