GLIMER

The current movement of displaced migrants and refugees has been characterised as a ‘migration crisis’. The aim of the GLIMER project is to work towards innovative solutions that will help European cities and regions facilitate the long term inclusion of displaced people in a way that remakes local spaces. Our goal is to generate theoretically informed but empirically grounded data that is able, through best practice sharing and reporting, to inform and collaborate with policy-makers and stakeholders on how workable approaches can be found to the mutual integration of displaced migrants and refugees, but in a manner that re-makes local spaces. Inspired by the success of ‘welcoming cities’ in southern Italy, we work with refugee groups, civil society groups, local authorities, businesses and others in order to support sustainable urban development and the successful remaking of the local by different communities. The GLIMER consortium consists of partners from Italy and Cyprus (two landing points for many refugees as they first enter the EU) and the UK and Sweden (two countries seen as final destinations for recent arrivals), and the cases focus on new arrivals in the areas in and around Cosenza, Nicosia, Glasgow and Malmo respectively. The GLIMER consortium is made up of leading researchers trained in Law, Political Science, Social Work, Sociology and Social Policy. Each team possesses expertise across the humanities and social sciences, including in the support of a number of interdisciplinary research centers at participating institutions.