Inclusive Neighbourhoods – Researching opportunities for intercultural learning Erasmus Project

Project Title

Inclusive Neighbourhoods – Researching opportunities for intercultural learning

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning; Integration of refugees

Project Summary

According to official numbers based on Eurostat, the European Union saw a record of 1,2 Million asylum seekers in 2015. This unprecedented number of people – 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. 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 and many exceptional examples have already been realized taking 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.The main purpose of the project proposed therefore was to involve relevant stakeholders (residents with or without migrational background, adult educators, social and community workers, architects, city planers, city council representatives) to exchange know-how 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 evolved around a series of 5 transnational workshops with altogether more than 100 participants from the target groups mentioned. At the beginning criteria for quality of inclusive neighbourhoods were discussed and defined. Based on these,14 examples of good practice were described accordingly. Results were made available over the project website (inclood.org), social media (Facebook and Instagram), and the final documentation, which is available at the website in English, Italian, German and Swedish in the form of a PDF document. Diverse dissemination activities garanteed a wide impact of INCLOOD`s activites and results.

The project specifically aimed 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

Partners involved:
inspire – Verein für Bildung und Management, Austria, www.inspire-thinking.at
Speha Fresia Società Cooperativa, Italy, http://www.speha-fresia.eu/en
Folkuniversitetet Uppsala, Sweden, http://www.folkuniversitetet.se/uppsala
Soziallabel, Germany, http://soziallabel.de/
SVEB, Switzerland, https://alice.ch/en/

The geographical range (Sweden, Germany, Austria, Italy as partners, and Switzerland as associated partner) of the partners involved was essential for a 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. The project information and reports will be available on organisational and the project websites as well as our social media channels over the lifetime of the project, giving the opportunity to other multipliers to take inspirations from our common experience and potential outputs.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 35277,25 Eur

Project Coordinator

inspire – Verein für Bildung und Management & Country: AT

Project Partners

• STIFTELSEN KURSVERKSAMHETEN VID U-AUNIVERSITET
• SPEHA FRESIA SC
• SOZIAL LABEL EV – PROJEKTASSISTENZ