Un'altra città è possibile. Il futuro delle città come progetto collettivo
Wednesday November 17th
This morning’s session was extremely good. Extremely good because of the presence of some councillors and representatives of the various experiences of Educating City. What struck me the most was a gesture by Paola Pozzi, Councillor of Turin, a gesture in the sense of a continuous motion, a rolling stone, something that keeps changing.
All of you who also work in the world of schools, with children and young people, and who are also parents, know very well that dealing with a young person is something that is continuously in motion.
This is what I, as a journalist, have personally sensed of this Congress which is about to begin.
Welcome to Genoa and thank you for being with us for this VIII International Congress of Educating Cities.
Genoa is honoured to be able to host this Congress.
This is an important goal that we have strived to achieve since we first announced our candidacy. We have worked towards a fruitful Congress, characterised by a multitude of contributions and I also hope welcoming for those coming from other cities.
Different reasons have led us to strongly support this initiative. First of all, I would say there is a cultural reason: this year, Genoa is the European Capital of Culture. Within this framework there is also the willingness to know the state and quality of social relations in some European and non-European cities, where particular emphasis has been given to these relations, trying to enrich them also through the dissemination of knowledge, the recognition of the rights of citizenship and the need to give all residents the possibility of being more involved in the life of their own city.
In my opinion, this cultural reason goes hand in hand with a political one. Indeed, from my experiences in my own city as well as from those that I have come to know through various meetings, and now through this conference, there is a clear-cut sensation and awareness shared by the majority of people, that a community’s life system cannot be resolved within traditional democratic representation mechanisms, and it cannot be resolved when the governing body is elected. Public administrations should be able to act, also thanks to an aware and proactive governance role, in order to recognise and enhance the “relations” that cross the city as a “collective good”. It is thus crucially important for local authorities to weave a multiplicity of different relations both with single individuals and with associations operating in the territory (in my city there are something like 3,000 associations, variedly articulated, actively involved in the social sector), so that through these relations there can be an on-going exchange, extending knowledge concerning the needs and demands that are perceived as priority issues in order to find the most suitable answers.
Today’s society is increasingly breaking up, people live in a much more individual way compared to what happened in the past, increasingly influenced by mass products coming from different worlds. There is an inevitable tendency to lose one’s own identity; the community is not formed but it is rather separated into single individuals. There is the strongly felt need to recreate as far as possible community mechanisms. These can only be founded on the knowledge and sharing of reality and of bigger and smaller objectives that are set each time by the highest number of citizens.
In Genoa we had a particularly valuable and significant experience when, in 2001, we hosted the G8, the summit of the heads of governments of the world’s most industrialised countries. This summit was accompanied by a long preparation process, in which all globalisation themes in the scientific, cultural and political fields were addressed, discussed, and analysed in detail during congresses, debates, and conferences promoted by the city also with the involvement of citizens. We then lived through the event, the days of protests, the armoured city and the demonstrations which also generated episodes of violence. This experience has left a deep mark on us, so much so that today, we are convinced that globalisation processes should not be dehumanised, they should not mean delegating the decision-making powers to external subjects, but rather they should try to get back and enhance as much as possible all identities belonging to each single community. That is why we felt the need to stand as a candidate city for this conference, and that is why we are pleased that we were chosen, that we are able to take up these themes and discuss them with you and that we can exchange views on the different experiences.
I wish you all a fruitful work, and hope that you will also be able to find some time and tour our city in order to appreciate it and enjoy its beauty. I know that the organisers are at your disposal to ensure that this aspect is also taken care of in the best possible way.
Thank you.
This conference gathers the experiences of 103 cities from 22 countries and directly proposes 259 projects.
Although there are obviously small and big cities, the same cannot be said for the experiences. They are all experiences that each one of us may endorse in our day-to-day work and profession, trying to repropose and emphasise them.
I think that one of the most prominent people attending this conference, both for his calibre and experience, and for the contribution that he can make, is Joan Clos, Mayor of Barcelona, city at the “centre” of the whole movement of Educating Cities.
First of all, I would like to thank the City of Genoa and its Mayor for organising this Congress of the International Association of Educating Cities.
Since the beginning of this project undertaking, many Italian cities, among which Genoa in a very special way, have played a very important role in shaping the ideology, in the best meaning of the word, of what could have been the Educating Cities project. Therefore, Mayor Pericu, thank you very much for your friendliness, generosity and hospitality.
This venue is in a very peculiar part of Genoa, where the wool market used to be held, and wool trade and exchange were carried out. We are in the port of Genoa which has now been converted into a trading centre, where we too “trade” knowledge: I think this is a highly symbolic and very interesting aspect. This is an already typical transformation of the 21st century.
I would also like to thank Mr Da Molo of the Company Genova 2004 and Lorenzo Caselli of the Compagnia di San Paolo for their support to celebrating this event.
The International Association of Educating Cities already has many years experience behind and we have been able to mobilise both ourselves and the cities towards sharing our experiences. I think this is a timely and adequate challenge in this day and age. We are at a time when societies are confronted with the reality of globalisation, on the one hand, and with the reality of disintegration of native cultures, on the other hand, in a more open and communicating mass of increasingly differentiated cultural interrelations, where the danger and risk are of diluting the solid and sharp core of city’s co-existence. In our societies, at least at our latitudes – and we will discuss this later with other mayors – we are witnessing an increase in migration. This issue of maintaining co-existence and its values within our society is a challenge.
I think that at other latitudes of the world the same is happening – although maybe not characterised by the same transcendence or big difference in cultural origins that we are experiencing, but rather through another process that we too have lived through, i.e. that of the migration from rural areas to urban areas. The big Latin-American or Asian cities as well as the African ones, are growing right now at a forced rate due to the migration from poorer or rural areas of the respective countries; this equally represents a challenge to co-existence in these cities.
The Association of Educating Cities has been making some progress precisely with the aim of launching a reflection process on how education can be an element to structure co-existence in changing cities.
During the 20th century, in western countries, mass culture has been strictly linked with, and in this precise order as I state it, industrialisation and the workers’ movement. Many people of the 20th century in Europe, in particular Spain and Italy, have learnt to read and write around the reality of their industrial job, not so much of their rural reality. And the workers’ parties trade unions have played a crucial role in social integration.
Now in the 21st century the context is different. At our latitudes there are no longer industrialisation processes. We are clearly in a post-industrial era; manufacturing is going down and the leading cultural forms in our societies are, right now, immersed in an identity crisis. Mass media are replacing the culture that was once spread through the labour movement. Today it is more important what television says than what the trade union or the party says; and what television says, because it is subject to market laws and needs an audience, is not so much an educational process but rather a process to please the audience. Therefore, the natural tendency of mass media is that of devaluing the cultural quality of the message. And we see how the majority of the messages conveyed by mass media are banal if not, more directly, even uneducated.
Therefore, cities are confronted with a new situation where the increase in popular culture right now is not heading anywhere nor makes any sense and does not have a direction. We are exposed to what the “market” decides.
This is an extremely worrying situation as the quality of our co-existence, the life of our population, and our future as a city depend on basic culture, i.e. all forms through which we solve urban conflicts depend on it. Each city has conflicts, as it is a place full of human relations. These conflicts generate many things, common projects, creativity, quarrels, disputes among neighbourhoods… But clearly we are faced with a huge challenge involving integration, and the generation of mechanisms for co-existence in a city that is growing.
All cities around the world grow, and because we grow, we are confronted with the challenge of permanently having to review the quality of our co-existence.
We do not have the basic tools of the 20th century, through the working-class, to structure a new culture; in return, however, we should assimilate the emerging cultural diversities that find expression in a city.
Therefore, schools are called for, directly or indirectly, to work and act in a way which they are neither prepared for nor were they expecting it. When cultural supremacy was in the hands of the Church and part of the tools of the working-class, the school’s function was only centred on teaching contents: maths, geography, languages… because the Church, the family and social organisations already taught the rest. These institutions have now lost their importance, the family has lost substance and schools have the feeling – at least subjective – of being asked to fix the world and our society.
I understand that this is too much and that we are really going through a very important transition process – which has been lasting for two decades and that I think will last at least another couple, that is 40 years in total – where cities, Mayors are looking for elements that together contribute to legitimating the values of co-existence.
In addition to this situation there is a higher freedom of citizens in relation to the progress of our democracies, a freedom which, depending on the cases, is exercised in a society with less reference points, values, and classes. For example, in schools we face very alarming problems, where 16-17 year old kids fly in the face of teachers and teachers do not know what to do or say, and where parents equally do not have answers for their children.
I think that the Educating Cities movement is an extraordinary, unique and excellent arena in which to discuss these issues more in-depth.
I don’t know whether we will succeed, whether we will be able to find a solution, if there is a solution to this problem. But at least we have the opportunity to share our concerns, our thoughts and to try and make the wonderful effort to generate within our cities a new attitude in order for our youth to find a reference point which is in other terms dissolving, disappearing in our societies causing unrest, malaise, anxiety, worries, in some cases even depression and in others violence and great uncertainty.
It is a very interesting moment. We all know, and we have been able to learn this thanks to the exchange made possible by this Association, that there are cities which have experimented, and experienced something from which I hope and wish that resources can come out and be useful in order to open our minds to new possible solutions.
This is why what we do is important and, in my capacity as President, I would like to thank you for your commitment and work in this direction. I once again thank Genoa for its generous offer. I wish you and us all an excellent Congress of Educating Cities.
Thank you.
I think it was an excellent speech, even by the sound of the applause.
Clearly Clos has tried to deal with the contents by getting to the very heart of the matter. This morning too, Councillor Borzani underlined how this Congress is not something outside of cities but, like the karstic rivers, its aim is to go through cities and rearrange them for a while.
Experiences are exchanged and from everyone, from other people’s smaller and bigger experiences it is possible to get something in order to go ahead.
Clos was arguing this also with regard to Genoa, the importance of this city and the extent to which it has changed. This is not just with reference to the Cotton Warehouses, but if you have the chance of going around the city during these days, you will then be able to describe it to others in its entirety. I work as a journalist in this city, and I am madly in love with it.
It is important to keep talking about Genoa also in the years to come, beyond 2004. I think this is Enrico Da Molo’s job, Managing Director of Genova 2004, who has a lot of responsibility with regard to reception and welcoming services and to what we will be able to convey to you about this city.
Welcome to our city that this year plays a special role: it has the honour and burden to be the European Capital of Culture together with Lille in France. I would like to extend a warm welcome to those who are not from Genoa and are visiting the city for the first time; we hope you will find it enjoyable and interesting, also in this year, an occasion in which it invested considerably, in terms of cultural and urban facilities as well as events.
However, the fact that a large number of delegates from around the world are spending a few days in Genoa is obviously not the reason for being happy about this Congress being held here. Indeed, I believe that this is one of the topical moments of this particular year’s programme. This is because, in dealing with the role of European Capital of Culture, from the beginning we have wanted to give the term “culture” a much wider sense, clearly not only limited to artistic forms, which are present and we hope they have been appreciated and enjoyed, but rather involving the whole of values characterising our society.
In this sense we have focused our attention particularly on issues such as employment, knowledge, science and technology, and obviously on the issues of solidarity and living together. In particular these topics basically form the main pillar for the last part of the year, which we have defined as the one of “Genoa, contemporary city”, within which the issues linked to the organisation of the urban spaces and to the social relations of the urban fabric are developed.
Therefore, on the one hand, architecture as a form bordering on art is the subject of the exhibition entitled “Arts and Architecture” held in Palazzo Ducale and in many other places of the city – you may see these strange installations in many squares and public spaces within the beautiful exhibition under the supervision of Germano Celant; on the other hand, the theme of urban regeneration and thus of urban development is the subject of the exhibition entitled “Urban Regeneration”. This World Congress of Educating Cities is a topical moment as it makes us reflect on the fact that the role of cities and of those governing in cities has gone from that of simple administration to that of governance.
From this perspective we consider as fundamental, elements such as dialogue, listening, participation and involvement in an activity which is not simply univocal, where there are established authorities talking - which is already an achievement - to their citizens, but rather a kind of dialogue where an attempt is made to understand which subjects are in a territory. I think that this is what many cities have tried to accomplish, and in some cases, they are being successful.
I would like to mention one aspect linked to the initiative on urban regeneration.
This initiative is more linked to the organisation of spaces, and fosters a strong integration both among the different sectors and among the different subjects acting in a territory; therefore, its aim is basically to try and understand what a city can do not only through the construction of a building or of a street but through understanding what its role as well as its future have to be. The initiative essentially stems from a reflection that cities themselves have carried out in the last 15/20 years, that is since cities have gone from being seen as places of decay, crisis, crime, unemployment, and marginalisation to being – at least for some of them, whereas for others there is still a long way to go – the place of services, cultural production and co-existence.
So, in the same way as this passage resulted from internal forces within cities, I think that it is not by accident that topics such as the ones that Mayor Clos illustrated so well - that is to say, those concerning the need to find points of reference at a time of crisis of values and of what in our society had traditionally been considered as points of reference - originate within cities and cities’ administrations.
From this point of view, this strongly underlines how this initiative, besides the prestige and pleasure of having so many distinguished representatives from so many cities and projects, stresses the importance for Genoa 2004 to emphasise these aspects.
2004 will clearly be over in one month. If we truly want it to have had an impact, if we want it to have long-lasting results, this will only be possible thanks to initiatives such as this one, which make us reflect, reason, and become aware of the role that cities and its administrators, and more in general all its actors, should play.
We will now be concluding this first part with the speech by Lorenzo Caselli, administrator and person in charge of the issues relating to Schools of the Compagnia di San Paolo. Indeed, it should be pointed out that this body has played a fundamental role in making this event possible, thanks to its financial support.
It is my pleasure to extend the greetings of the Compagnia di San Paolo. The Compagnia is a foundation amongst the biggest in Italy and Europe. Its activity spans over the fields of culture, art and solidarity, science, and through the Foundation for Schools, in the field of schools. The Compagnia is a keen and enthusiastic partner of Genoa, European Capital of Culture. Our actions have focused on the points of excellence of the city, from the Museums area of Via Garibaldi to the Sea Museum nearby. We have also contributed to the promotion of other significant cultural events: “Arts and Architecture”, the Festival of Science and now, particularly, the VIII Congress of Educating Cities.
This is an extremely important event for us. The topic is indicative: another city is possible. At a time where single thought seems to be prevailing, stating that another city is possible is extremely meaningful. From this point of view, the city is an educational space insofar as education is characterised by participation and is shared. Education, in turn, becomes a factor of transformation insofar as it is able to match memory with a sense of perspective. Young people, and schools are the key element in this argument for a simple reason: they are the beneficiaries of what we are planning, setting out and thinking within our cities. Therefore, they need to become the main players.
Both the Compagnia di San Paolo and the Foundation for Schools have been focusing on schools and Genoa’s young people with the "Janua - Genoa gateway to the seas" project, which will be presented tonight within this Congress, in a time of celebration, at the Museums area of Via Garibaldi, and this Friday within an ad hoc workshop. Through this project we have tried, together with the City Council and Councillor Borzani, to create experiences that bring young people closer to the historical and artistic heritage of the city, in order for them to get familiar with it, take ownership and reproduce it in new forms, maybe because, as I mentioned this morning, young people are able to see things that we are less capable of seeing. Therefore, it is starting from young people, from boys and girls, that a new desire for the city has to be generated.
As far as this is concerned, there are some pre-conditions. The city of the future cannot be created in theory, memory and roots are essential parts; the city cannot be created by proxy either, it needs to leave space to civil society and its multiple manifestations. Consequently, some objectives are derived: in the divided and fragmented city, it is necessary to act in order to put back together and reconcile freedom and responsibility, rearrange times and spaces. At the same time, it should be possible to experiment, starting from the pieces of the project that are developed or that can be developed by the different social main players (the 3,000 associations mentioned by Mayor Pericu). Moreover, it is necessary to live and practise cross-cultural exchanges: the culture of the city is also the culture of differences; these, however, have to talk with one another. From this point of view, the city becomes a project to live together, and it is by living together that people learn, and mutually educate themselves.
Genoa is at a the huge crossroad where Europe and the Mediterranean meet. Braudel, a historian who loved Genoa and was loved by Genoa, used to say: “The Mediterranean is a large liquid continent where cultures, civilisations, and lifestyles have been meeting, exchanging views and clashing from time immemorial. Will they ever be able to understand one another?”.
This is the big challenge. It seems to me that this Congress is taking it up.