Gathered in Venice for a workshop on social inclusion in cities, five UNESCO chair holders have agreed to launch a new working group on inclusive cities. The groups, which is headed by Shin Koseki, UNESCO Chair in Urban Landscape at the University of Montréal (Canada), brings together the UNESCO Chairs in Inclusive Urbanism at the University of Chicago (United States), in Social and Spatial Integration of Migrants at the Iuav University of Venice (Italy), in the Right to Housing at the University Rovira I Virgili (Spain) and in Vulnerability and Social Inclusion at the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico (Mexico).
The group aims at developing impactful fundamental, applied and action research on the inclusion in cities, and work closely with UNESCO, other international organizations, as well as with governments across the globe. Actions of the group should contribute to reaching Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 10 on reducing inequalities and 11 on sustainable cities and communities. In the upcoming months, the group will reach out to other UNESCO Chairs who would be interested in joining. The first item on the agenda is organizing a hybrid seminar amongst group members in the fall of 2023. The seminar should focus on how chairs can work with UNESCO and other members of the UN family towards increasing social inclusion in cities.
This initiative has been made possible thanks to the Sid Lee Architecture Fund.