Sanctuary Cities in Europe? Urban Policies in Support of Irregular Migrants in Europe

Irregular migrants tend to live in dense urban settings. As a consequence, cities worldwide develop a variety of urban policies in support of irregular migrants. By doing so, cities intervene in a policy-making realm that is commonly perceived as the prerogative of national states. Given the US phenomenon of sanctuary cities, the study of these policies has been rather US-centric so far.

In this talk, Prof. David Kaufmann gives a conceptual overview over different urban policies in support of irregular migrants and he presents empirical insights from a policy survey of the biggest 95 European cities (all European cities with over 350’000 inhabitants) and of two case studies (Geneva: Operation Papyrus and Zürich: Züri City Card). A high policy diversity in European cities was found. These urban policies are products of complex policy formulation processes in which institutional opportunities and constraints as well as the political agency of a diverse set of actors account for often rather idiosyncratic policies. More theoretically, this research shows that the city can be the space to challenge exclusion perpetrated at the level of the national state.