Integrated Britain?

Public panel discussion

Globalisation has increased the cross-border and cross-continental movement of people and ideas like never before. The UK, continuing its long history of immigration, is more culturally diverse than ever, with London alone home to 270 nationalities speaking 300 languages.

Understanding how our different cultures interact is complex and provides both opportunities and challenges to our communities.

Integration brings opportunities to learn from each other, share perspectives, challenge misconceptions, and celebrate the best of each other’s traditions, music, food, art, skills and innovation. Communities where people trust each other, show mutual respect, and share a sense of belonging and common aspirations are more prosperous and resilient than those they don’t, and living in a cohesive community has benefits to crime rates, health, education, employment and the economy.

Initiatives to support integration include English language classes, encouraging young people of different cultures to meet through extra-curricular activities, community street parties, and planning housing and public space to make it easier for people to meet, however the degree to which shared identities and values should be enforced, and current policies have been successful in preventing segregation and isolation, have been questioned.

Building cohesive communities takes time and depends on local context. As individuals – both hosts and newcomers – wider society, and government, could and should we be doing more to enable better integrated cities, towns and villages?

Join us to discuss how we can strike a balance between integration that celebrates similarities, while respecting differences, and how can we create 21st Century communities that allow everyone, regardless of background to thrive.

Speakers:

Professor Ted Cantle CBE – Founder of the Institute of Community Cohesion, the UK’s leading authority on community cohesion and intercultural relations (now the iCoCo Foundation). In 2001 he chaired the independent review of the riots in northern towns and was responsible for the ‘Cantle Report’ which gave birth to the concept of ‘community cohesion’ and the founding of the community cohesion programme.

He was formerly chief executive of Nottingham City Council and chair of the DTI Construction Task Force for local government. Ted was appointed CBE in 2004 and is a Deputy Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire.

He is the author of ‘Interculturalism: The New Era of Cohesion and Diversity’ and Visiting Professor at the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University.

Further speakers TBC

Booking:
Tickets £10 | RGS-IBG members £7 | Students £5
Book online or Tel: 0207 591 3100 (RGS-IBG events office)

Further details:
Twitter: @21CC
www.21stcenturychallenges.org
www.rgs.org

Venue:
Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)
1 Kensington Gore
London
SW7 2AR

Exhibition road doors open at 6.00pm

This event is part of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)’s 21st Century Challenges programme.

Image credit: Megan Trace, flickr