Un'altra città è possibile. Il futuro delle città come progetto collettivo
Saturday November 20th
I am here to represent the city of Turin. I have to apologise on behalf of Paola Pozzi who was supposed to be here and who today, right on the 15th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of Children, was called to witness directly the commitment that public administrations must have towards the respect of these rights and especially also to avoid childhood becoming one of those dimensions of invisibility that we discussed this morning. And I think this is a genuine risk.
I am honoured to chair this concluding moment, not only on behalf of my city but also on behalf of the Italian network of cities which are part of the International Association of Educating Cities, which wanted to be present through the participation of many representatives and through their numerous presentations to the conference in these days. This is an important and exciting moment, because the joy deriving from the meetings that we have had, and from the people that we have met again, is combined with the time of farewell, sometimes even sad. Someone said that every end is in reality only a beginning, another point of departure that can be charged with all that passion, motivation and enthusiasm that I think have been and will keep being the real underlying themes of the work by the people who are part of this movement. It is with this invitation to a vision of continuity, which has been recalled many times also during these days and also by Don Ciotti who mentioned this morning that an adult attitude is one that guarantees the continuity towards younger people, that I welcome you all to participate in this last part of the conference. I now give the floor to Luca Borzani.
The works of the VIII International Congress of Educating Cities were a unique occasion to share experiences and meet people. Today, we retain the memory of a happening which can be considered rare to some extent because allowed us to discuss with so many counterparts from all over the world. The experiences which were introduced on this occasion, were aimed at tracing a new path towards public responsibility, a pact between institutions and citizens for the future of our communities. This is exactly our bet: projecting a new dimension of the public space and a new public use of such space, built through a system of relationships which connect citizens and administrations, citizens and institutions and that represents a new authoritativeness instead of an authority.
This path concerning the building of a new system of relationships can also work as one of the strongest antidotes to the emptying of the communities, to that fragmentation of individual and collective identities that let racism, intolerance, fear, insecurity phenomena spread. This pact must also be made, and we know how difficult it is, between the generations and must involve the strong actors as well as the weak ones. During the Congress we talked about the value and the acknowledgment of differences. In this respect we have another important bet to make: let us pass from a listening and dialogue attitude to a common commitment. We need to introduce “hybridisation paths” and go beyond the acknowledgment of the differences; let us build new cultures that are the outcome of such processes. These new cultures must mark the public dimension of the administrations, but have to grow also from people relationships.
It would be seriously wrong to just acknowledge the existence of differences. In fact this is how the idea of incommunicability has spread in some currently politically strong world contexts. The acknowledgment of differences is not merely the result of communication but it’s the will of overcoming the differences even though maintaining identity paths; finding new paths, developing the new.
There is an important example: the children of our schools belong to different races and come from many different walks of life. They do not perceive their friends on the basis of their skin colour, as the bearer of a complex cultural project, but according to whether he/she is pleasant or unpleasant, if he/she enjoys or not playing with him/her. The differentiation paths start outside the schools. That something that at school produces a new feeling of belonging and a new capacity to relate to other people is exactly one of those invisible paths that we must let grow in our cities.
This is a really difficult bet, that requires us to act “on the software” and not only “on the hardware”: we are betting on the role of education as an end not as a means, an idea of education as the necessary condition to create a conscious citizenship, a quality future. This is how we want to answer to the questions coming from the many old and new material poverties that are troubling the world, as well as to the spiritual poverty of our Western world and beyond.
What we have tried to do during these days - and for the last 10 years - was somehow to swim against the tide in the effort to challenge the feeble words of today’s policy, the low thresholds for representation and the widespread media cultures which are much stronger than administrator’s and citizen’s words and actions.
We are dealing with cities of long history, millenarian ones as well as cities that are only 20 years old, very small Italian towns and megalopolis of the East and Latin America that are even 50, 100, 200 years old. But there is also the end of the XIX century and the new millennium which has started off, breaking up social promotion and democracy building processes.
We are really in front of the difficult research of new paths where the system of relationship and knowledge and the capacity of circulating intelligence and know-how becomes essential. Politics and the Public Administration cannot make it on their own. In this perspective we can recognize the issue of the research enthusiasm, but also the hard work of the daily routine. We should never forget to emphasize the symbolic value of such issues that must always be connected to the inclusion of an ethic dimension.
Genoa is tucked between the sea and the mountains and its cultural identities fluctuate between an attachment to its origins and the choice, or obligation, to leave towards the new; the determination not to abandon the land and the knowledge that there is not much space and that therefore it is necessary to push forward, beyond the sea to be able to return to the mainland. A beautiful metaphor of the journey that we must undertake.I thank Luca and all the people that together with him have made it possible to remember that working in this Association means always using the head and the heart. Luca’s words are an example of how it is possible to talk about our problems, about us and our cities without separating these parts, as we are often called to do instead. I was saying before that the sense of continuity is the one that pushes us to keep working and that this is however also well represented by the fact that at Yves Fournel’s table there is also the City of Lyon, which will be our next meeting and that will allow us to share not only the new questions but also the answers that have been given to all of us by this congress.
I think that the Congress of Lyon will be very interesting. Indeed, the theme concerning the need to make sense of the development of cities is really a topic that has already characterised this Congress. Re-launching this topic in two years time is certainly in the interest of all of us. I think I can say that we are all willing to assist the city of Lyon in order to ensure that the Congress will be as successful as this one. There is another important aspect that I think needs to be underlined. During these days we have presented the new edition of the Charter of Educating Cities. This is for us a fundamental document not only from a formal point of view, since, besides being a bearer of values, it is also the instrument through which I think all of us can set out our daily action in our cities. The Charter has the quality of not having to be set aside, but, rather, it should always be next to us in the meetings held in our cities. It is not just an incentive to meet new cities but it is also the incentive for daily work.
Before giving the floor to Marina Subirats who I think will talk specifically about the Charter and will conclude this meeting, allow me to extend also my thanks on behalf of the Executive Committee and I think on behalf of all of you, as well. Along with the city of Genoa, I would like to particularly thank Luca, Gigliola, Valeria on behalf of all those who have worked to ensure that the welcoming of these days was not just efficient but also warm and kind, which has made us all fell at ease. It has been a discreet welcoming and, in this sense, it has been even more precious because of its friendliness. On behalf of us all, I would also like to thank the city of Barcelona represented by Marina Subirats, Pilar Figueras, Marina Canals. Indeed without the International Secretariat we would not be here and what has been done over these ten years by the Association has required considerable effort but also great continuity and determination.
We have indeed reached the end of this Congress. To conclude, I would like to make some remarks and also talk about the Charter, which the other day was illustrated and updated during this Congress, after having been previously discussed with cities.
The Charter is the fundamental instrument containing the agreement on what we think an Educating City should do. For this reason, in an Association that, in many ways, includes cities with so many differences, the fact of having an axis such as the one of the Charter is able to show the converging points of the cities that are part of it.
That is why we thought that, at the end of my speech in a few minutes and before the Congress actually draws to a conclusion, a representative from each city could come over here and sign the Charter. It is a symbolic gesture, considering that the Charter was already welcomed by cities in due time and was then ratified through the comments and the introduction of the elements that cities suggested. We thought, however, that this symbolic gesture of signing the Charter here in this Congress, where it has been renewed and updated, was a valuable act also in order to commemorate the ten years of the International Association.
The Charter will most probably have to be once again renewed in the future, but this only proves that the Association is capable of adapting and increasingly welcoming topics and issues that are of concern for cities, and that change with time.
I would also like to add some other remarks. I am speaking in a personal capacity given that there has not been the time yet to meet with the Executive Committee and thus to work out, within the Committee itself, an evaluation of the impressions, information… at the end of the Congress. Therefore, what I am about to say does not reflect the view of the Committee but solely my own personal one.
I am revising what I have gathered during the Congress. The cities hosting the Congress of Educating Cities have the freedom to restructure it as they wish, even though during the time of preparation there is a constant exchange with the Secretariat and the Executive Committee.
There are, however, some difficult issues on which we give some directions as they are problems that we already came across in previous Congresses. I am referring to the difficulty of time allocation, to the dilemma of having time to explain in a sufficiently thorough way each city’s experience and work, on the one hand, and that of having limited time in which exchange is more important than each one’s explanation. It is impossible to organise such a lengthy Congress in a way so as to enable every single city to explain in length their projects and to then have the time to discuss them. In order to face this difficulty between what is strictly narrative and informative and what should be debated and jointly elaborated, we have tried to find an in-between formula, in which some examples could be presented in more detail, which would generate discussion, and others that would only be briefly mentioned in order for cities to learn that there is someone that is working on that topic and also for them to get in contact with those cities they wish to talk to.
This obviously causes a certain frustration, given that it is not possible to extensively explain and know what has interested us. This is exactly the dilemma of the Congress, thus it is something that the organisation cannot be blamed for. There are an increasing amount of cities and therefore more projects to present; we have to be able to accept this dialectical nature consisting of the ability to present and explain at length, on the one hand, and the ability to simply relate something, on the other, so as to be able to work on it in other forms.
Luckily, right now we have sufficient means of communication so that things are not only communicated face-to-face; we can also use other tools.
The Congress should be, above all, the place where to show what has been achieved; each city will then find the way to analyse more in-depth what has raised their interest.
The second aspect that I would like to comment on concerns contents, especially those of the plenary sessions, of the chatting, ... Frankly speaking, I personally had the impression - though I think that other members might have another point of view - that we are dealing with an absolutely important topic: the possible city. During these days, we have heard numerous descriptions of the possible city: it is the place of all utopias, of all projects, of the imaginary solutions of all conflicts and frustrations that we experience.
Our experience in the world, today, leads us to consider that, if on the one hand there are cities that are improving, on the other hand, there are many others that are worsening, and that in the world it is not very clear the fact that the dream of democracy goes on. We are living the experience - if not in our continent, at international level- of cities that were powerful in the course of history, sometimes even in a very recent past, and that are now at their lowest ever. Unfortunately there are too many examples. I think we are dealing with an issue that we cannot simply leave to dreams and utopia. We are racing against time.
In this sense I think that the diagnosis is clear – we have heard it here and on other occasions - and, at some point, even distressing. I would like to avoid insisting on the element of distress as I think that in order to improve, it is necessary to start from happiness. However, I have the impression that it has become very hard to proceed from theory. And solutions, in today's world, are not predetermined. And I think that they come to the surface more from grassroots work than from academic work. I have been an academician all my life and therefore I am saying this not just as a person who is politically involved but as a person who knows all the academic work and all that this can contribute to. I am of the opinion that we are getting answers especially from the contributions made by delegations. But what is the matter? The matter is that these are still very partial contributions that try to resolve the problems relative to and based on the situations, which seem small against the huge extent of the analysis and of the extremely serious problems that we see today in the world.
I think that our answer is coming precisely from such grassroots which represent the invention, where we produce innovation in developing small answers, which gradually have to be added and put together. In this sense, I believe that this Congress has been showing to be one step forward compared to previous congresses, not in terms of organisation but, rather, because our movement of Educating Cities goes on, becomes more mature and each time brings more solutions, certainly partial, however, very genuine and tangible, to the problems that we pose ourselves.
In this sense I think that we should use more and more the virtual means that we have at our disposal in order to cooperate and make Congresses an occasion to meet, see and know each other, and celebrate. But I also think that the real work is what we do on a daily and on-going basis. Each time there are more things to communicate, more interesting aspects that can assist all cities. I hope this will be the case.
Lastly, I would like to conclude by once again thanking all the people that have been working, all the people that are here to represent their cities and the work of many more people; obviously also, and in a special way, the city of Genoa for its effort; and Luca Borzani with his team for their most praiseworthy work.
In any case, thank you for the Congress, for your welcoming, for yesterday’s magnificent party, for having enabled us to walk around and know, a bit better or for the first time, this city which indeed has absolutely impressive urban and historical riches. We hope to see you in Lyon, with ever more cities.
Thank you.