According to official numbers based on Eurostat,

the European Union saw a record of 1,2 Million

asylum seekers in 2015. With 85.500 first-time

asylum applications, Austria ranks fourth among

European countries only to be surpassed by

Germany (441.800), Hungary (174.400), and

Sweden (156.100). Asylum applications have more

than doubled in Europe compared to 2014

(562.680). Every third asylum seeker (29%) comes

from Syria, followed by Afghanistan (14%) and Iraq

(10%).

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This unprecedented number of asylum seekers -

many of them will be officially acknowledged as

refugees and gain unrestricted residence permits -

poses an exceptional challenge in terms of

integrative measures to be taken in different policy areas, predominantly in education, labour market access, health issues, and family reunion. Moreover, providing sufficient and adequate housing is not only a must to accommodate refugees, their families, and additional EU movers, but needs to be done right to prevent ghettos and exclusion on the one hand, and to grasp opportunities on the other.

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Unlike school or the workplace, peoples` places of residence as such are undeniably the site where integration and learning from each other happens, 24 hours a day. Issues of providing inclusive housing in the context of migration, which means a certain percentage of the flats in (newly built) residential complexes and areas should be (built for and) inhabited by newcomers, have been widely discussed in recent years in the participating countries. Many exceptional examples have already been realized taking care to provide sufficient communal spaces (where people can meet, exchange, and learn from each other), or community agents (who take care that problems are voiced and solutions found). Successful examples of inclusive neighbourhoods also take into account the needs and interests of their (future) inhabitants, which means they are implemented following a participative approach involving people right from the beginning of the planning process and when living together finally. The notion of inclusive neighbourhoods being intercultural learning environments is multifaceted and needs to be explored and charted to subsequently being able to describe, develop, and mainstream sustainable learning opportunities.

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The main purpose of the project proposed therefore is to involve relevant stakeholders (residents with or without migration background, adult educators, social and community workers, architects, city planners, city council representatives) to exchange knowhow and experiences on inclusive approaches in building and/or providing inclusive neighbourhoods and identify and discuss criteria that make a residential area a place for facilitating successful intercultural learning. The project evolves from a series of 5 transnational workshops, will identify criteria for quality of inclusive neighbourhoods, will describe 15 examples of good practice accordingly, and will make results available over a project website, social media, and the final documentation, which will be available as a PDF document.

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The project specifically aims at:
- exchanging know-how and experiences on participative approaches in creating inclusive neighbourhoods
- identifying and discussing criteria for inclusive neighbourhoods to be places for successful intercultural learning
- collecting examples of good practices for inclusive neighbourhoods being successful places of intercultural learning
- discussing and recommending innovative learning opportunities in the context of inclusive neighbourhoods

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The geographical range (Sweden, Germany, Austria, Italy as partners, and Switzerland as associated partner) of the partners involved is essential for successful project delivery and can be considered most relevant under the context chosen (refugee and asylum situation in Europe, housing situation of refugees and asylum seekers). Results are very likely to serve as a model for other European countries in successfully encountering the question of creating inclusive neighbourhoods.
 

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