Sanctuary City Darmstadt

Auftaktveranstaltung Sanctuary City Darmstadt

In a post-migrant urban society characterised by increasingly restrictive government migration and social policies, we would like to engage in dialogue with you about how security, refuge and participation can be actively shaped for all.

• What really makes us safe?
• What factors make urban spaces places of refuge, longing and community, and how do we maintain these spaces together?

As part of the kick-off event, we will show the documentaries ‘Einzeltäter: Hanau’ (2023, J. Vogel) and ‘Kein Land für Niemand’ (2025, M. Ahrens and M. Lüdemann) and will then discuss the consequences of racist violence in Germany and at Europe's external borders, the struggle for justice and practices of solidarity.

Accompanying the film screenings, there will be a World Café on the topics of ‘What is a sanctuary city?’, ‘Criticism of Racism,’ ‘Refugees and Asylum: Challenges for Activism, Volunteering and Social Work,’ ‘Migration and Deportation,’ and ‘Abolitionism and Social Work.’ All interested members of Darmstadt's urban community are invited to attend and discuss Sanctuary City as a vision of a city for all, as well as to develop and plan further joint steps!

A project by Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences (Departments of Social Work and Architecture), in cooperation with PaSo gGmbH, Hoffart Theater and WDC 2026.