Urban Citizenship

Lecture by Rainer Bauböck, Commission for Migration and Integration Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences, European University Institute, Florence

Roundtable with:
Helmut Aust, Department of Law, Freie Universität Berlin
Ines Michalowski, Research Unit Migration, Integration, Transnationalization, WZB
Daniel Thym, Department of Law, University of Konstanz

The concept of citizenship originated in the city republics of ancient and early modern Europe. Today, the determination of citizenship has become a monopoly of states. However, in democratic states faced with increasing mobility and diversity, cities have reclaimed citizenship for themselves in various ways, e.g. by extending voting rights in local elections to noncitizens, by issuing identity cards to all residents, by experimenting with democratic innovations such as participatory budgeting and citizen councils, or by providing "sanctuary" to undocumented migrants. This talk will explore the potential and limitations of new manifestations of urban citizenship in Western democratic states.

Chaired by Ashley Mantha-Hollands, Research Fellow/PhD Candidate International Citizenship Law, WZB.