Intercultural cities: governance and policies for diverse communities
Joint action of the Council of Europe and the European Commission
The Intercultural cities programme emerged from the Council of Europe’s significant experience of projects that focus on issues concerned with the management of diversity. Considerable reflection has been undertaken in relation to the principles and practices of cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue.
Intercultural cities is a capacity-building and policy development field programme which has been implemented by the Council of Europe in partnership with the European Commission. It runs complementary to many other current projects and events (conferences, research, exchanges, and campaigns). The programme’s long-term, comprehensive approach will contribute to the sustainability of the political impetus of one of the Council of Europe’s declared priorities concerning the practice of diversity in today’s world.
- An intercultural city has people with different nationality, origin, language or religion / beliefs. Political leaders and most citizens regard diversity positively, as a resource.
- The city actively combats discrimination and adapts its governance, institutions and services to the needs of a diverse population.
- The city has a strategy and tools to deal with diversity and cultural conflict. It encourages greater mixing and interaction between diverse groups in the public spaces.
For further information, including comparison of different cities, see the original post.
Center for Intercultural Dialogue 