Zukunft für Geflüchtete in ländlichen Regionen Deutschlands: Integrationsrelevante Rahmenbedingungen in den Untersuchungsregionen

The joint research project „A Future for Refugees in Rural Regions of Germany” takes various per-spectives to look at whether and how the integration of refugees can be tied to rural develop-ment. The research is organized into various interacting sub-projects that analyse the integration of refugees in a total of 35 case study communities within eight rural case study counties. Sub-project 1 uses indicators to compare the framework conditions relevant for integration and ana-lyse their influence on integration efforts and successes. In this working paper, 20 indicators, di-vided into eight dimensions of integration, are introduced and analysed. The selection of the di-mensions of integration bases on the categories identified in the integration model by Ager and Strang (2008). The basis for the analyses are mainly data of the national and state statistical of-fices, the German Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy, and the Accessibility Model of the Thuenen Institute. For the comparative analysis mathematical averages, maximums, mini-mums and standard deviations of the single indicators are compared. In order to enable compre-hensive comparisons, a z-score is applied to the indicator values. A differentiated total picture results from the analysis, which makes especially clear the specific “strengths” and “weaknesses” of the communities and counties studied with regard to the integration relevant framework con-ditions. Interestingly, the analysis reveals that the indicator values are for the most part near the average. Overall the framework conditions relevant for integration are more homogeneous than was assumed due to the various social economic situations of the counties chosen for the case studies. In the next stage of the project, these results will be mirrored with the survey results from the other sub-projects in order to more precisely document and evaluate framework condi-tions and results relevant for the integration of refugees.