New challenges for urban ethnic community research: Digitalization and collaboration

Abstract

The focus of this study is one of the frequently emerging topics of social science research: the investigation of metropolitan ethnic communities. The socio-political-media-cultural changes of recent decades (globalization, mediatization, digitization) have completely transformed the phenomenon of metropolitan migration; new questions and problems have been raised for social scientists, politicians, and various social groups, which have encouraged them to apply new approaches. The study showcases the new perspectives and methodological possibilities of research into metropolitan ethnic communities, one of which is digitization and the other is collaborativity. The novelty of posing this question is methodological. The study describes how knowledge generated by ethnic communities can be gathered with their help, then organized and reused in urban planning processes.  It involves at the same time urban researchers, social scientists studying ethnic groups, and urban planners. The empirical background of this study is anthropological fieldwork undertaken in the Hungarian diaspora in Berlin.