SSIIM UNESCO-Chair Launch Conference
Venice, 19-20 of March 2009

Installed at Università Iuav di Venezia in August 2008 with the scientific support of, among others, all MIUrb/AL partners, SSIIM Unesco-Chair "Social and Spatial Inclusion of International Migrants: Urban Policies and Practices" organizes its first international conference "Migrants' demand for the city".
Leading migration experts, policy makers, representatives of IOM, ILO, UN-HAbitat, UNESCO and academics from renowned research centres on migration studies will gather to discuss the key challenges international migration is posing to urban governance. Access to housing, public space, services, security will be the main issues under discussion.
>> Programme
>> Link to SSIIM UNESCO-Chair (registration is now open)

Post Graduate Diploma in Research and Integration of International Migrants and Management of Multicultural Social Services
Santiago de Chile, 29 of January 2009

In 2008, the Department of Sociology at FACSO, University of Chile, successfully activated the Diploma in Social Research on Integration of International Migrants. For the current academic year, this program has been transformed into Post Graduate Diploma in Research and Integration of International Migrants and Management of Multicultural Social Services, coordinated by professor Camilo Arriagada, which will offer students an extended course enriched with new contents.
>> Program of 2008 edition
>> Link to FACSO news

Fifth workshop of MIUrb/AL international research network
Venice (Italy), 29-30 September, 01 Octoberl 2008

From Monday 29 of September to wednesday 1 Octber 2008 , MIUrb/AL International Network researchers will meet in Venice for their last workshop. During the three conference days the contents of the book to be issued as conclusion of the project will be defined. Starting from the contacts and experience accumulated within the framework of the Observatory, the Researchers will also work on the preparation of a new project that will involve seven cities in the region.
A conference on urban inequity in Latin America will be also carryed Wednesday afternoon at the the course on "Globalization and Multiculturalism" of the Venice International University (VIU), in the island of St. Servolo in Venice.
>> Programme
>> link to VIU

MIUrb/AL Workshop in Tijuana: press review
22 April 2008

Articles on the 4th workshop of MIUrb/AL international network of researchers “migration in Tijuana” were published by two local newspapers: “El Mexicano” and “El Sol de Tijuana”. Through interviews with the Consul of Guatemala in Tijuana, Jimena Díaz González, MIUrb/AL researchers Marcello Balbo (Università Iuav di Venezia, project coordinator) and Tito Alegria (El Colef, responsible for Tijuana case study), journalists highlighted how the issue of foreign migrants’ integration in this city is still absent from local public and political agenda.

read the articles (in spansh only):

EL MEXICANO	pdf format
EL SOL DE TIJUANA	pdf format	# text format

>> See the comments pubblished on EL COLEF web-site
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Forth workshop of MIUrb/AL international research network
Tijuana (Mx), April 2008

On April the 21, 22 and 23, the Colegio de la Frontera Norte in Tijuana - Baja California, Mexico – will host the Fourth workshop of the International Network of researchers of the Observatory on International Migration in Urban Areas of Latin America. The public seminar “Immigrants in Tijuana” is scheduled for the first day of the meeting, Monday 21st of April, at 10.00 a.m. at the Aula Magna Raúl Rangel at El Colef. Researchers from seven Latin American countries, in addition to others from Italy and Canada, will convene during the three working days, with the overall objective of exchanging knowledge and enhancing the debate about the issue of international migration in the cities of the developing countries.
>> more info
>> link to "El Colef"
>> Programme

Chile: growing attention for immigrants
5 March 2008

Only in spanish - The last press monitoring made by the Professor Camilo Arriagada Luco and the sociologist Helvia Granifo of the Departamento de Sociología de la Universidad de Chile in Santiago reveals that international migration is becoming an issue of increasing concern for the Public Policy Agenda. Newspapers passed from dealing just with episodes of criminal offences committed by migrants to analysing a new set of issues: pro-integration policies, the migration and development nexus, migrant’s contribute to host society.

>> download the Report

Vancouver: The Illustrated Journey Youth Project
26 February 2008

This project is an example of a possible way to engage and support immigrant and refugee youth facing multiple barriers to integration. It brings together twenty youth with comic book artists in collaborative work. The project allows for these youth to enjoy a team-based, fun art project while exploring and dealing with issues that affect their lives such as the experience of displacement and of integration to a new culture and society.

>> download the Report

São Paulo: attention towards immigration on the rise
20 January 2008

Only in portuguese - By discussing issues such as the reception of Palestinian, Cubans and Colombians asylum seekers, the commemorations for the centennial of Japanese immigration to Brazil; the harsh working conditions of Bolivian immigrants, São Paulo’s press is dedicating more attention than usual to foreign immigration in the city.

>> download the Report

Second MIUrb/AL bulletin
21 December 2007

The second issue of the Observatory’s bulletin is now available on-line.
This bilingual number of the bulletin (in Spanish and Portuguese) includes articles by young Brazilians, Bolivians, French and Italian researchers who offer to the reader an interesting and multifaceted overview on the issue of international migration in urban areas. In addition to a critical analysis of MIUrb/AL first year of activities, this bulletin puts a special focus on Bolivian migration, a quite illustrative type of flow for the exploration of the challenges that the new forms of human mobility – with its marked circulatory and transnational character - poses at the urban level.

>> view the Index

>> download the Bulletin

São Paulo: new publication on migration
02 December 2007

Only in portuguese - The article “A comunidade boliviana em São Paulo: definindo padrões de territorialidade”, written by Iara Rolnik Xavier and Renato Cymbalista, researchers of the Instituto Polis and partners of MIUrb/AL network, was published on the 17th issue of "Cadernos Metrópole", six-month journal of sociology and urban planning. The article explores the peculiarities of Bolivians’ territorial incorporation within the city of São Paulo, stressing the invisibility of this community that, despite being large, is almost absent from the urban public spaces.

>> download the Article

L’Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio: history of a possible integration
25 November 2007

Only in spanish - Sixteen musicians from eleven countries of three global regions. Eight languages mixed and melt to create what can really be defined as “world Music”. This is the Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio (Vittorio Square’s Orchestra). What makes it so special is that all its components are immigrants living in Rome. Its name is dedicated to a square, Piazza Vittorio, that is at the core of the most multiethnic neighbourhood of the capital. A small urban initiative that obtained within few years an unexpected success worldwide. An example of social inclusion unique in Europe.

>> download the Report