“Welcoming Spaces”: Migration and New Communities in Marginalised Regions

Abstract

The presence of migration in non-urban areas is mainly related to the paradoxical coexistence of both restrictive migration policies and a proliferation of welcoming initiatives. These initiatives are aimed at (co-)creating “welcoming spaces” and are often driven by older residents and migrant people but can equally be the outcome of initiatives by local governments, NGOs, and businesses. This contribution introduces the potentialities and limits of these initiatives to create hybrid forms of hospitality and prospects to enhance local development. It opens with a reflection on the political relevance of welcoming spaces and their governance from an international and national perspective. Second, it reflects upon the social and narrative significance of welcoming and hospitality. Considering the intersections between the political and the discursive dimension of welcoming spaces, it closes with a recommendation to recognise the collective dimension of hospitality and to create the basis for re-imagining spaces of conviviality in non-urban areas to sustain fairer and more inclusive societies.

“If you smile, they smile”: Explaining highly educated migrants' feelings of being welcome in the Euregio Meuse‐Rhine

“…In contrast to the institutional top-down approach, the societal approach is motivated by humanitarian factors and involves bottomup/citizen-led initiatives to support (forced) migrants in finding their way in the host country (Gill, 2018;Kösemen, 2017;Moralli et al, 2023). The impact of these "welcoming spaces" on regional…”

“…areas remain largely unexplored in scientific literature, owing to their dispersed nature and political sensitivity (Moralli et al, 2023).…”