Vienna, Arrival City of Refugees!
Vienna encountered an unregulated tremendous high flow of immigrants (more than 100.000 refugees) in the last two years. Because of war, revolution, ethical cleansing, religious conflicts, or poverty in their native countries, the migration intensified tremendously. The politicians and engaged stakeholders (like NGOs) are challenged to comprehend this crucial situation and obliged to deal appropriately with it. Essential approaches, to name a few, are controlled flow of migration (border security); adequate social support; education and lifelong learning; sufficient civil rights; access to adequate living space, energy, water and sanitation; reunification of close family members; tolerance to different cultures and religion; to empower women and girls; to provide productive and decent employment; to arrange equal opportunity to create wealth; to assist social immobility; to fight against criminal ganglands. The well-meaning is to motivate migrants to return to their home country supporting to rebuild resilient infrastructure and to create prosperity for all. Wealthy nations are compelled to provide development assistance for example in form of a Marshall Plan. The 17 SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and the Triple Bottom Line are practices which should be applied to achieve the 169 targets considering the social impact, policy impact, human factor, transdisciplinary approach, involvement of practitioners, and cost effectiveness. The impact of the disposition and prejudice of the inhabitants of Vienna and the political changed negatively: the economical, environmental well as social change shall be reflected in the application and practices.
Arrival City is an expression defined by Doug Saunders in his book: Arrival City, How Migration in History is Reshaping Our World, Doug Sounders, Random House Books, German Edition: Arrival City, Über alle Grenzen hinweg ziehen Millionen Menschen von Land in die Städte. Von ihnen hängt unsere Zukunft ab.
Roland Leithenmayr, VFV
NGO Committee on Sustainable Development Vienna 