Embrace and Integrate Newcomers
By embracing global migration and incorporating human flows into urban planning, adaptive cities prepare, transform, and thrive in the face of a dynamic future.
Social cohesion — cooperation between members of a community to achieve shared well-being — is fundamental to urban resilience. Cities are increasingly recognizing its importance and making it central to their planning. Greater social connectivity yields multiple physical and mental health benefits, spurs innovation, and builds capacity, ultimately strengthening the ability of communities to respond and adapt in times of emergency. Communities with strong ties, regular interactions, and shared norms work more effectively to provide help to one another during a crisis.
As refugees and migrants continue to arrive in cities burdened with troubled economies and limited resources, social tensions may increase and threaten social cohesion. Existing vulnerable groups, such as the unemployed, or the homeless, often fear that newcomers may make jobs even scarcer or place greater strain on a city’s services. In some cases, this feeds into growing currents of nationalism, and a general fear of economic and social uncertainty.
Cities are adopting distinct strategies to preempt or mitigate these tensions, and in the process, forming an environment where social cohesion can grow. They are pursuing these by building compelling narratives that emphasize common goals and opportunities, and through programs that foster regular interactions between new and existing populations, creating greater bonds and dispelling false stereotypes. Cities have also begun to promote programs that reduce real or perceived competition among natives and newcomers, further solidifying a shared pursuit of opportunity and prosperity.
Explore the strategic approaches below:
