A project based in Norway with funding from the Norwegian Research Council (1.9 million CAD) led by On the Move international co-investigator Marit Aure.

Sustainable diverse cities: Innovation in integration

DiverCities main objective is to produce new applicable knowledge on innovative multicultural integration activities that help us to live with difference, enhance integrative interaction and develop just cities – granting diverse populations rights to physical spaces, participate in urban life, and shape the city as equals. The study assesses new approaches to integration in terms of understanding the complex dynamics of diverse integration initiatives; how they work, and what kinds of interactions they may provide

with regard to people in different socio-economic and juridical situations. This implies specifying the social, spatial (including physical and climatic), cultural and organisational conditions under which different initiatives can add to processes of integration and development of just cities. To better understand and plan for integration in urban spaces, we ask: 1) How do migrants use urban space for cross-cultural interaction? 2) Under what conditions do integration initiatives encourage cross-cultural interactions? 3) How do

encounters and interactions transfer into participation and development of cities? 4) What are challenges and solutions to planning for integration in the context of changing organizational patterns of voluntary organizations? The project analyses and develops innovations in integration from two key northern cities with significant immigrant populations: Bodø and Tromsø. The research questions will be answered in close cooperation with actors involved in integration initiatives, including voluntary organisations, local government, private persons, and entrepreneurial businesses. Together we will study and analyse, test and develop innovations in integration, and aims to generate knowledge and solutions that support social, economic and environmental responsibility. A wide range of new tools and methods to be developed in the project, based on skills and competence represented by the ‘in-house’ artists and cultural workers.