The XI EURA conference, which took place in Milan, on the 9-11 of October, has seen the participation of more of 200 scholars.

From many points of view it has been a challenging learning enterprise, offeing interesting  suggestions from further reflection, both from the point of view of research and from the point of view of the organization of similar events.

Ø             The conference has gathered 126 papers presented by 178 authors; divided into the four main sections of the conference they have presented a vibrant image of a growing scientific community (most participants were not EURA members) spreading all over Europe and with relevant and consolidating relationship outside Europe. A community composed consistently also by phd students and young researchers interested in presenting their research results and discussing them. 204 people have registered and took part in the event; some 80 students of master courses of Politecnico were admitted for free in the opening and closing session. It was, at the end of the day, another important occasion  to meet and know each other for members of different disciplines and research fields.

Ø             The title of the conference showed its consistency and relevance for a reflection on the role that cities are playing and are asked to play in a Knowledge based society.  

            Keynote speeches in the opening and final session have given thought provoking orientations for this reflection:  in the closing session Mario Pezzini (OECD) has proposed to reflect upon the way in which cities are still important places of concentration, although this is neither sufficient nor necessary in terms of development. In fact  he has shown that current processes of urbanization are not actually reducing disparities. On the contrary differences and inequalities are still persisting (and growing), though changing in their profiles.

            This has implications both for the field of urban policies, since they have to face with a role of cities which cannot be taken for granted, both for the field of urban studies, because of the fact that there are territories and cities whose competitiveness is no more necessarily linked with the traditional characteristics of a urban environment.

             In this sense the closing and opening session have tried to answer a double question: what can we learn from cities and to what extent cities are learning? As a matter of fact cities are  real "working sites": the local level appears stressed by processes of social economical and political change. And in certain cases they are organizing in order to learn through action and research: as Lucy De Groot has shown, this is one of the major tasks cities are undergoing.  Efforts for producing interpretation of  ongoing processes and visions for the future are evident all over the world. Cities are engaged in complex processes of interpretation and at the same time trying to innovate their modes of action.

            Of course this is rather difficult, as discussed by prof. Dente in the opening session. "Has urban government learned new ways to cope with old and new problems? How this has affected the institutional dimension? And which are the implications for future research?": these  were the question raised by prof. Bruno Dente in the opening session. He argued that "it is not clear whether cities have engaged themselves in these exercises far better than others". Mostly in the field of institutional innovation (forms of government) and planning: he concluded that "both institutions and planning have very slightly changed in order to face the new challenges of society".

            Much work has to be done in this direction. As prof. Guido Martinotti has discussed in his presentation it is always more difficult to talk about society, and what we are facing are actually the challenges proposed by a network society, "VERNETZUNGSCHAFT", rather than one that once could be read through the contraposition among community and society.  This implies the relevance of "simulation" (rather than the stress on will); of "avatar" (rather than "individuals" and "persona"); on "credit" (rather than "possession and wealth"), of "derivates" (rather than "land and money2) and on "covenants" - and  of an  "I accept" perspective- (rather than on "family law" or "contracts").

             What this implies in terms of the role of planning, was the focus of prof. Ash Amin key note lecture. In front of what he defined the "decline of 'knowing' tradition in urban planning" he discussed the "rise of 'pragmatist or deliberative' tradition". One able to acknowledge complexity but also to act  programmatically,  to "plan with contemporary social visionaries", to "plan in contexts of emergencies"  such as "Infrastructural collapse or militarization, Sprawl, disconnection, polarisation, Economic exposure and vulnerability, Risk assessment and preparedness, Racism, social intolerance, poverty, Public culture on hold". In other words accepting the challenges of dealing with the city and invest on it, despite, and in front of, the growing uncertainty of contemporary world.

 All presentations are now available on the EURA Milan conference website.

         During the conference we have tried to offer  participants a further learning experience, one concerning the city and the urban context they were hosted by.  Actually scientific  conferences are, like other events, object of competition among cities (and universities as well), which fight for hosting new ones, then forgetting to offer participants a non-traditional and innovative view on what they are.  On the one side similar events are important for the research field as well for cities themselves, since they project cities on new scales and scenes: participants get in touch with local contexts, bringing them their experiences and points of view, and bringing home what they have seen, and learnt from cities. We believe that meeting and conferences  can be, rather than episodes of academic tourism or forms of promotion of cities, interesting occasions to host scientific communities which could be involved in the local reflection on what is happening.  In this perspective the conference could benefit from the presence of an exhibition devoted to the exploration of Milan urban region, promoted by the province of Milan in collaboration with the Department of Architecture and Planning in the occasion of a process of strategic planning. Videos, maps, data, interviews presenting a complex urban  context, living profound processes of transformations, which care challenging cities and laboratories. Mobile workshops organized on Thursday afternoon have tried to offer Eura conference participants overviews of the ongoing  major challenges  and processes and some hints on the reaction from the city via policies and projects. Actually it was on the one side interesting for us to present participants  the city and the urban region under our research perspectives (since it offered us the opportunity to reflect upon what is relevant to be communicated to others of what we are seeing and exploring) and on the other it was an interesting opportunity to hear other points of view on our research context and field. In particular in the exchanges during mobile workshops and social events ( which  were thought to present some of the activities of innovative policy and research actors in the urban policy fields).

Ø               Finally it was for us a learning experience also from the organizational point of view: three departments of three different universities, ph. d. students, master students, researchers and full professors, have collaborated in building this event. And actually since the very beginning we have accepted this challenge bearing in mind that it could be an opportunity also under this point of view: that of working together with others and opening to discussion under the occasion of such an event. Can universities learn something from similar events? Is research somehow enhanced by them? Is it the right formula? It is always difficult to say if this kind of conferences are worth the game. It may happen that during them one can meet interesting colleagues working on the same fields, on something new to read and investigate on. Or sometimes it happens to hear colleagues working far aside from us, that despite all, open us new points of view. Of course it can also happen you cannot find anything interesting, but at least you had the occasion to know  what others are doing. Of course there are some other options, maybe more fruitful.  But however the ?association?s conference? can still be interesting and relevant: much depends on the expectations and motivations, engagement and commitments of participants which is the main resource at play. Eura has born and grown with this character of commitment, as also this XI EURA conference has shown, both in terms of quantitative and qualitative facts ( number of papers, quality, number of chair-man and discussant?). Keeping this diffuse commitment, one of the most important EURA?s resources, will go on stimulating universities and researchers interested in taking the risks and the opportunities of hosting such  events.

25 % of abstracts have been submitted under the

TRACK 1 __  EMERGING SPATIAL PLANNING PRACTICES

(Track chairs: Liliana Padovani, Carolina Pacchi).

Another 25% have been submitted to

TRACK 2 __  ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND URBAN CHANGE

(Track chairs: Roberto Camagni, Gabriele Pasqui).

More than 30 % have been submitted to

TRACK 3 __  LEARNING THROUGH GOVERNANCE

(Track chairs: Pierluigi Crosta, Valeria Fedeli).

The 20% have been submitted to

TRACK 4 __  INTEGRATION AND COHESION IN KNOWLEDGE-BASED URBAN SOCIETIES

(Track chairs:  Serena Vicari, Antonio Tosi).

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

we can now announce the invited keynote speakers:

Prof. Ash Amin, Prof. Guido Martinotti, Prof. Bruno Dente, Ms Lucy De Groot, Mr Pezzini.

Prof. Ash Amin, Professor of Geography University of Durham (UK), is leading scholar in the field of research in the challenges of urban and regional economic development in the context of structural change and international economic integration. He is author, with Nigel Thrift,  of Cities. Reimagining the Urban, 2002, Blackwell, one of the leading books in the last ten years.

Prof. Bruno Dente, Professor at the Politecnico di Milano, is a leading scholar in the field of policy research on the study of institutions and the analysis and design of public policies in Italy. He is particularly characterized by a strong commitment in applied research and field experimentation.  He was editor of Le politiche pubbliche in Italia, Bologna, il Mulino, 1990, one of the leading handbook in the public policies field in Italy.

Prof. Guido Martinotti, Professor at the University Milano-Bicocca, is a leading scholar  in Urban Sociology. He was among the first in Italy to focus on processes of social change in metropolitan contexts and his book, Metropoli. La nuova morfologia sociale della città, Il Mulino, Bologna, (1993) has been a central one in the Italian reflection.

Ms Lucy De Groot, has been Executive Director of the IDeA ( Improvement and Development Agency  for local government ) since September 2003. She was previously Director of Public Services in HM Treasury for three and a half years, responsible for major areas of public expenditure, as well as the delivery of public service agreements and a range of strategic policies including the Voluntary Sector and Every Child Matters.  The IDeA is owned by the Local Government Association  of UK and belongs to local government. They  work in close partnership with the following organizations to support and promote better local government: 4ps, local government?s project delivery specialist; Local Authority Coordinators of Regulatory Services (LACORS) and Local Government Employers (LGE), who represent local government as an employer.

Mario Pezzini, joined OECD in 1995 as Principal Administrator in charge of the work on Distressed Urban Areas. From 1996 to 1999 he was the Head of the OECD Rural Development Program and from 1999 to 2007 the Head of the Regional Competitiveness and Governance Division. Before joining the OECD he was Professor in Industrial Economics at the École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris as well as in US and Italian Universities. On several occasions Mr. Pezzini has been economic advisor for international organizations and think tanks in the field of economic development, industrial organization and regional economics, with a particular focus on policies for clusters and networks of small and medium sized firms as well as on policies to valorize natural and cultural resources. A member of several governmental advisory boards, Mr. Pezzini was also manager in the Regional Government of the Emilia-Romagna Region in Italy.

MOBILE WORKSHOPS
The coordination team organizing some study tours in order to get participants in touch with major urban transformation in the city. Study tours will give participants an opportunity to see and hear, in contrasting locations, about the different aspects of Milan and its surroundings areas transformations, through tradition and change (see the specific page). 

REGISTRATION and  ACCOMMODATION
Registration is now open on the website page.

Further to that the website provides a link to another website offering accommodations in relation to the Conference and general info about the city. We suggest all participants to book their accommodation as soon as possible: Milan is a city of exhibitions and fairs and last-minute booking can be risky, or rather impossible.

EVENTS

The Conference will host an exhibition on the Progetto Strategico CITTA' DI CITTA' (www.cittadicitta.it), promoted by the Province of Milan, which will also sponsor a social event during the conference.