Integration Otherwise Inspiration Kit

A practical guide with a fresh, bottom-up perspective on integration

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).

"Integration Otherwise Inspiration Kit" was written by Luce Beeckmans, Dounia Salamé, Martina Bovo, Mary Hogan, Shila Hadji Heydari Anaraki, Karel Arnaut, Paschalis Arvanitidis, Kristen Biehl, Márton Bisztrai, Gideon Bolt, György Csepeli, Athina Zoe Desli, Laura Guérin, Tina Gudrun Jensen, Heike Hanhörster, András Kováts, Emma Krasznahorkai, Zsuzsa László, Carolien Lubberhuizen, Sarah Makar, Bruno Meeus, Tamlyn Monson, Antal Örkeny, George Papagiannitsis, Lucie Revilla, Alexandra Sandor, Marhabo Saparova, Reiner Staubach, Cornelia Tippel, Charalampos Tsavdaroglou, Ilse van Liempt, Susanne Wessendorf, Zacharias Valiantzas, Penelope Vergou, Aimilia Voulvouli and Dennis Zilske.

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.

Bruno Meeus is Associate Professor at Utrecht University of Applied Sciences. He teaches at the Institute for Social Work and coordinates research on housing precarity within the Centre for Social Innovation.

Yes, "Integration Otherwise Inspiration Kit" is published Open Access. It is available under a BY-NC-ND license.

Publication of "Integration Otherwise Inspiration Kit" was funded by Horizon2020
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Introduction

PART I — SEEING INTEGRATION OTHERWISE

Introduction: Arrival infrastructuring
1. Resourcing
2. Bridging
3. Coming together
4. Claiming
Reflection and advice

PART II — DOING INTEGRATION OTHERWISE

Introduction: Taking action
1. Awareness-raising
2. Coalition-building
3. Empowering
Reflection and advice

Illustration credits

The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) for "Integration Otherwise Inspiration Kit" is 10.11116/9789461666758.