Open Cities - Regional project - British Council Bulgaria



		Regional projects

OPEN Cities News

The Future City Game started at NBU
On 20 October the Future City Game started at the New Bulgarian University as part of the OPENCities project. From 1 November the game will be played at Sofia University. The Future City Game will be used to generate creative solutions in the field of migration management by fostering economic benefits for the city. The best ideas will be presented to the Local Support Group working with the municipality on the creation of an Action Plan to be implemented next year. Young people will have a real say in what might be city policy of tomorrow. Two of the games in December will be open for media representatives. Further information on the dates is coming soon.

OPENCities Blog
Follow the discussions on the OPENCities Blog. Sofia is part of them with the blog of Vladimir Shopov. Tаke a look at the topic and the comments.

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Future City Games in Sofia
Under the OPENCities project following a public tender Sofia municipality has selected a new leading local consultant – CERMES (Centre for European Refugees, Migration and Ethnic Studies).
Among other activities the British Council and CERMES plan to organise a series of interactive workshops with university students pursuing the following degrees: Public Administration, Political Science, European Studies and International Relations. We will use a British Council game tool, called Future City Game. The tool aims to generate creative solutions in the area of Migration management by fostering economic benefits for the city. The best ideas will be presented to the Local Support Group working with the municipality on the creation of an Action Plan under the project.
For more information please contact Maria Stanisheva.

OPENCities is an ambitious exploratory project which aims to capitalise on the many resources that a diverse population can bring to a city, without ignoring the challenges that successful integration involves. For more information please contact Maria Stanisheva.

	Open Cities


	immigration as contributer to city success

“We have to look at immigration not as a threat but – when well-managed, and that is our new task – as an enrichment and as an inescapable phenomenon of today’s world.” - Franco Frattini, EU justice commissioner 2004-2008

Open Cities is a regional project initiated by the British Council in 2007. Partners of the projects are: Belfast (Northern Ireland) – leading partner, Dublin (Ireland), Vienna (Austria), Sofia (Bulgaria) and Madrid (Spain). During the next phase the following will be involved: Bucharest (Romania), Cardiff (Wales), Bilbao (Spain), Dusseldorf (Germany), Poznan (Poland), Villa Nova de Gaia (Portugal) and Palermo (Italy).
The main purpose of the project is to develop policies and strategies focusing on the economic and social integration of foreign migrants (first and second generation) by tracing the ways in which they contribute to city success, ‘openness’, competitiveness and cultural diversity.
Globalisation and recent migration processes change the role and nature of contemporary cities. In some of them local authorise are facing a shortage of working force, in others – the economic and social integration of the migrant groups is the main issue.

The specific objectives of the project are to:

			conduct research and information exchange re. migration in the participating cities
			define “Open-ness” for cities, based on economic, regulatory, cultural, amenity, accessibility or risk factors and whether cities can control how they attract and retain new populations
			develop a migration policy city action plan and local discussion groups
			exchange of good practice and rating of the participating cities according to their open-ness profile and the degree to which they include the potential and contribution of migrants in their planning
			series of high-profile international conferences and publications aimed at national, regional & local policy makers as well as to the general public
			a Global Open-ness index - the final and most ambitious project output
			a set of art and educational events which will highlight the way in which cities have already adapted to and changed through immigration
			series of cross-community events aiming to involve the citizens in an active dialogue with city authorities on issues related to migration

At the moment:

			together with Sofia Мunicipality, which is the main partner of the project, we have launced the work of the local action group which involves representatives from ministries, municipal authorities, NGOs, academia and business organisations
			we are preparing a regional touring photo exhibition, which will show how participating cities are changing and adapting to migration processes
			we are commissioning diverse educational materials, interactive debates and publications which will popularise the project concept and will allow citizens to share their opinion

OPENCities is funded by British Council, EU URBACT programme and the participating cities.

Local partners:
CERMES
Sofia Echo

Here you can find out about the project, download the publication Towards OPENCities, watch the video from the launch confernce in Madrid or register to our newsletter.

For further information please contact Maria Stanisheva, Partnership Projects Manager.