Urban Citizenship and Digital Practice
This workshop aims at bringing debates about migration, cities and digital justice into dialogue with each other. While immigration and borders are often seen as a matter of national governments, cities and neighborhoods are in fact important places for migrants to access rightsand resources, actively organize, and establish social networks. The Sanctuary City movement in North America and the Solidarity Citymovement in Europe are examples for how cities can become powerful counterweights to national governments' anti-immigration policies. While the concept of "urban citizenship" provides a productive framework to better understand these processes, so far there is little connection to the scholarship on "digital justice". In the first part of this workshop, we will introduce the concept of urban citizenship and some ofits political implications. In the second part of the workshop, we will split up into small groups and discuss the role of digital infrastructures and practices for urban citizenship: What kind of digital infrastructure is needed to strengthen urban citizenship formigrants and other marginalized groups? How can local authorities maketheir digital resources more accessible to a diverse urban population? What role do digital practices play for claiming rights and communityorganizing? And how can – and should – cities protect the data ofmigrants with a precarious or undocumented status? Results of the workshop discussions will be documented and, if considered desirable by the participants, published for a broader audience.
This workshop aims at bringing debates about migration, cities and digital justice into dialogue with each other. While immigration and borders are often seen as a matter of national governments, cities and neighborhoods are in fact important places for migrants to access rightsand resources, actively organize, and establish social networks. The Sanctuary City movement in North America and the Solidarity Citymovement in Europe are examples for how cities can become powerful counterweights to national governments' anti-immigration policies. While the concept of "urban citizenship" provides a productive framework to better understand these processes, so far there is little connection to the scholarship on "digital justice". In the first part of this workshop, we will introduce the concept of urban citizenship and some ofits political implications. In the second part of the workshop, we will split up into small groups and discuss the role of digital infrastructures and practices for urban citizenship: What kind of digital infrastructure is needed to strengthen urban citizenship formigrants and other marginalized groups? How can local authorities maketheir digital resources more accessible to a diverse urban population? What role do digital practices play for claiming rights and communityorganizing? And how can – and should – cities protect the data ofmigrants with a precarious or undocumented status? Results of the workshop discussions will be documented and, if considered desirable by the participants, published for a broader audience.