Webinar Series "Diversity Matters"

The webinar series "Diversity Matters" explores the impact of migrations, diversities and mobilities on increasingly superdiverse territorial realities. Hosted by the Research Group Migrations and Diversities of Eurac Research, the series is a forum for experts to share their work and expertise with an audience of fellow academics, students, decision-makers and practitioners.

Upcoming webinar: 18 November 2021, 3-4.30 pm UTC+2 Access to and Exclusion from Housing over Time: Migrants’ Experiences in Rural Areas. A conversation with Tobias Weidinger and Stefan Kordel Moderated by Marzia Bona, Institute for Regional Development, Eurac Research Registration link: https://scientificnet.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_brU1AEyURauQAgQaoFhuKg

Abstract: Tobias Weidinger and Stefan Kordel investigate various processes of immigration to rural areas and transformations resulting from rural newcomers. In this webinar, they will focus on the realm of housing, which is closely interlinked with other dimensions of migrants’ integration such as individuals’ sense of safety and security and is often addressed as a prerequisite for access to employment, education and health care. Drawing on empirical results from joint research projects conducted in rural Bavaria (Germany), the authors will present the complex interplay of individual and family-related residential preferences of rural newcomers over time as well as structural factors regarding access to housing and associated settlement and integration. Mechanisms and practices of exclusion that prevent migrants from accessing appropriate private housing are related to the negotiation of residential preferences about where and how to live, as well as to structural aspects such as the pattern of local housing markets, accessibility of infrastructures or the unwillingness of landlords to let to migrants. The webinar will conclude by highlighting the role of place in housing trajectories. While social resources determine newcomers’ practices and strategies of local intermediaries to overcome exclusion, the difficult provision of housing points to what is currently discussed as housing crisis, also in rural settings.

Previous webinars: "Migration, Agriculture and Rural Development" A conversation with Domenica Farinella, Michele Nori and Marzia Bona (Eurac Research) 21 Oct 2021.

"Indigenous Urbanization and Mobility: identity, resilience and rights" A conversation with Philipp Horn (University of Sheffield), Claire Wright (Queens University Belfast) and Alexandra Tomaselli (Eurac Research) 22 Sep 2021.

**Info and contact: johanna.mitterhofer@eurac.edu marta.guarda@eurac.edu