Introduction to a Debate on Migration, Diversity, Multiculturalism, Citizenship: Challenges for Cities in Europe and North America

摘要

This collection of articles has its origin, at least in part, in a conference held in Toronto in March 2004. The Dutch Consulate had asked the Canadian Centre for German and European Studies to organize an event to reflect on the growing tensions in cities in the Netherlands around issues of diversity. Under the heading 'Immigration, Multiculturalism and Citizenship in Europe', scholars from both sides of the Atlantic discussed the challenges increased multicultural diversity presented to cities in Europe against the experience of North American, especially Canadian urban regions. The two articles by Ipsen and Ramirez Goicoechea were selected from this discussion for the present debate. They are complemented with two articles by Goonewardena and Kipfer and Wood and Gilbert, which were sent to IJURR independently. We decided to group the latter with the two European articles as their astute comments on the Canadian situation may also shed some light on the emerging discussion in Europe. It may be indicative of the state of the public conversation that our four articles try to develop innovative analytical perspectives to better understand the undercurrents of societal processes that frame these debates.