"From migrant integration towards diversity mainstreaming? Between concept and (urban) reality"

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After the multiculturalism backlash and the assimilationist turn in many European countries, countries and cities now seem to be ‘mainstreaming’ their policies regarding migration-related diversity into generic policies. Rather than target-group specific and often ad-hoc policies, such policies would be structurally embedded in generic policy areas and target the whole diverse population. But what does the concept of mainstreaming actually imply, and can we indeed identify a trend toward mainstreaming in various settings? Based on a broad European research project on governance mainstreaming in the area of migration-related diversity, I will critically analyse and discuss the concept of mainstreaming. The aim is to contribute to a further theorization of mainstreaming; how does it relate to interculturalism and superdiversity, in what settings might mainstreaming be relevant, and what are the drivers of mainstreaming in the first place?