Gasteditorial

Abstract

Cities in Europe are shrinking and depend on immigration to stabilise their populations. In most cases, urban policy is growth-oriented and local actors are unlikely to accept shrinkage as a development paradigm. Despite this growth postulate, however, most cities have not yet developed any explicit strategies in respect to migration. In many urban development concepts, only the desire for the immigration of young and qualified workers is articulated. Many cities are depending on the arrival of the “creative class”. In contrast, the immigration of refugees and asylum seekers is not part of a city’s development strategy, but management thereof is delegated to city authorities responsible for the integration of migrants. As a result of the state-quoted allocation of refugees and asylum seekers, which is framed as “burden sharing”, cities have little room for manoeuvre in terms of managing immigration proactively. This issue therefore examines the following questions: Which immigration strategies are being developed by cities in Germany? How much room for manoeuvre does urban policy have to control and steer immigration? What resistance to immigration exists in local government policy? Against the background of the current political discussion about an immigration law in Germany, a contribution from Canada compares local policy options in a classic immigration country with those in Europe.