Cities of Oblivion - Refugee Potential and Integration in Rural Localities

Even though the scientific community has long disregarded refugee integration in rural localities in Germany, interest in the topic has increased as a result of the 2015/16 large-scale arrival of refugees. This thesis provides insights into rural refugee integration since 2015 by using the German town of St. Ingbert as a case study, thereby investigating the relationship between local receptivity and refugee integration in rural towns in Germany that face population decline and aging of the population. Moreover, the refugees’ potential to contribute to solving the two above-mentioned demographic challenges was investigated. Building on in-depth qualitative interviews with municipal employees, representatives of network partners of the municipality, and refugees, the analysis revealed the following. Firstly and in connection to local receptivity, the local economy in St. Ingbert is well equipped to integrate refugees that have arrived in the town since 2015/16. Nonetheless, there are limited resources in schools, housing, and healthcare. Regarding the governance structure, administrative restructuring took place through the creation of a so-called “staff unit integration” that was specifically tasked with creating an integration infrastructure in St. Ingbert. Regarding the societal structure, St. Ingbert is described as open and friendly, where the diversity of refugees is mostly accepted. Lastly, advantages of the rural context are social proximity, short channels in the administration, and the pronounced role of associations. Amongst others, disadvantages include the poorly developed public transport. Second, regarding integration of refugees, it is found that socio-economic integration and culturalreligious integration of the refugees that arrived in 2015/16 took place in St. Ingbert. However, legal-political integration is lagging behind. Third, the municipality and societal actors view the potential of refugees in contributing to the workforce, keeping services in the town running, and counteracting the aging of the population. These findings contribute to better understanding integration of refugees in rural localities in Germany and show that refugees and their successful integration can contribute to upholding the prosperity of towns like St. Ingbert.