10.6092/issn.3034-8544/18964
The Volume introduced by this editorial is the first issue of "URBANA. International Journal of Urban Policies and Studies," an open-access peer-reviewed international journal that aims to publish innovative and original papers on the processes and values of socio-spatial complexity of urban policies and practices. URBANA aims to prioritize reflection on the operationalization of public policies for cities and territories; in this perspective, this Volume is peculiarly keen on the role of Italian university institutions and cities, called to deal in various ways with the new challenges of contemporaneity to enable a faster turn toward sustainability and a more potent synergy between the actors involved.
The first Volume takes up and amplifies the issues discussed in December 2022 during the Conference "LE UNIVERSITÀ PER LE CITTÀ E I TERRITORI. Proposte per l’integrazione tra politiche universitarie e politiche urbane" organized in Bari by urban@it, with the sponsorship of the Puglia Region, ADISU Puglia, RUS, and Polytechnic University of Bari, in collaboration with the ArCoD Department of Polytechnic University of Bari. 
application/pdf
3034-8544
18964
1
en
Giovanna Mangialardi
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Urbana
urban accessibility
Editorial
Text.Serial.Journal
https://urbana.unibo.it/
1
Editorial
2024-01-25
2024-01-22
2024-01-25
2024-03-20
1-5
Urb
Giovanna Mangialardi
2024/01/25
10.6092/issn.3034-8544/18964
1
Polytechnic University of Bari
3034-8544
1
urban accessibility
en
5
Editorial
https://urbana.unibo.it/article/download/18964/17482
1
                                                               URBANA Vol. 1, N. 1, 2024               1




Editorial
Nicola Martinelli

Polytechnic University Bari

nicola.martinelli@poliba.it

Mariella Annese

Polytechnic University Bari

mariella.annese@poliba.it

Giovanna Mangialardi

Polytechnic University Bari

giovanna.mangialardi@poliba.it



The Volume introduced by this editorial is the first issue of "URBANA.
International Journal of Urban Policies and Studies," an open-access
peer-reviewed international journal that aims to publish innovative and
original papers on the processes and values of socio-spatial complexity of
urban policies and practices. URBANA aims to prioritize reflection on the
operationalization of public policies for cities and territories; in this
perspective, this Volume is peculiarly keen on the role of Italian
university institutions and cities, called to deal in various ways with the
new challenges of contemporaneity to enable a faster turn toward
sustainability and a more potent synergy between the actors involved.
This new editorial product of Urban@it, National Center for Urban Policy
Studies, joins two other flagship products of the center: “Rapporto sulle
città”1, an annual volume dedicated to the most relevant policies that
cross our territories and urban areas, and the editorial series called
“Working Papers”, characterized by a more open and heterogeneous
approach than previous editions since its first release in 2021. All respond
to the new cultural directions outlined in the document “Urban@it 2023.
Linee di indirizzo del comitato scientifico per il futuro di Urban@it nella
transizione urbana, green e digitale”2. This new Agenda of the Study
Center was widely discussed and shared at an Open Space Technology
(Ost) held in June 2021.
The first Volume takes up and amplifies the issues discussed in December
2022 during the Conference "LE UNIVERSITÀ PER LE CITTÀ E I

1
    https://www.urbanit.it/rapporti-annuali/.
2
    https://www.urbanit.it/chi-siamo/linee-scientifiche-fondamentali/.


                                                                           Copyright 2024 The Author(s)
                                                       This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.3034-8544/18964                       Attribution 4.0 International License
                                                URBANA Vol. 1, N. 1, 2024   2




TERRITORI. Proposte per l’integrazione tra politiche universitarie e
politiche urbane" organized in Bari by urban@it, with the sponsorship of
the Puglia Region, ADISU Puglia, RUS, and Polytechnic University of Bari,
in collaboration with the ArCoD Department of Polytechnic University of
Bari. These dissertations also considered the relationships between the
Right to Study and the Right to the City, problematizing them, too.
The conference was part of the program of the third three-year period of
urban@it's activities. It fell within the mission of invisible college self-
attributed by the Center during its multi-year activity (2014-2022),
focusing on a strong and mutually nurturing relationship between the
world of research, institutions, industry, and active citizenship around
the theme of urban policies, in a constant policy transfer toward cities
and territories.
The recent student protests in most major Italian universities, defined by
national media as “Movimento delle Tende”, have dramatically
highlighted the severe delays in Right to Study policies in Italy, apparently
betraying Article 34 of the Constitution.
Indeed, meeting student housing demand is no longer limited to raising
the educational levels of the university population. It is now an
unresolved sectoral policy issue, spilling over into urban housing issues.
As citizens with full rights, students add their difficulties in finding
houses to the urban scene, widening the field of those experiencing
housing discomfort and exacerbating the conflicts and inequalities
concerning access to acceptable houses.
The thesis supported by this volume is that the denial of the minimum
levels of the Right to Study corresponds to the denial of the Right to
Citizenship, undermining the quality of the typically Italian centuries-old
relationships between universities and cities. We believe that this issue
can no longer be solved only within the domain of urban competitiveness.
Instead, it requires the simultaneous guarantee of university citizenship
rights and habitability rights in the contemporary city. The relationship
between the competitiveness of university cities and active policies for
student welfare is unquestionable. Some universities have performed
reorganization concerning their management and assets and
experimented with new approaches to the issues of the Right to Study and
solving the issues of their communities. These have driven the
development of the urban systems they are a part of, increasing their
global prominence. The attractiveness of a university location is not only
played out on the level of educational offerings and an established brand
but also on the ability to provide adequate responses to the demands of
university citizenship.
In Italy, student welfare has long been outside the national political
agenda, with limited local situations. More than ever, the issue today is to
transform the "Right to Study" into a more explicit "Right to the City."
                                                URBANA Vol. 1, N. 1, 2024   3




Recent evidence suggests a clear orientation of Italian universities
concerning the cogency of contemporary rights crises.
For example, in recent months, Italian universities have developed
important experiments concerning housing discomfort through
applications to the L 338/2000 call for university housing. The goal was to
overcome the enclave dimension of universities about the "external
context." Often, project proposals have been hinged on actual Urban
Regeneration programs, such as the National Innovative Housing Quality
Program - PINQuA.
These experiences allow identifying explicit directions to be shared at the
national level to truly enhance the transformation capacity of universities
within public and private processes at the urban and territorial scales.
Nowadays, strategies for integrating academic and urban cultures can
also characterize the relationship between universities and cities in our
country. In our historical condition, the urban redevelopment and
enhancement of urban cultural heritage processes open up possible
synergies between municipalities and universities. In this context, the
scientific community can directly contribute to the maturation of the
cultural environment and youth creativity, improving the right to culture
while doing education and research.
Moreover, even before NRRP's strong push for ecological transition in
cities and territories, Italian universities came together in the Italian
University Network for Sustainable Development - RUS. Since 2019, they
have contributed to drafting Urban Sustainability Agendas in numerous
Italian cities. This has been triggered by the belief that good practices and
lifestyles can radiate into urban contexts from university campuses and
plexuses—for mobility, waste, energy conservation, and urban green
areas, etc.—with the goal of sustainable and, therefore, "fairer" cities.
This all suggests the apparent propensity of universities, as institutional
subjects with expert competence, to play an intermediary role between
(local and central) public institutions and inhabited territories within a
specific acceptation of public engagement. University students can
become drivers for territorial transformations in favor of inhabitants and
the most fragile contexts through innovative experiments on the Right to
Study as a Right to the City, guaranteeing extended material and
immaterial accessibility.
Through the National Conference, Urban@it raised the need for the
academic community and institutional representatives to reflect on these
issues. This confirms the Study Center's ability to identify critical issues
for Italian Urban Agendas. These include the relationship between the
urban system and the university system concerning the university's role
in contemporary society, moving beyond the enclave dimension to
become an "anchor institution" of the city while the "knowledge society"
keeps advancing.
                                                              URBANA Vol. 1, N. 1, 2024          4




During the conference, an attempt was made to investigate how and to
what extent Italian universities can contribute to the innovation of urban
and territorial policies of the contexts in which they operate, fulfilling
their institutional tasks of Education, Scientific Research, and Third
Mission. The result was an articulated and complex picture of the
renewed relationship between universities and cities in contemporary
times. In particular, the academic community was asked whether Italian
universities can concretely contribute to the innovation of urban and
territorial policies in the contexts where they operate. This question was
embodied in the contributions presented in the two study days. Italian
researchers interacted with student organizations, public administrators,
and the local community from a multidisciplinary perspective during this
time.
To dissect these issues, five work lines were identified in the National
Conference to represent, on the one hand, the complexity of the problem
and, on the other hand, the possibilities of integration between university
policies and urban policies:
- Session I: University and right-to-study facilities as a tool for urban
regeneration;
- Session II: The Role of Urban Cultural and Youth Policies;
- Session III: Urban Sustainability Agendas for Universities;
- Session IV: What Right to Study? A Set of Integrated and Inclusive Policies
between the University and the City;
- Session V: Inclusiveness and Accessibility of University Facilities and
Urban Spaces.
The lines articulated the organization of the Conference first, the
subsequent collection of the Proceedings3, and now this Volume.
The first Volume collects 14 innovative and original papers presented at
the National Conference, selected and introduced by the chairs 4 who led
the five sessions mentioned above. The scientific contributions are
anticipated by the contributions of three keynote speakers. In detail:
Federica Laudisa's contribution regarding the economic advantages of
having a university located in the community, students' difficulties in
Italian cities, and the perspectives in the NRRP; Marella Lamacchia's
contribution concerning current regional policies, with a focus on the
"Puglia Regione Universitaria" Project; Gianfranco Viesti's contribution
about the levels of tertiary education in our country in relation to the
needs of the economy and contemporary society.

3
  The full proceedings of the conference can be found in Volume No. 15 in the WORKING PAPERS
Series - Urban@it 1/2023 (eds.: Annese, Mariella; Mangialardi, Giovanna; Martinelli, Nicola (2023)
Le università per le città e i territori. Proposte per l’integrazione tra politiche universitarie e
politiche urbane. Bologna: Department of Architecture, University of Bologna, p. 767. ISBN
9788854971172. DOI 10.6092/unibo/amsacta/7345. In: Working Papers - Urban@it (15). Eds.: Orioli,
Valentina; Martinelli, Nicola. ISSN 2465-2059).
4
  Adolfo F. L. Baratta for Session I, Giuliano Volpe for Session II, Patrizia Lombardi for Session
III, Francesca Cognetti for Session IV, and Daniela De Leo for Session V.
                                               URBANA Vol. 1, N. 1, 2024   5




The 14 multidisciplinary contributions bring together theoretical
reflections, accounts of experiments with identifying innovation
elements and unresolved critical issues, and functional proposals for
innovating the relationship between universities, cities, and territories to
make university and urban policies more integrated.
All are firmly rooted in the present: while providing insight and
innovation concerning the more traditional reflection on the relationship
between university and city, they look at a national pandemic transition
condition recently exacerbated by a new global geopolitical crisis.
The collection of contributions in this first volume of Urban@it's URBANA
represents a cultural heritage on issues that Urban@it will continue to
explore in the near and immediate future in light of the complex national
contextual conditions. What is presented here is preliminary to the 10th
Report on Cities, which is being prepared and will be published in January
2025, on the tenth anniversary of the establishment of the Study Center
(Dec. 15, 2014). The Report will focus on the complex contextual
conditions in which Italian university institutions are called to deal with
the new contemporary challenges in various ways by assessing what
contributions they can make.
