‘Welcoming Spaces’ aims to search for new ways to merge two policy challenges: how to contribute to the revitalisation of shrinking areas while also offering space for the successful integration of non-EU migrants. A point of departure for the project is the observation that there are examples of ‘welcoming spaces’ which do exist in some places, but often remain invisible and dispersed. Examples of small towns and villages offsetting a declining population by attracting non-EU migrants are found in various European regions in Italy and Spain, but also Germany, the Netherlands and Poland. Such initiatives to create ‘welcoming spaces’ and initiate new types of government-citizen-migrant engagement are often citizen-based but can equally be the outcome of initiatives by governments, NGOs and businesses, or they can be migrant-based.
The shrinking regions in Poland (Podlaskie and Lubelskie voivodships) identified within the research activities under the ‘Welcoming Spaces’ project attract immigrants from Ukraine and Belarus (being regions that share a border with these countries). In addition, the location of centres for asylum seekers (6 out of 10 centres in the Lubelskie and Podlaskie voivodships) makes forced migrants stay in these regions, either temporary for the duration of the asylum procedure or permanently if they decide to settle in the region. Considering the above depicted factors, we decided to further analyse four localities: Łomża, Zambrów (Podlaskie voivodship), Wohyń, Zalesie (Lubelskie voivodship).
Poland is represented in the project by an interdisciplinary research team from the Collegium of Socio-Economics. The project is managed by Paweł Kubicki (Department of Social Policy, Institute of Social Economy - IGS) and Marta Pachocka (Department of Political Studies, Institute of International Studies - ISM), and the team members are employees of the Sociology Department of the Institute of Philosophy, Sociology and Economic Sociology (Joanna Zuzanna Popławska), IGS Public Policy Department (Ewa Jastrzębska, Paulina Legutko-Kobus) and IGS Department of Social Policy (Justyna Gać, MA). The key role in the implementation of ‘Welcoming Spaces’ is played by Justyna Szałańska (IGS Department of Social Policy), a PhD candidate employed within the project.