About

The intercultural cities approach is a city-level policy framework which aims to promote dialogue and interaction across cultural boundaries to promote social cohesion. Originating  in Europe a decade ago, the approach, promoted by the Council of Europe’s Intercultural Cities (ICC) programme, has increasing generated interest and membership around the globe. Since 2017, three Australian cities have joined the programme and more across Australasia have expressed interest in the intercultural approach.

In response to this growing interest, the Embedding Intercultural Cities in Australasia (EICA) project is offering a series of public events and undertaking an associated research program designed to promote discussion about the intercultural cities approach among Australasian cities and civil societies.

To foster this discussion, the project is bringing together scholars, policymakers and practitioners working in the intercultural field from around the globe, culminating in an International Intercultural Cities conference which will be held in Melbourne in March 2023.

In the lead up to this major event, researchers and policymakers in three countries -Spain, Canada and Australia – will come together in a series of workshops and roundtables to gather and share knowledge about how the intercultural approach is being translated into policies and practice in these different national contexts.

Underpinning these events is the International Intercultural Cities Comparative Study (IICCS), a collaboration of leading international scholars of interculturalism which will map convergences and divergences in the implementation of the intercultural cities approach in these countries.