Redefining Education for a Social Solidarity Urban Economy

This project uses a qualitative case study approach to examine the comparative way in which education institutions in four different cities around the world engage with their locality through various relational mechanisms and infrastructures (such as governance, curriculum and pedagogy).

The cities (Barcelona, Berlin, New York and Rio de Janeiro) have been identified based on evidence of their attempts to develop, in different ways, an enabling and supportive urban context of cross-sector partnerships and collaboration that can help to build a successful social solidarity economy. This research aims to surface approaches to education that are grounded in notions of social solidarity, of policy-school, inter-school and school-stakeholder relationships that are based on doing with, not doing to; the fundamental ethos of a more relational city.

The study is cross-cutting, bringing together theory and practice from the fields of education and urban studies in new ways. It speaks to the interdisciplinary body of research that explores the systems and conditions that can help enable more inclusive and sustainable growth in cities around the world.