Exploring the Integration of Post-2014 Migrants in Small and Medium-sized Towns and Rural Areas from a Whole of Community Perspective

Over the last few years, the EU has received unprecedented numbers of migrants and asylum seekers, often in an unorderly way. This has led to a growing immigrant presence in scarcely prepared small and medium-size towns and rural areas (SMsTRA).

The way in which these local communities respond to this challenge will deeply shape the future of integration in Europe.Whole-COMM proposes to address these issues through an innovative Whole-of-Community research approach which conceives of migrant integration as a process of community-making that: takes place in specific local contexts characterised by distinct configurations of structural factors; is brought about by the interactions of multiple actors with their multilevel and multi-situated relations; and is open-ended and can result in either more cohesive or more fragmented social relations.By focusing on SMsTRA, Whole-COMM contributes to filling a serious gap in existing research and policy debates which so far have been concerned primarily with big cities.Whole-COMM pushes forwards scientific knowledge and theorisation on the dynamics and causal mechanisms that shape the complex relationship between immigrant integration policy and community cohesion through a cross-country (8 EU and 2 non-EU countries) and a cross-locality (40 localities) comparative approach, and a mixed-methods research design which matches qualitative and quasi-experimental methods, a survey on attitudes, and quantitative analysis on the impact of policies on social cohesion and immigrants’ integration trajectories.On the policy level, Whole-COMM provides a fresh impulse to policy debates thanks to the new comparative knowledge generated by the project and the engagement with a variety of actors in a structured process of policy learning and co-creation, with the overarching goal of trigging innovation in SMsTRA and building more cohesive and more resilient communities, that proactively embrace change, making the most of each and everyone.