UNESCO renews SSIIM Chair until 2019
Launched in 1992, UNESCO Chairs Programme promotes international inter-university cooperation and networking to enhance institutional capacities through knowledge sharing and collaborative work.
Through this network, higher education and research institutions all over the globe pool their resources, both human and material, to address pressing challenges and contribute to the development of their societies. In many instances, the Chairs serve as think tanks and as bridge builders between academia, civil society, local communities, research and policy-making. They have proven useful in informing policy decisions, establishing new teaching initiatives, generating innovation through research and contributing to the enrichment of existing university programmes while promoting cultural diversity.
Today there are 658 Unesco Chairs, in 124 countries. 20 are running in Italy. SSIIM Unesco Chair on the “Social and Spatial Inclusion of International Migrants – Urban Policies and Practices” was established at University Iuav of Venice at the end of 2008 and started its activities in 2009 with the launch conference Migrants Demand for the city.
Chairholder: Marcello Balbo; Research Team: Giovanna Marconi, Elena Ostanel, Adriano Cancellieri and Mirko Marzadro.
Through awareness rising on the importance of urban inclusive policies, SSIIM UNESCO Chair contributed to address the multifaceted challenges cultural, ethnic and religious diversity pose to contemporary cities both in the global North and South. Unesco has recently communicated to the Iuav Rector that SSIIM Chair is renewed until 2019, in light of the very good results achieved during the past 6 years including: 620,000 euros obtained for research projects, more than 70 publications and research reports issued, an established international network of over 200 researchers, 20 visiting scholars hosted by SSIIM in Venice. The award confirms the importance of the work done by the SSIIM Chair , which can be considered a center of excellence for research on the issues concerning the city of differences and its challenging government, governance, planning, design, citizenship, social and spatial justice .
