Instituto de Estudios Políticos y Derecho Público "Dr. Humberto J. La Roche"
de la Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas de la Universidad del Zulia
Maracaibo, Venezuela
Esta publicación cientíca en formato digital es continuidad de la revista impresa
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197402ZU34
ppi 201502ZU4645
Vol.40 N° 73
Julio
Diciembre
2022
Recibido el 15/03/2022 Aceptado el 15/06/2022
ISSN 0798- 1406 ~ De pó si to le gal pp 198502ZU132
Cues tio nes Po lí ti cas
La re vis ta Cues tio nes Po lí ti cas, es una pu bli ca ción aus pi cia da por el Ins ti tu to
de Es tu dios Po lí ti cos y De re cho Pú bli co “Dr. Hum ber to J. La Ro che” (IEPDP) de la Fa-
cul tad de Cien cias Ju rí di cas y Po lí ti cas de la Uni ver si dad del Zu lia.
En tre sus ob je ti vos fi gu ran: con tri buir con el pro gre so cien tí fi co de las Cien cias
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ción, dis cu sión y con fron ta ción de las ideas y avan ces cien tí fi cos con com pro mi so so cial.
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avan ces o re sul ta dos de in ves ti ga ción en las áreas de Cien cia Po lí ti ca y De re cho Pú bli-
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Eduviges Morales Villalobos
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cul tad de Cien cias Ju rí di cas y Po lí ti cas. Ins ti tu to de Es tu dios Po lí ti cos y De re cho Pú bli co
“Dr. Hum ber to J. La Ro che”. Ma ra cai bo, Ve ne zue la. E- mail: cues tio nes po li ti cas@gmail.
com ~ loi chi ri nos por til lo@gmail.com. Te le fax: 58- 0261- 4127018.
Vol. 40, Nº 79 (2022), 274-291
IEPDP-Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas - LUZ
Mapping in the context of public
administration of intercultural diversity
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46398/cuestpol.4073.14
Lyudmila Afanasieva *
Iryna Bukrieieva **
Natalia Hlebova ***
Lyudmila Glyns’ka ****
Iryna Grabovska *****
Abstract
The objective of the study is to comprehensively analyze the
methods of intercultural mapping of communities as a tool for the
municipal management of a multiethnic urban community and,
thus, determine their eectiveness for the active construction
of intercultural practices and reformatting of the urban culture
space. The Intercultural Mapping Methodology, developed by
the Council of Europe’s Intercultural Cities Programme, includes
tools such as the Intercultural Cities Index and the Intercultural Citizenship
Test, as well as sociological and focus group studies, which further involve a
wide range of active residents that identify tangible cultural and intangible
values in cities. The use of this technique by the intercultural community
of the Ukrainian city of Melitopol has proven its eectiveness as a
mechanism to involve representatives of ethnic groups in cooperation with
the municipal authorities for the joint development of the city’s cultural
policy. It is concluded that a comprehensive analysis of the results of the
study allowed to determine the priorities and strategies of its development,
cultural and creative resources of the territorial community, creating
conditions and new opportunities for a dynamic, inclusive and democratic
intercultural society.
* Ph.D in Рhilosophical Sciences, Associate Professor of Sociology Department Bohdan Khmelnitsky
Melitopol State Pedagogical University, Меlitopol, Ukraine. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-
9386-6529
** Ph.D in Рhilosophical Sciences, Associate Professor of Sociology Department Bohdan Khmelnitsky
Melitopol State Pedagogical University, Меlitopol, Ukraine. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-
7444-8321
*** Sc. in Sociology, Professor of Sociology Departmen, Bohdan Khmelnitsky Melitopol State Pedagogical
University, Меlitopol, Ukraine. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3417-1337
**** Ph.D in Рhilosophical Sciences, Associate Professor of Sociology Department Bohdan Khmelnitsky
Melitopol State Pedagogical University, Меlitopol, Ukraine. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-
2223-2024
***** Ph.D in Рhilosophical Sciences, Senior Researcher, Center of Ukrainian Studies, Faculty of Philosophy,
Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-
0002-7416-9541
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Keywords: public management; citizen participation; intercultural city;
development strategies; mapping.
Mapeo en el contexto de la administración pública de
la diversidad intercultural
Resumen
El objetivo del estudio es analizar de forma integral los métodos de mapeo
intercultural de comunidades como herramienta para la gestión municipal
de una comunidad urbana multiétnica y, así, determinar su efectividad para
la construcción activa de prácticas interculturales y reformateo del espacio
de cultura urbana. La Metodología de Mapeo Intercultural, desarrollada
por el Programa de Ciudades Interculturales del Consejo de Europa,
incluye herramientas como el Índice de Ciudades Interculturales y el Test
de Ciudadanía Intercultural, así como estudios sociológicos y de grupos
focales, que involucran además una amplia gama de residentes activos que
identican lo cultural tangible y valores intangibles ciudades. El uso de esta
técnica por parte de la comunidad intercultural de la ciudad ucraniana de
Melitopol ha demostrado su efectividad como mecanismo para involucrar
a representantes de grupos étnicos en cooperación con las autoridades
municipales para el desarrollo conjunto de la política cultural de la
ciudad. Se concluye que un análisis integral de los resultados del estudio
permitió determinar las prioridades y estrategias de su desarrollo, recursos
culturales y creativos de la comunidad territorial, creando condiciones y
nuevas oportunidades para una sociedad intercultural dinámica, inclusiva
y democrática.
Palabras clave: gestión publica; participación ciudadana; ciudad
intercultural; estrategias de desarrollo; mapeo.
Introduction
The processes of globalization have actualized the importance of cities
on the world stage, since human, nancial, and information ows are
concentrated on their territory, that leads to the growth and change of their
structural characteristics. According to Manuel Castells, modern society
on a global scale is a “space of ows” (information, nance, labor, other
resources), which, based on its own logic of development, identies certain
“privileged” places in physical space (especially cities) (Castells, 2010).
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Mapping in the context of public administration of intercultural diversity
These processes are irreversible and expand the cultural diversity of
cities at the expense of migrants at the same time. All of this exacerbates
the question of their impact on the consolidation of the urban community
and the interaction of cultures within the urban environment.
Globalists’ expectations that political or civic identity will displace ethnic
or religious identity have been untrue. In fact, ethnic communities pretend
to recognition and respect for their cultural identity, as well as for a certain
social status of their group. This creates new forms of interaction between
ethnic groups and representatives of the titular nation. They need careful
study to develop eective policies not only at the state but also at the level
of local government.
After all, the main work to meet the needs and harmonize the interests
of citizens is performed primarily by municipal authorities at the expense of
local resources. Hence the problem of the quality of municipal government
of cultural diversity, which implied the relationship management between
dierent ethnic, religious, social communities within the urban community.
Existing scientic research on improving public and local government
focuses on socio-legal rather than cultural aspects. Therefore, there is a
real need for a sociological study of the quality of municipal government
of ethnocultural diversity, using new methods of participatory approach
that would take into account self-determination, rights and freedoms of
residents of the urban community.
1. Objectives
Carry out a comprehensive analysis of methods of intercultural mapping
of communities as a tool for municipal government of a multiethnic urban
community and determine its eectiveness for the active construction of
intercultural practices and reformatting the space of urban culture.
2. Mapping as a denition of resources and development
potential of the territorial community
Community mapping is one of the mechanisms of joint cooperation
between the authorities and the city community through the methods of
participation. Actually, social maps appeared at the end of the XIX century,
as part of the emergence of urban planning. One of the rst researchers to
use the mapping method to display social problems and social information
in a spatial context was the social topographer Charles Booth, who compiled
“poverty maps” in London in 1889 (Morgan, 2019). In 1895, Jane Adams and
her colleagues published maps of living conditions in the neighborhoods of
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poor migrants in one of the urban areas of Chicago in the book “Documents
and Maps of Hull House” (Addams, 2018).
In the early 1920s, the mapping method was actively used by Robert Park
and Ernest Burgess, who used the categories of social space, boundaries and
distances, range and zones (Park and Burgess, 1926). That is, the rst social
maps were part of a wide range of statistical and analytical data. Exploring
the problem, the innovators resorted to processing and systematizing
empirical material and used mapping as a method of visualizing of a part
of the collected information. However, social data were used mainly in
geographic information systems, despite the established traditions, until
the 1970s.
In recent decades, this trend has begun to change radically. Modern
social mapping is a group of methods combined with one object of study:
social reality in order to analyze it and further inuence it. First of all, it
is due to the need to study the context of relations between people for the
needs of social design in the development and implementation of social
policy, development of comprehensive regional development programmes.
Contemporary researchers (Boiko, 2017; Kappel, 2001; Garcia and
Bray, 1997; Meyer, 2020; Minkin et al., 2017; Smentyna, 2017; Tsedіk,
2015; Zablodska and Hrechana, 2019) understand social mapping as a
public study involving a wide range of active residents who determine the
valuable qualities of their habitat, seek opportunities, share their feelings
and ideas. Therefore, it is important that this process is balanced and takes
into account the interests of dierent groups.
In addition, there is a need to summarize and take into account new
factors regarding the impact of community mapping on participatory
decision-making. Today, it is impossible to imagine the development of a
democratic society without such decision-making. We note that community
mapping is the process of mapping the resources and creating a community
image that demonstrates its ability and potential, involving residents
in identifying valuable qualities (individual, social, institutional) and
creating an image of their city / region, in which everyone would like to live
(Borovitinova, 2017).
It is used to map resources (individual, public, institutional), potential,
dangers, social values; to collect data for evaluation or monitoring of
traditional and innovative knowledge and practices; to present alternative
development scenarios; for democratization of decision-making processes
and empowerment of community members (Minkin et al., 2017).
The mapping methodology itself is usually performed according to the
following algorithm: goal setting (what we strive for, what we want to do);
understanding who you will work with; identifying opinion of community
leaders, you plan to engage with; collection of statistical data; development
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Mapping in the context of public administration of intercultural diversity
of research tools to obtain quantitative and qualitative results; conducting
training on the use of research tools among local assets; preparation of a
map of the territory of the settlement; conducting research with the help
of active community members; analysis of results; preparation of the nal
publication; publication of results (Minkin et al., 2017).
All this requires considerable time, as well as the development of
planning decisions that suit a representative part of the citizens. But we
must understand that the result of such a process is a city of a completely
dierent type than we have now.
3. Methods and tools of intercultural mapping
One of the most revealing methods of participatory social mapping
is intercultural mapping. It means the mapping of cultural and creative
resources of the territory to assess the potential of the creative sector,
determine its capabilities and needs.
Today, urban communities can record their cultural practices and
resources, as well as other intangible assets – a sense of place and other social
and spiritual values by mapping intercultural resources. This technique is
aimed at stimulating the social, cultural and economic development of the
city through the formation of its image and territorial attractiveness. It also
includes an audit of the resources and needs of the city, but through the
analysis of the material and subjective eld of culture, as well as intangible
symbolic space.
Social and technological features of intercultural mapping are
manifested in the direct interaction of local governments with the
ethnocultural community; in monitoring as a method of researching the
needs and requests of the community; in the development and application
of indicators to meet the needs of the community, improving the quality of
life as the main criteria for assessing the eectiveness of government; in
the important role of feedback in the system of governance; in the active
participation of the population in setting goals, implementing targeted
programs, projects (Minkin et al., 2017).
This method, that is one of the active approaches to the development
of culture through openness and involvement of the community, began to
be used in UNESCO as a methodology or technology for the identication,
description, promotion and restoration of cultural resources and values of
a particular area.
The mapping, which was launched in Lviv in 2008 became one of the
rst examples of using the method of cultural mapping in Ukraine. The
cultural map of Lviv identied all participants in the cultural life of the
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city, as well as what they did, what resources they needed, what relations
there were between them. It identied key players, urgent areas of work,
projected dangers and threats; determined what were the types of cultural
organizations, where they were located and how many people worked there,
what resources existed and who received them.
The cultural map helped to understand the role, relations and
responsibilities of all subjects of the city’s cultural life, and also revealed
the cultural potential, directions of strategic planning and organizational
development (Cultural planning of Lviv: preparation of a cultural map,
2008).
As interculturalism is an urban phenomenon, in 2008, the Council of
Europe initiated a project focusing on cultural diversity – the Intercultural
cities programme (Intercultural cities programme, 2007).
Its goal is to turn cultural dierences into a stimulus for development.
Interculturalism refers to an approach to cultural diversity that goes beyond
equal opportunities and respect for existing ethnocultural dierences
(Council of Europe, 2009). In practice, this means recognizing the values of
dierent cultures and their rights to participate in the creation of a common
identity, which is dened by diversity, pluralism and respect for human
rights and fundamental freedoms.
Recognition of dierent cultures includes diversity in formal dialogue
and communication, adaptation of governmental and non-governmental
institutions to ethnic diversity. This diversity would ensure openness and
sucient exibility of these organizations to representatives of ethnic
groups. Such an approach requires the development of a long-term strategy
to transform the social and cultural space, institutions and civic culture.
The notion of the benets of diversity is at the heart of this approach. It
means that diversity is not a threat but an advantage to communities under
competent leadership. The work with the concept of diversity is not a way of
urban branding, but a philosophy of management and denition of public
policy.
The Intercultural cities programme (Intercultural cities programme,
2007) tested a range of methodologies and prepared relevant documents to
help local authorities develop and implement a comprehensive intercultural
policy covering various areas, such as economic development, urban
planning and urban regeneration, and intercultural interaction, mediation,
security and participation, etc.
Eective tools for managing cultural diversity include: detailed proles
of participating cities; special guide “Intercultural city: step by step” (The
intercultural City Step by Step: Practical Guide for Applying the Urban
Model of Intercultural Integration, 2013); examples of the best practices;
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Lyudmila Afanasieva, Iryna Bukrieieva, Natalia Hlebova, Lyudmila Glyns’ka y Iryna Grabovska
Mapping in the context of public administration of intercultural diversity
Index of intercultural cities (hereinafter – ICC index); study visits, trainings,
thematic events and exchanges of innovations with the involvement of
politicians, practitioners and activists from each city in discussions with
colleagues from around the world (Intercultural cities programme, 2007).
The most eective tool of the Program, which helps to monitor the
process of intercultural development of the city, the implementation of
its strategy, and oers an assessment of relevant policies and processes of
the city, is the Index of Intercultural Cities program (Intercultural cities
programme, 2007). The cities which are ocial participants in the Council
of Europe’s Intercultural Cities programme undergo regular peer review of
their policies, government and practices. The index evaluates the result of
the activities of cities on the model of intercultural integration.
The ICC index questionnaire includes the following blocks: city,
population, subdivisions, etc.; information on intercultural policy,
structures and activities, adherence to the principles of interculturality. The
ICC Index also highlights the issues related to education, public services,
business and the labor market, civic space, mediation in conict resolution,
language, media and communication.
Separate blocks highlight issues related to international cooperation,
intercultural competence, welcome policy for newcomers, leadership
and citizenship, anti-discrimination, participation (Intercultural cities
programme, 2007). Cities that carry out the ICC-Index survey consistently
and repeatedly over a period of time will be able to distinguish upward or
downward trends in key indices and, therefore, make much more informed
judgments about the long-term impact of their policies. The methodology
and principles of data collection for the ICC-Index are presented in detail
on the ocial website (Intercultural cities programme, 2007).
The next tool is the Intercultural Citizenship Test (hereinafter – the
Test), which was created to determine the knowledge and awareness of
citizens about human rights, their intercultural competence, the perception
of diversity as an advantage, as well as the desire to act in an intercultural
way.
The test aimed to be both an educational and a political tool to raise
awareness of citizens, professionals and politicians about the need to
determine urban citizenship. Unlike national citizenship tests for foreign
nationals, the Intercultural Citizenship Test allowed any member of the
local community to self-assess their skills and willingness to be an active
citizen in a diverse society. The test can be used as a supplement to the ICC
Index and accompany the development of the Intercultural Strategy of the
city.
The test contains a list of basic values of an intercultural citizen:
perception of diversity as an advantage; positive and constructive public
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participation and openness to interaction; knowledge and understanding;
perception; behavior (Intercultural cities programme, 2007).
Another tool for management of intercultural diversity is to identify
public opinion through sociological research. The questionnaire toolkit
is developed on the principle of “SWOT-analysis”, which allows to take
into account the opinion of citizens for the successful implementation of
intercultural integration of the city. A two-wave survey should be used
to achieve this goal. The rst wave is grouped on a stochastic approach,
but taking into account quota indicators: gender, age, education, area
of residence. During the survey, the researchers determine the cultural
component of the portrait of the respondent, and make the transition to the
second wave, using the method of “snowball” to reach out to other members
of a national and cultural community.
The practical implementation of the developed questionnaire will
allow to identify the dynamics of change and draw conclusions about the
eectiveness of local governments in the implementation of intercultural
policy of the city in regular surveys (for example, once a year) (Afanasieva
et al., 2020a).
The sociologists also use the methodology of focus group research in the
format of “World Café”, and combine an expert survey with elements of a
business game and a group written interview. The main tools of focus group
discussions are the key questions: what is the priority for the citizens from
the city’s intercultural life? What cultural resources are available in the city
and which are lacking? How can you personally (or from a professional
point of view) contribute to the development of interculturalism? What
three things would I change primarily in my city for intercultural exchange,
cooperation with other cities? What obstacles can be encountered on the
way to the intercultural integration of the city and how can we overcome
them? (Afanasieva et al., 2020a).
Since 2008, Melitopol has been considering issues of governance, policy,
discourse and practice of the city through the lens of interculturalism. Thus,
together with municipal administrators, scientists, public organizations,
mass media and concerned residents, the city has developed Melitopol
Intercultural Integration Plan 2015 – 2020 (hereinafter – the Plan)
(Melitopol Intercultural Integration Plan 2015 – 2020, 2016).
As an ocial participant of the Council of Europe’s Intercultural Cities
programme, Melitopol was evaluated by the Intercultural Cities Index for
the third time (2009, 2016, 2019). According to the experts of the Council
of Europe, Melitopol achieved a maximum score of nine out of seventeen
indicators of the Index and very high scores in others. Detailed data are
available at the link (Intercultural cities programme, 2007).
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Mapping in the context of public administration of intercultural diversity
4. Materials and methods
Melitopol residents took the Intercultural Citizenship Test developed
by experts of the Council of Europe’s Intercultural Cities Programme
(Intercultural cities programme, 2007) from December 6, 2018 to
January 12, 2019 through the online survey using questionnaires for self-
completion in the Google Form to assess the skills and readiness to be an
active citizen in a multicultural community. 311 city residents, including
representatives of 25 ethnic groups, took part in the testing.
The Centre for Sociology Studies of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi Melitopol
State Pedagogical University initiated the sociological study to identify
the role of the social environment in the implementation of intercultural
policy of the city. It had been conducted from April 24 to May 8, 2020
by questionnaire in the online survey Google Forms in order to assess
the implementation of the Melitopol Intercultural Integration Plan 2015
– 2020 (Melitopol Intercultural Integration Plan 2015 – 2020, 2016),
establish social partnership of Melitopol community with the city hall and
determine the directions of intercultural integration of the city.
The study involved 500 respondents aged 12 years and older. The
sample is unique (the IP address of the respondent is recorded during the
online session), stochastic. The theoretical error of the sample does not
exceed 4.3% with a 95% condence level. Demographic characteristics of
participants of the study are: gender indicators: women 86%, men 14%;
age indicators: 12-15-year-old – 3%; 16-22-year-old; 23-29-year-old – 11%;
30-39-year-old – 24%; 40-49-year-old – 32%; 50-59-year-old – 22%;
60-year-old and older – 3%.
5. Intercultural mapping in the context of determining the
strategic priorities of Melitopol
Melitopol considers the issues of governance, policy and practice
of the city life through the intercultural lens, so testing for Intercultural
Citizenship is an important tool for developing an intercultural strategy of
city development.
The rst block of testing included questions related to “diversity and
knowledge”. The test results showed that people belonging to other ethnic
backgrounds, religions, languages, genders, ages, according to 42.2% of
respondents, “can bring more prospects to any discussion”; 36.0% believe
that they are “more loyal to their group and more cohesive”; 26.3% are
“more creative”; 18.2% of respondents “better solve the problems of
the city”, 13.3% of respondents “do not share these values”, but 5.5% of
respondents said that they “make decisions more slowly”.
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Melitopol is an intercultural city with a multilingual population, where
citizens speak 1-3 languages. 24.4% of respondents say that they speak
4-6 languages, 20.9% of respondents speak more than 10, and 13.5% of
respondents – 7-10 languages.
The next block, “diversity – feelings”, allowed to learn about the level
of development of intercultural relations in the city. In general, 79.7%
of respondents would calmly accept the situation “if members of a new
family from a neighboring at / house” spoke another language; 79.2% of
respondents would be calm if “there were other religions”; 60.1% would
have normal reaction if the neighbors were “football fans-extremists”;
76.4% – if they were “refugees”; 80.8% – if they were “settlers”; 68.8%
would normally accept if there “were a same-sex couple”; 50.8% – “if
they were Roma”, but 49.2% of respondents are wary of this category of
population. It indicates a high level of tolerant attitude of citizens to other
groups. However, the attitude towards members of the Roma community
still remains stereotypical.
Tolerance is also shown towards newcomers and migrants. Thus, 69.1%
of respondents believe that the city is hospitable to newcomers, 72.3%
calmly accept that there are a lot of migrants in their city, and 65.5% have
normal reaction “that some people do not want to identify themselves as a
man or as a woman”.
The third block “Diversity – Behavior” found that more than half
of respondents (55.3%) are quite active, often attending events where
foreign-speaking people and people of other cultural backgrounds gather.
A signicant proportion of respondents (59.5%) are also convinced that
newcomers feel welcome in their city and district.
The analysis of the “Participation – Behavior” block showed that 60.1%
of respondents actively try to involve people of dierent cultural or religious
origins in various activities at work, at school, in places of cultural leisure,
etc. And the respondents themselves take an active part in the life of the
city, as indicated by 75.0% of respondents.
The majority of respondents (79.5%) in the block “Equality – Feelings”
said that they are “ready to help anyone of other origins (gender, culture,
ethnicity, religion, age) in situations where their rights are not equal to
others”. And 68.5% said they did not feel “the threat that another culture
has the right to inuence local identity”.
The Equality-Behavior block found that a signicant proportion
of respondents had acquired a sucient level of intercultural skills in
intercultural interaction. In particular, 73.3% stated that they always
“interfere if someone is treated unfairly in a public place because he / she
has a dierent skin color, religion, sexual orientation or appearance”, and
77.2% try to promote people with equal opportunities to express their
opinions during the discussion.
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Thus, the results of the study suggest that mostly citizens are aware
of their rights, ready to interact with representatives of other cultures
in an intercultural way. Therefore, every resident of the city has one or
another experience of intercultural communication to achieve competent
intercultural interaction. After all, intercultural competence is a tool for
success in intercultural interaction, consolidation of the urban community
(Afanasieva et al., 2020b).
The next element of intercultural mapping was a sociological study
to identify the role of the social environment in the implementation of
intercultural policy of the city.
The majority of respondents in Melitopol agree that there are friendly
relations between: representatives of dierent ethnic groups (“yes” –
68.8%; “rather yes than no” – 28.4%); representatives of dierent religious
communities (“yes” – 52.6%; “rather yes than no” – 35.6%).
60.6% of Melitopol residents want to communicate more often in
public places with representatives of dierent ethnic communities, 28.6%
of respondents answered “yes, however, all depends on who”; 32.8% of
Melitopol residents want to communicate with people of dierent religious
beliefs, 30.8% said “yes, however, all depends on who”.
54% of Melitopol youth unconditionally consider that communication
with representatives of another ethnic group or religion is a factor of
spiritual and moral enrichment. The majority of respondents (63%) do
not report any discrimination or negative attitude towards people of other
ethnic backgrounds regarding the language of communication. 70.7%
of respondents never had to deal with hostility towards people of their
nationality, 26.1% “testies to individual cases”, 2.6% answered that it had
been “quite often”, 0.6% pointed that it had happened “constantly”.
The places, where interviewed respondents met hostility, are
characterized as follows (in frequency of cases): in the comments to online
publications – 47.6%; in the street, in transport, in line, etc. – 42%; in
the media (press, television, Internet – 19.9%); in public statements of
politicians – 17.3%; in work environment and students’ sta – 9.5%; in
cultural and leisure institutions – 6.5%; in state institutions – 6.1%. The
most frequent manifestations of hostility according to the respondents are
the following: “grudge against a person” – 39.4%; “disrespect for the customs
and traditions of dierent peoples” – 30.7%; “neglect of a person” – 29.8%;
“xenophobic publications, statements” – 23.9%; “domestic chauvinism
and nationalism” – 21.6%; “grudge against religion” – 19.7%; “intolerant
statements of politicians” – 17%; “discussion of territorial claims” – 15.1%;
“unwillingness to get acquainted with the culture of others” – 11.5%;
“divorce on national grounds” – 7.8%; “threat of riots and various kinds
of massacres” – 7.3%; “refusal of employment” – 2.8%; “underestimation
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of grades in educational institutions” – 2.3%; “refusal to promote” – 0.9%;
“refusal to register companies” – 0.9%.
The next block of issues was related to the role of the media in
counteracting aggressive speech on ethnocultural grounds.
38% of respondents indicated that they met “from time to time” fakes
or propaganda in the media that carries negative information about
ethnicity, religion, subculture, LGBT community; 46% “did not meet”; 8%
“yes, constantly” meet. Mostly it is displayed in online publications and on
television – 66.9%; in public statements – 16%; in the work environment –
5.8%; in state institutions – 3.3%; in municipal institutions – 1.8%). Only
4% of respondents have information about the presence of organizations or
municipal and / or non-governmental services in the city to counter fakes,
propaganda, manipulation of consciousness.
Regarding the study of the role of intercultural practices, 90.8% of
respondents are aware of the city’s activities in the eld of culture, art with
the involvement of representatives of dierent ethnic communities. 73% of
respondents know about institutions and places of recreation where you
can meet people of dierent ethnic origins or dierent religious tastes, and
14% believe that they are too few for Melitopol.
The responses show a mediocre level of public awareness of the existence
of eective public bodies to coordinate the interaction of urban ethnocultural
groups. Only about a third of respondents (36.8%) rmly believe that there
is a relevant public body in the city (the Council or something similar),
that is independent of the city government, and represents all ethnic
communities.
The survey showed signicant interest of members of the city community
in attracting additional funds to promote the principles of community
consolidation from the local budget – this idea is supported by 49.2% of
respondents. At the same time, 41.2% have doubts about the feasibility and
eectiveness of additional funding.
Thus, the sociological survey provided qualitative data on the system of
intercultural interaction in the urban space, the weaknesses of the managers
of intercultural integration, identied the vectors of cultural development
of the community.
During the interaction of the participants of the focus group discussions
in the World Café format, a number of issues were discussed regarding
the increase of the level of intercultural competencies of the citizens and
the formation of a space for safe intercultural interaction in the urban
community.
For example, participants cited numerous options for areas where
residents may face hostility from people of other cultures.
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The situation around the language issue was also discussed. There is
a problem of organizing appropriate language courses on the basis of
educational institutions for many cultures of the city.
The participants also drew attention to the lack of courses on the history
of the native land in educational institutions. This question turned out to be
relevant for any age category of citizens.
SWOT / TOWS analysis of the city was conducted according to the
results of the ICC Index, the Test for Intercultural Citizenship, community
surveys, analysis of current development programs of Melitopol City Council
to determine priority strategic directions of intercultural integration of
Melitopol. This methodology allowed to formulate 4 development strategies
(success strategy, competition strategy, conservation strategy and defense
strategy), which are the basis for formulating community development in
the long term.
Competition Strategy was chosen as the basic according to the results of
the SWOT / TOWS analysis. This strategy provides for strengthening the
competitive advantage of the community. Based on it, 3 strategic goals for
the development of the city of Melitopol are identied, taking into account
intercultural diversity: trust, public services, intercultural competence;
public space, solidarity and hospitality; market, business, international
cooperation.
Such a comprehensive analysis became the basis for the development of
the Comprehensive Program of Melitopol Intercultural Integration 2021-
2023 (Comprehensive program of Melitopol intercultural integration 2021-
2023, 2021) and its approval by Melitopol City Council (footnote).
Its main goal is to introduce the European model of intercultural
integration as an innovative factor in the development of multicultural
Melitopol based on increasing the level of respect, trust, mutual
understanding and consolidation of the community with all residents,
regardless of ethnicity, religion, age, gender, education.
The eectiveness and eciency of the implementation of strategic
directions of the program can be traced through the system of annual
monitoring and evaluation of the results of its implementation. This will
allow to assess the level of implementation of individual measures and
to check the extent to which the expected results have been achieved.
Evaluation of the implementation of the Comprehensive Program will
allow to track areas that need attention and to make adjustments timely to
achieve strategic goals.
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6. Results and discussion
Today we can say with condence that it is attention to the substantive
aspects of intercultural practice of Melitopol, reliance on the opinion of
the community, national and cultural communities on the preferred forms
of intercultural activities (municipal and self-organizing), as well as the
systematic development of variable intercultural policy in the conditions
of interaction of all aspects of urban society allowed Melitopol to gain its
invaluable experience in implementing creative practical initiatives that
promote intercultural dialogue in the city.
As practice shows, the very use of the proposed method of intercultural
mapping inevitably requires a revision of city policy and the development
of a new management strategy that takes into account existing needs and
resources (including human capital) and provides comfortable living for
citizens.
The successful implementation of the Comprehensive Program of
Melitopol Intercultural Integration 2021-2023 (Comprehensive program
of Melitopol intercultural integration 2021-2023, 2021) depends on the
level of intercultural competence of both municipal managers, politicians
and ordinary residents. Therefore, in our opinion, it is important to make
more intensive use of new approaches and methods for the development of
intercultural competencies of the most active actors in the modernization
of the cultural life of polyethnic communities.
Intercultural competence is seen as a set of analytical and strategic
abilities of agents of change. To be interculturally competent today means
to have a set of models of appropriate behavior, knowledge, skills, to have a
developed sensitivity to all groups, which will ensure the functioning of the
organization or groups of professionals to work eectively in cross-cultural
situations. This will allow not only Melitopol, but also the community of
intercultural cities to learn and provide practical assistance to inuential
politicians in order to focus the eorts of city departments and services
to work productively with citizens; identify and expand the rights and
opportunities of intercultural innovators; translate ethnocultural diversity
into a successful strategy.
Thus, the lack of communicative intercultural competence becomes
one of the problems of modern government, which does not allow the
modern community to convert maximally a successful communication
cross-cultural policy. This problem requires long-term measures with the
involvement of the scientic community and educators. First of all, special
interdisciplinary research of sociologists, psychologists, managers, etc. is
required for the development of programs and courses for the formation of
intercultural knowledge, skills, attitudes.
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Mapping in the context of public administration of intercultural diversity
In the long term, those municipalities whose growth relies only on
classical factors of production (land, labor, natural resources) may lose
their benets at some stage of globalization. And those municipalities
that develop creative “educated” factors of local preferences (intelligence,
innovation, information, cooperation, networks, social capital) have a
chance to become leaders.
They will be able to position themselves in relation to other communities
and territories and gain special competitive advantages in attracting the
best investments that provide the creation of innovative enterprises, the
formation of higher added value, production mainly of export orientation,
new skills of professional management, improvement of infrastructure,
integration into the world economy, etc.
Conclusions
Intercultural mapping of community as a method is a scientic basis not
only for cognition and forecasting of urban processes, but also contributes
to the development of cultural potential of the community, constructing the
organization of local self-government on a participatory basis.
The use of a tool such as the Intercultural Citizenship Test, developed
by the experts of the Council of Europe, examined citizens’ perceptions
of intercultural policy and measured the level of intercultural integration
of the urban environment, in particular by tracking results by specic
geographical areas of the city. In a generalized form, the test results allow
us to assess the state and dynamics of various spheres of intercultural life
of the community, to identify complex issues, to reect on the necessary
activities and projects.
The results of the public and expert survey to identify the role of the
social environment in the implementation of intercultural policy of the city
revealed some moments of the intercultural community, determined the
current state of intercultural interaction of dierent ethnic groups, cultures,
communities and religions. This allowed to assess timely the eectiveness
of cooperation between local governments and the community, to identify
priorities in the development of intercultural integration, as well as to
identify optimal methods and directions for implementing the intercultural
strategy of the city of Melitopol.
The analysis of the focus of group research in the format of “Worldcafé”
revealed the maximum creative potential of the working groups, suggestions
for improving operational areas and tasks.
SWOT-analysis of the city, based on the results of the Intercultural
Citizenship Test, ICC index, materials of the sociological study Melitopol
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community regarding the role of the social environment in the intercultural
integration of Melitopol, revealed the strengths and weaknesses of the
intercultural community, external opportunities that support the city’s
strengths. On the other hand, it made it clear what were the risks and
obstacles to intercultural integration and ways to address weaknesses.
In general, the use of sociological technologies allowed to monitor all
structural units of the city hall on the intercultural integration of the social
space of Melitopol, as well as timely identify the dynamics of change and
draw conclusions about the eectiveness of both municipal government
and community.
Summarizing our study, we have every reason to state the need to
expand the range of sociological study of the phenomenon of the modern
city. Undoubtedly, one of the nal and main links of such a study is the
strategic planning of socio-cultural development of intercultural cities and
their subsequent modernization. We can say that the sociological support
of these processes as a marker of their success is becoming a necessary part
of the implementation of advanced models of intercultural policy of the
modern city on the example of Melitopol.
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Esta revista fue editada en formato digital y publicada
en julio de 2022, por el Fondo Editorial Serbiluz,
Universidad del Zulia. Maracaibo-Venezuela
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