Integration Otherwise Inspiration Kit

Luce Beeckmans, Dounia Salamé, Martina Bovo, Mary Hogan

ISBN 10: 9462704732 / ISBN 13: 9789462704732

Published by Leuven University Press, BE, 2025

A practical guide with a fresh, bottom-up perspective on integrationThis Integration Otherwise Inspiration Kit invites us to move beyond the polarised debate on integration - one that either portrays newcomers as failing to integrate or blames society as insufficiently welcoming. Using a bottom-up approach, it offers a new perspective that highlights how integration is already taking place in everyday life. The authors introduce the concept of 'arrival infrastructuring': the interactive process through which newcomers, together with others, actively shape and transform their arrival situations. Through stories from the ground with concise takeaways, alongside tools for reflection and action, this guide equips practitioners, policymakers and community builders with a deeper understanding of the diverse forms of arrival infrastructuring, as well as the successes and challenges of everyday integration processes. It aims to inspire future policies and practices.This book complements 'Infrastructuring Arrival: Envisioning the Migration-Integration Nexus Beyond Crisis', edited by Karel Arnaut, Luce Beeckmans, and Bruno Meeus (Leuven University Press, 2026). Seller Inventory # LU-9789462704732

Synopsis:

This Integration Otherwise Inspiration Kit invites us to move beyond the polarised debate on integration – one that either portrays newcomers as failing to integrate or blames society as insufficiently welcoming. Using a bottom-up approach, it offers a new perspective that highlights how integration is already taking place in everyday life. The authors introduce the concept of ‘arrival infrastructuring’: the interactive process through which newcomers, together with others, actively shape and transform their arrival situations. Through stories from the ground with concise takeaways, alongside tools for reflection and action, this guide equips practitioners, policymakers and community builders with a deeper understanding of the diverse forms of arrival infrastructuring, as well as the successes and challenges of everyday integration processes. It aims to inspire future policies and practices.

This book complements ‘Infrastructuring Arrival: Envisioning the Migration-Integration Nexus Beyond Crisis’, edited by Karel Arnaut, Luce Beeckmans, and Bruno Meeus (Leuven University Press, 2026).

About the Authors: Luce Beeckmans is Research Professor in Urbanism and Migration at the Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, KU Leuven, and Vice-Director of the KU Leuven Urban Studies Institute (LUSI).

Dounia Salamé is a social worker and PhD researcher at the Department of Architecture of KU Leuven.

Martina Bovo is a post-doctoral researcher at IUAV University of Venice and a contract professor at Politecnico di Milano. She held a post-doctoral position at KU Leuven’s Department of Architecture during the making of this book.

Mary Hogan is a scientific collaborator at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology and the Department of Architecture of KU Leuven.

Karel Arnaut is Professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology at KU Leuven. He teaches and conducts research on migration and mobility in relation to language use, diversity and inequality.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Integration Otherwise Inspiration Kit
Publisher: Leuven University Press, BE
Publication Date: 2025
Binding: Paperback
Condition: New