The activities of the Research Centre are intended highlight the opportunities and critical evolution of the Urban Center in relation to cultures, strategies and forms of management of the actors involved in the processes of urban transformation.
This focus hinges on the identification of the role, identity and characteristics that this type of structure can take within a civic community, not only as a showcase of communication and information, but above all as a respected space for the sharing of urban development policies.
The profile of the Urban Center has in fact been constantly evolving from its first iterations, which began in didactic roles – such as a ‘centres of urban archives’ or even city museums – and were originally conceived of as merely ‘information points’ about historical and modern transformations of the area.
In order to support its innovation of styles, mission, activities and forms of management, accompanying startups, development and consolidation of the structures towards a stable and mature size, the main areas of action of the UC Research Centre are:
- The realisation of a ‘centre for documentation’ on the Urban Center phenomenon, organising and facilitation access to documents and materials, with the objective of constructing a repository of knowledge and skill around the participative experience in the processes of urban transformation;
- monitoring of the national (Italian) and overseas Urban Center landscape, constructing ‘dynamic maps’ relating to cultural patterns and the sharing of experiences through real-time contact with the more established structures operating in Europe and North America;
- the activation and development of an Urban Center Forum, understood as a meeting place open to all, for reflection and critical comparison, which allows various parties to contribute directly to the debate, and thus deepen the many areas of discourse on the phenomenon.