Lisbon, Portugal: Migrant and Refugee Integration in Global Cities, The Role of Cities and Businesses

The aim of this project is to ascertain how businesses and governments in eight global cities are contributing towards the integration of migrant and refugee populations, either through specialized outreach programmes, the provision of services or targeted funding of nongovernmental organizations, and to what extent these contributions can be deepened or expanded. Perhaps a more important goal is to determine whether and how business and cities are currently working together to create opportunities for migrants and refugees and deepen their integration into society. If collaboration between the private and public sectors does not currently exist, the research identifies barriers and opportunities for potential partnerships.

The project consists of a number of components including a literature review highlighting the importance of urban migration flows, as well as the reality that it is at the local – increasingly city level - whereby migrants interact and experience the process of integration. In this context integration is defined at its most pragmatic, as a process in which migrants are empowered to thrive within the context of their destination – in part - with the help of a number of different local stakeholders. In addition to the literature review, fieldwork in eight countries was carried out to identify relevant stakeholders for qualitative semi-structured interviews. In total 56 interviews were conducted.

This report concentrates on the findings from Lisbon, Portugal.