However, this leadership has been built on the foundations of an international strategy that the city has followed since the late 1980s, when Barcelona played a prominent role in the creation of Eurocities. Such a strategy facilitated the creation in the 2000s of the United Cities and Local Governments organization (UCLG) —headquartered in the city— or the Spanish Network of Intercultural Cities (RECI), which is linked to the Council of Europe.
A third and final answer refers to the construction of a local governance model around immigration and integration based on innovative policies, enhancing technical capacities and a strong climate of cooperation with local civic actors through time. In the case of Barcelona, the city has invested in transversal policies under the umbrella of welcoming immigrants and refugees, as well as in the normalization of the cultural diversity that their presence brings. This is how we see a declaration of intent in the adoption of an intercultural framework to guide municipal actions in the field of integration since the 1990s or in the creation in 1989 of the Care Service for Immigrants, Emigrants and Refugees (SAIER), the first of its kind in Spain. These technical capacities are also manifested in the 2015 Refuge City Plan where Barcelona offered to host refugees escaping the Syrian conflict, as well as those who may come to the city in the future.
However, these technical capacities would not be especially useful were they not rooted in the dense network of neighborhood, immigrant and social entities that work every day to ensure the inclusion of immigrants and their families in the city. The commitment to developing synergies with different actors has permeated local governance, where a climate of dialogue and collaboration has prevailed —not without disagreements. An example of this is the existence since 1997 of the CMIB, which advises the City Council on issues related to immigration and brings together representatives of immigrants, social entities, the Municipal Council and policy officers.
The crisis generated by the pandemic is a window of opportunity that can reaffirm cities not as administrative entities that follow a hierarchical logic but as fully-fledged actors who can determine how we understand inclusion and equity from close proximity. The actions that Barcelona has taken in the field of immigration in the midst of the pandemic are the product of a long history that have sought to open spaces for the city to have a voice in the protection of immigrants. The model proposed in this field shows more than ever the role that cities have as spokespersons for the rights of immigrants, refugees, and their families. Cities as actors, but also as arenas where different groups converge, can act as innovative entities that advance common positions in favor of those that a crisis of these dimensions has left behind.
This article is part of the LocalRef project funded by the Institute of Self-Governing Studies (Government of Catalonia). Grant Number 2018 IEA5 00001.
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