ICC Course - The intercultural city step-by-step

The experience of the local authorities participating in the Intercultural Cities (ICC) programme shows that diversity can be managed as a resource. Despite its complexity and the potential conflicts that may arise in diverse communities, a positive and skilful approach to diversity management can lead cities to hugely benefit from what migrants, minorities and people with diverse background can offer to the community. In that sense, the intercultural integration model is applicable to all dimensions of diversity (cultural, gender, sexual identity, age, socioeconomic status, etc.).

To do this, local authorities need to review a range of institutional settings, services and policies, and create the appropriate governance structures, mechanisms and policies to remove obstacles as well as enhance the integration of migrants and diversity inclusion.

The course The intercultural city step by step is a tool for assisting cities in  this endeavour. It is intended primarily for cities with a significant level of diversity, whose leadership is strongly committed to making diversity an advantage for community development and who are ready to invest political capital, time and resources into ensuring this approach brings its fruits. The principles, tools and examples presented in this course will also hopefully inspire others looking for solutions and ideas of how to ensure equality, inclusion and societal cohesion in culturally diverse environments.

Finally, it is important to note that the Intercultural Cities model is not ‘one size fits all’ with a rigidly pre-determined sequence of events and procedures. However, it requires a change of lens from cities embarking on the Intercultural Cities agenda to look at diversity as an asset, a commitment to develop intercultural competence, and a certain degree of creativity to think out of the box and adapt the general concepts and actions contained in this course to fit local circumstances.