Research cluster B5: Social integration and mobility, education, housing and health
B5 deals with three basic social dimensions of the insertion process of immigrants in receiving countries and cities: education, housing and health. This cluster will focus mainly on the integration processes and its outcomes, considering a short-/medium-term cross-comparative approach and eventually a long-term one.
The field covered in Cluster B5 is relatively vast and has justified a very significant amount of research in the past decades. It is, therefore, impossible to review all the literature in this domain.
In its first work package the cluster therefore focussed on five main concepts:
1. The concept of integration – theoretical concerns and practical meaning
2. Spatial expressions of integration
3. Equitable education and immigrant integration
4. The role of health in integration
5. Ideas for future development
Because there are several disciplinary perspectives and distinct research contexts associated to the IMISCOE members, as first task formulated was to address a short conceptual debate on the key notions to be used in this cluster (namely, social integration, insertion, participation in society, social fragmentation, social innovation, ghetto). The following stage included cross-comparative analysis based in researches previously developed (or on going).
In the second work package the cluster formulated three research topics to be developed:
1. Housing and Segregation
- To develop a common methodology to analyse spatial segregation in European cities, associating classic segregation indices with measures of neighbourhood interaction and accessibility to urban resources (especially in the domains of education and health).
- To test a neighbourhood-level approach with the purpose of identifying the perspective of the several population groups (immigrants and non-immigrants) in relation to spatial concentration, segregation and group interaction.
- To study the processes of social and spatial mobility of the second generation (link with C8).
2. Education
- To contribute to the neighbourhood-level approach through the incorporation of a specific methodology aiming the analysis of the spatial accessibility to education resources.
- To create methodologies and to identify information sources in order to develop cross-comparative research in some of the following topics: 1) Children and youth education; 2) Adult education and 3) Higher education.
3. Health
Comparative study concerning migration and health in European countries. This survey is intended to present a general overview and develop a conceptual, theoretical and methodological framework for future studies. It can highlight the most important findings and issues in both research and health-care policy. At the same time as synthesising knowledge, it is hoped via the survey to build up a network of concerned professionals throughout Europe. This will be done in collaboration with other organisations (e.g. EuroHealthNet, IOM) working in this area.
In collaboration with other groups within IMISCOE, and others, the cluster collected information, ideas and contacts relating to the following topics which its work to date has identified as theoretically central and/or under-researched: 1. The methodological problems of migrant health research; 2. The health of children and youth; 3. Sexuality, reproduction and family life; 4. Older migrants; 5. The access of illegal/undocumented migrants to health services; 6. User involvement in the design and provision of services; 7. Transnational issues, concerning the trade off between the health systems of the home countries and the health systems of the host countries, mediated by the expectations and health beliefs of migrants.
In the third work package the cluster furthered scientific progress on the social integration of immigrants in the areas of housing, health and education. They continued work on the European health survey and organise a special workshop on the housing market. They furthermore developed two new proposals:
- A common research project proposal on neighbourhood practices and socio-spatial segregation in European Metropolises
Cluster members have decided to develop a 3-year common research project, working further on the topic housing and segregation. It aims to study the integration of immigrants at the neighbourhood level in several European metropolises, stressing both their contribution to the city dynamics (in terms of re-invention of public space, new guidelines for planning, etc.) and the social constraints that limit their full participation in city life.
The main advantage of the proposed project resides in the dual approach it takes, by simultaneously analysing the situation of both autochthones and immigrants and assuming a spatial approach that includes an inter-related analysis of health, education and housing. In addition, the cross-comparative approach will allow for the collection of comparable data at the neighbourhood level for several cities and the development of methodologies suitable for cross-comparative analysis. - Training on geographical mapping/cartographic techniques (contingent on interest).
The cluster proposed a 24-hour module that not only addressed techniques but also tried to frame them within methodological approaches that span various types of research on immigrants and ethnic minorities (e.g. housing and segregation, perceptions of self and the other and the interaction between them, spatially situated ethnic business structures, access to resources such as health facilities, etc.): thematic representation of the spatial distribution of immigrants and ethnic groups; mobility analysis; links between statistical bases and cartographic bases; perception and representation of places and spatial behaviour.
