International inhabitants

// INTERNATIONAL INHABITANTS

Anna Schlarb, Elizaveta Misyuryaeva

In the last decade several changes have caused Germany to rethink the migration organisation. The introduction of the law for general free movement of citizens of the European Union within and in between the EU countries and the distribution of refugees according to the current Königsstein key are two of the most important factors. Cities have been put into the position to improve their integration institutions and give migrants the chance to assimilate and at the same time enrich the urban life with new perspectives. The main questions for this mapping task where the following: What kind of cultural and ethnographical mix do the cities Hannover and Halle have? How is the spatial distribution of people with a migration background? And what kind of places play an important role of integration, encounter and cultural exchange? When talking about integration, it is important to distinguish two types: the facilitation of partaking and the further cultural exchange. This distinction is crucial when trying to understand the goals of those places mentioned above and where others dock onto and take the integration a step further. In the mappings we considered statistical brochures published by the cities, official cultural exchange websites devoted to migration and location entries on Google Maps and others which are easily accessed by any new resident.

HANNOVER In Hannover the question of migration is especially relevant since citizens have chosen a mayor with Turkish roots in the end of 2019 and the Local integration plan (LIP, since 2008) is in the process of being discussed and edited, due to the increased migration. The LIP names goals, action suggestions and measures to provide a better integration of people with a migration background, in regard to the facilitation of partaking. Since the LIP was published, the percentage of people with foreign roots has risen from 23,9% (2007) to 31,8% (2019). The top five nationalities are Turkish, Polish, Russian, Syrian and Greek (Fig. 1), though the most spoken languages after German are Turkish and Arabic, beating Polish, Persian, English by quite a big number. Data shows Hannover’s west has had a higher percentage of migrants since 2007 – Linden-Süd, Hainholz, Mühlenberg and Vahrenheide being the most saturated. The spatial distribution remained persistent for the next decade. Linden’s growth is similar to Hannover’s total, but the last ones were growing much faster, especially Mühlenberg which developed a staggering difference of 20% (total of 68%) since 2007. An analysis of the most spoken languages after German hints on big Arabic speaking diaspora in that district, which was included in the national development program ‘Stadtteile mit besonderem Entwicklungsbedarf – die Soziale Stadt’ in 2014. Most of the important places of integration and (spontanous) encounter are located in the city centre and nearby Georgengarten park, the streets with a high density of international shops and other businesses etc. Special encounter places which take the integration a step further are for example the popular cultural centre Faust. It includes several projects that integrate music and other events with cultural exchange. Another interesting institution is the youth theatre GET2gether in

IKJA where international youth develops their own theatre projects and thereby processes their experiences.

HALLE The issues of migration and integration have become increasingly important in the city of Halle in recent years with growing numbers of international residents. The number of people with a migration background increased from 3.9% to 7.3% in Halle from 2010 to 2015. Most of the people came from the part of the world east of Germany (Fig. 2) When analyzing the international population, the migration movements can be roughly divided into three categories: People from Eastern Europe and Russia come to Halle to work and live there longterm. Their stay is usually longer than 10 years. A large group of people, mostly from Romania, have come to Halle since the lift of restrictions on freedom of travel in 2014 to work seasonally. The third large group of migrants are people who flee due to the conflicts in the Arab world. This group increased significantly in 2015. No easing of the situation in the respective countries is currently foreseeable. The district with the most international residents is southern Neustadt. Every fourth has foreign roots here. This is followed by Freiimfelde and the southern and northern inner city. Among other things, this has to do with the historical origins of the districts such as Neustadt and Freiimfelde as working-class districts, in which there is now a large vacancy rate and low rents, as well as the accommodation of refugees in central, downtown facilities. Due to the increasing challenges in the area of integration and migration, the city of Halle has continuously adapted its administrative structures. Integration is seen as a task that affects everyone and the idea of integration should be permanently anchored in urban society as a matter of course. This should be achieved, for example, through the nationwide program ‘Schule ohne Rassissmus – Schule mit Courage.’ (School without Racism - School with Courage). The aim of it is to make the schools and their students sensitive to discrimination and encourage long-lasting engagement. The participating schools are supported by cooperation partners and the federal coordination. In Halle, 15 schools take part in the program. There are also various government and non-profit offers (Fig. 6) At the city of Halle there are migration and integration officers, as well as an advisory board for foreigners where you can find out about various language and integration courses and get help with starting your professional life. The non-profit organizations are diverse. The association of the migrant organization Halle e.V. (VEMO) and church sponsors are worth mentioning here. There are also international language cafés that take place several times a week for cultural exchange, for example the WELCOME-Treff is another important meeting place. It is a meeting place for refugees and committed people with voluntary language and cultural offers, reading lessons, creative and manual work and much more. For example, there is help with forms and applications, the women’s café or events such as ‘Falafel & Games’. There is something for everyone in the extensive weekly program. Everyone is invited to take part in the offers or to contribute their own ideas.

Fig. 1+2: Most common origin nations of people with migration background. Hannover (left) and Halle (Saale) (right). The darker the blue,

the higher the amount of foreigners.

Sources: author‘s depiction with data from Landeshauptstadt Hannover, Fachbereich Planen und Stadtentwicklung, Bevölkerungsentwick-

lung der LH Hannover im Jahr 2018, März 2019; Stadt Halle, Migrationsbericht 2018

Fig. 3+4: Density of migrants by districts and agglomeration of institutions for integration in Hannover (left) and Halle (Saale) (right).

The darker the blue, the higher the percentage of foreigners.

Sources: author‘s depiction with data from Landeshauptstadt Hannover, Strukturdaten der Stadtteile und Stadtbezirke 2019 und Statis-

tische Profle der Stadtteile und Stadtbezirke 2018; welt-in-hannover.de; Stadt Halle, Migrationsbericht 2018; Google 2020; willkommen-

in-halle.de; freiwilligen-agentur.de; couragierte-schule.de

Sources

Landeshauptstadt Hannover, Strukturdaten der Stadtteile und Stadtbezirke 2019

Landeshauptstadt Hannover, Statistische Profle der Stadtteile und Stadtbezirke 2018

https://www.hannover.de/Leben-in-der-Region-Hannover/Soziales/Integration-Einwanderung/LIP-2.0 (29.05.2020)

https://www.neuepresse.de/Hannover/Meine-Stadt/Muehlenberg-Waldheim-Zwei-Stadtteile-zwei-Welten-in-

Hannover (29.05.2020)

Stadt Halle(Saale): ISEK – Integriertes Stadtentwicklungskonzept 2025

Fig. 5+6: Places of integration and encounter in the centres of Hannover (top) and Halle (Saale) (bottom)

Sources: author‘s depiction with data from Halle(Saale): ISEK – Integriertes Stadtentwicklungskonzept 2025,