Cities and migration data: knowledge for inclusive urban governance

26 March 2026. From 09:00 To 16:00 | Workshop | Spanish | IEMed (Barcelona)

This symposium aims to support cities and local authorities in strengthening their capacity to design and implement effective migration policies through improved data production and use. Drawing on experiences similar to Barcelona Observatory of Migration and Refuge, it will examine practical challenges and opportunities related to the collection, analysis and application of migration data at the urban level. By facilitating exchanges among cities, institutions, organisations and experts, the symposium seeks to promote local migration policies that are evidence-based, ethical and responsive to urban realities.

The symposium is organised within the framework of the project Migration and Urban Governance: an agenda for cooperation (MigUrb), developed by the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed) and the Barcelona City Council. The project aims to bridge research and policymaking by creating spaces for dialogue and cooperation, and by supporting the development of concrete policy proposals on the role of cities in migration governance.

Building on the conclusions of the 2024 symposium Migration Governance Capacities for Mediterranean Cities: A Strategic Urban Agenda for the Next Decade, organised with the EuroMedMig network of academic migration experts, which highlighted the value of city-level observatories in fostering data comparability and cooperation, this symposium focuses on translating knowledge into actionable tools and strategies for cities and local and urban institutions.

The agenda includes three plenary sessions:

Existing initiatives

This session aims to present initiatives led by cities and regional institutions with similar experiences, in order to analyse the connections between existing data sources and research actors.
With: Luca Di Sciullo. Osservatorio di Idos sulle migrazioni a Roma e nel Lazio; Swanie Potot. Observatoire des migrations dans les Alpes-Maritimes – ObsMigAM; Albert Sales. Observatori de les Migracions i el Refugi de Barcelona. Institut Metròpoli.
Moderation: Xavier Cubells. Director of Immigrant Assistance and Shelter Services. Barcelona City Council

The importance of data in the migration phenomenon: local production and management

This session presents initiatives related to the production and management of migration data at the global level and examines the need to establish strategies and implement local analytical instruments.
With: Denis Kierans. Consultant, United Nations Statistics Division. Research Affiliate, Centre on Migration Policy and Society (COMPAS), University of Oxford. Visiting Academic, Institute of Economics, Geography and Demography, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), and Ana Isabel Moreno Monroy. Head of the Territorial Statistics and Analysis Unit at the Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities at the OECD.
Moderation: Ricard Zapata-Barrero. Full Professor, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona; Director GRITIM-UPF and Coordinator EuroMedMig.

Ethical challenges in data production: the role of new technologies

This panel will analyse the main ethical and political challenges arising from the use of new technologies in the production and management of migration data. It will address key issues to ensure the protection of human rights in data use, including anonymisation, consent, potential impacts on migrants, decisions on data publication in politically sensitive contexts, and the safeguarding of ethics and human rights in data governance, among other aspects.
With: Elena Ambrosetti. Professor of Demography at the Faculty of Economics, Sapienza University of Rome, and Robert Trigwell. Senior DTM (Displacement Tracking Matrix) Coordination Officer. IOM.
Moderation: Rim Filali Meknassi. Head, Euro-Mediterranean Policies department. IEMed.

On the sidelines of the event, Denis Kierans, consultant of the UN Statistics Division and research affiliate at the University of Oxford Centre on Migration Policy and Society (COMPAS), argues that access to the right data and investment in its management can have a positive impact on migration policies at the local level.

Cities and migration data: knowledge for inclusive urban governance

The MigUrb project

Launched in April by the Barcelona City Council and the IEMed, the MigUrb project aims to promote cities as key players in coordinated urban migration governance strategies. Given the complexity of migration flows from West Africa and the Sahel to North Africa and Europe, local governments need to strengthen, network, and innovate to effectively address the challenges of human mobility.

MigUrb plans to organize a series of activities addressing various aspects of migration. The first initiative is this workshop in Alicante, co-organised with Casa Mediterráneo. Upcoming activities include an institutional visit to Dakar (Senegal) and the international meeting “Resilient Cities and Migration Governance in the Mediterranean” in Barcelona, organized jointly with GRITIM – Pompeu Fabra University (UPF). This meeting will bring together representatives from European and Mediterranean cities and research centers to develop a roadmap for the coming years based on previous work.