03.12.2021

Migration and Security in the City

Contributions by Anne Burkhardt and Karoline Reinhardt published

In the volume Migration und Sicherheit in der Stadt: Sozial-, geistes- und rechtswissenschaftliche Analysen zu migrantisch geprägten Großstadtquartieren (Migration and Security in the City: Analyses from the Social Sciences, Humanities and Law on Migrant Neighbourhoods), scholars from the interdisciplinary research project "Migration und Sicherheit in der Stadt" (migsst) present their analyses and proposals for big city neighbourhoods.
In her contribution „Aspekte guter Medienpraxis für Quartiere der Vielfalt“ (Aspects of Good Media Practice for Neighbourhoods of Diversity), Dr. Anne Burkhardt first examines how migration and neighbourhoods perceived as having a migrant character are covered in the news. She then identifies central flaws in current media coverage from a media ethics perspective and develops recommendations for action for municipalities, cities and journalism.
In her contribution „Begriffe und ihre Folgen“ (Concepts and their Consequences), Dr Karoline Reinhardt looks at the use of the term "parallel society" in migration debates in Germany. She examines the attributions that go hand in hand with this term and what problematic consequences they have. From the results of this analyses, she derives recommendations for actors in neighbourhood work.
Since 2018, the project "Migration and Security in the City" (migsst), funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, has been using a comprehensive, interdisciplinary research approach to investigate whether forms of integration and/or segregation in migrant urban neighbourhoods reduce or increase crime and conflicts, and if so, to what extent. Empirical social science studies were conducted in four large German cities, each in two ethnically diverse neighbourhoods. These were flanked by theoretical work from the fields of law, communication science and applied ethics.
The sub-project at the IZEW analyzed the discursive construction of ethnic segregation and "parallel societies" in urban spaces and the role media coverage plays. In addition, the IZEW accompanied empirical research and the development of crime prevention approaches through ethical reflection on underlying presuppositions and concepts.
The volume Migration und Sicherheit in der Stadt is published in the series „Zivile Sicherheit" by Lit Verlag.