About Urba-Rom

Our Approach

Most often based on stereotypes, policies towards groups referred to as Roma/Gypsies are more and more numerous: the European strategy on Roma inclusion, sector-based actions (housing, health, schooling/training, fight against discrimination), control of mobilities, local policies on temporary housing and insertion, etc. All these policies aim to tackle “public issues” which are linked to the presence of groups who are in a precarious situation or who are characterised by mobile housing. To achieve this goal, they often propose specific solutions, which oscillate between rejection and assimilation.

That is why it seems necessary to carry out a critical analysis of policies towards groups referred to as Roma/Gypsies, of the labelling processes which are linked to these policies and, at the same time, to scrutinise strategies and practices of integration, which are first launched by the populations themselves.

But Urba-Rom has other goals too. By examining the situation of groups referred to as Roma/Gypsies, we propose to:

• Participate in the current reflections about European societies today, especially those which deal with the production of inequalities, the policies of poverty regulation and urban governance;
• Encourage dialogue between researchers, institutional actors, civil society organisations and people targeted by the policies.

To these ends, Urba-Rom, the European Observatory of policies toward groups referred to as Roma/Gypsies, fulfils several functions:

1. E-resource centre;
2. European scientific network;
3. Dialogue between actors and researchers.

E-resource centre

The Urba-Rom e-resource centre is the first e-resource centre on policies towards groups referred to as Roma/Gypsies in Europe.

It brings together scientific works, the organisational literature, reports and other technical documents, as well as legal references on contemporary policies towards the groups in question. Today, it comprises around 1000 documents in eight languages (German, English, French, Spanish, Hungarian, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian).

The e-resource centre monitors current activities both within and outside the EU. These activities are led by: European institutions, States, local authorities and/or civil society actors.

It is a collaborative platform. Each user provides the database with new references and can discuss with other members of the Observatory on the blog.

European scientific network

Urba-Rom encourages the networking of researchers, research centres, organisational and institutional actors, and people targeted by policies at the European level. It groups together more than a thousand people who are spread out around 15 countries, mainly in Europe.

Promoting comparative and interdisciplinary research, the Urba-Rom Observatory currently focuses on three main themes:

• The production of inequalities and processes of marginalisation
• Policy and social regulation
• Strategies and practices of integration

Dialogue between actors and researchers

Urba-Rom organises workshops and conferences with research centres. In order to facilitate open access for all, the outcomes of these events will be made available online on the Observatory site.

In order to encourage collective reflections and the sharing of knowledge between researchers, professionals, institutional and organisational agents, and people targeted by policies, Urba-Rom organises encounters with partners outside the scholarly sphere.

In the same manner, Urba-Rom can also participate, while retaining its academic perspective, in the establishment of idea-sharing groups at the local, national or European level. These idea-sharing groups must be linked to the Observatory themes (for instance, local policies towards Roma migrants in a precarious situation in Western Europe cities).

Lastly, the Urba-Rom members maintain a blog, which constitutes a platform for online discussions concerning the current issues.