Local innovation in the reception of asylum seekers in the Netherlands: Plan Einstein as an example of multi-level and multi-sector collaboration

Asylum seeker reception has proved something of a ‘wicked issue’, resulting in an impasse in decision-making at national and European levels, and ‘scale mismatch’ with local contexts where the problem manifests. The 2015–2016 refugee crisis provoked an opportunity for experimentation at the local level in European cities. This chapter provides an example of one such experiment: the Utrecht Refugee Launchpad, or ‘Plan Einstein’ as it is known locally, a new concept of asylum seeker reception and integration. It offered ‘futureproof’ skills development for asylum seekers and simultaneous benefit... Mehr ...