Migrant economy and spatial development. A resource of urban and regional development as an object of local governance

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Although a strong claim has been made in German academic and public debates to focus on the opportunities rather than the problems the immigration of people from abroad bears for society, the migrant economy has hardly been acknowledged as a potential resource for local and regional development. Correspondingly, very few attempts have been made by municipalities, districts (Landkreise) and regional planning authorities in Germany to actively support migrant economies. In particular outside the major urban centres development potentials of the migrant economy remains largely overlooked. The proposed project deals with the migrant economy from the perspective of local and regional development. It aims at ascertaining how the development potentials of the migrant economy can be made use of at the local level (in particular in non-metropolitan areas), defining the major impediments to the inclusion of the migrant economy in local and regional development strategies, and exploring how these impediments can be overcome. By addressing these questions the research helps closing a twofold academic void: Firstly, it directs the attention to the potential role of migrant economies in local and regional development strategies which had not been acknowledged sufficiently in recent debates and studies; secondly, it does so with a major focus on non-metropolitan areas. Regarding methodology the proposed project is designed as a case study and applies a mix of different (qualitative and quantitative) empirical research methods. Two wide-ranging urban-rural regions have been selected for the case studies: the regions of Braunschweig and Rostock as delineated by the German Chambers of Commerce and Handcraft. The research process is scheduled for a duration of 30 months and organized in five modules. Basically, it involves an inventory on the migrant economy in the two study regions, a detailed analysis on whether and in what way the migrant economy is an object of local politics and local governance, and an in-depth examination of how local and regional development stakeholders on the one hand and representatives of the migrant economy on the other hand perceive and judge on each other. The proposed project will result in the detection of- opportunities of and limits to using the migrant economy as a development resource in local and regional development strategies;- strengths and weaknesses of local and regional governance in the case study regions regarding the valorisation of the migrant economy for local and regional development; - options to address migrant milieus in the framework of local and regional development strategies.