Iain Walker, executive director at the newDemocracy Foundation, will address the issue at the seminar Democracies and Democratic Innovations, which will take place on September 19, from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm. The moderators will be political scientists José Álvaro Moisés, coordinator of IEA's research group on the Quality of Democracy, and Sergio Fausto, superintendent at the Fernando Henrique Cardoso Foundation. There will be live streaming on the Institute's website.

Walker cites the Arab Spring and the June of 2013 in Brazil, the election of populist leaders, and the political positions like the Brexit as "good, but not exhaustive, examples on how democratic regimes are being confronted."

"Making democracies more inclusive means to strengthen democratic values like tolerance and political trust between the citizens, but also to introduce practices of accountability and responsiveness inside governments practices. It also requires innovative reforms to include minorities into the political system and to addressing the contemporary problem of the 'crisis of the representatives,' that take apart political and economic elites from the mass of the citizens."

Ibirapuera Park

The planning of public policies, legislation and city master plans suffer from a well-known cultural malaise in Brazilian society: the deviation from their original functions aiming at attending minor or particular interests at the time of their implementation. Likewise, administration suffers from deviations when the management of the public issue is distributed among political parties. "Many problems are not solved by a political issue and the obstacles of the cities end up becoming a political platform, so there is no interest in solving them. We are impregnated with political behaviour. We bring political-partisan issues to the context of public policy discussion in a very exaggerated way," says Professor Arlindo Philippi Jr., who is participating in the 2017 Sabbatical Year Program at the IEA and develops the project 'Urban Experiences in the Perspective of New Ideas and Sustainable Solutions for the City.'

The ongoing work at the IEA will lead to proposals for public managers and urban researchers in the form of a book. The volume 'Urban Management and Sustainability' is due to be launched in early 2018 as part of the Manole Publishing House Environmental Collection, which Philippi Jr. has been developing for more than 10 years. The collection includes dozens of titles focusing on environmental issues, social issues, sustainable development, natural resources and public management. The present volume will count on the contribution of dozens of specialists in urban issues, including housing, sanitation, mobility, violence and management, among other topics.

Arlindo Philippi Jr: "Many problems are not solved by a political issue and the obstacles of the cities end up becoming a political platform"

According to Philippi Jr., the kind of management practiced in Brazilian cities has been exhausted for a long time. "The city does not deliver what the citizen needs in terms of service provision, land ownership and other issues. In general, planning includes good things and good ideas, but it is subverted in its implementation by contemplating minor issues to the detriment of what would be best for the citizen," says the professor.

The governability of the cities is also flawed, according to the researcher. "The huge Brazilian political spectrum appears and the mayor ends up distributing the functions of city administration between the parties. Thus, he uses only a little of the knowledge sedimented in the very structure of the public service, which are the effective employees, who should be ahead of the administration," he says.

For him, when some innovation is presented in public management, it is generally received with much criticism, but it is up to the administrator to demonstrate that the measures will provide well-being to the citizens. "When I was the mayor of USP's campus in the Butantã neighbourhood, we received a lot of criticism due to the implementation of the exclusive bus and bicycle lanes. But through the website of our administration we were showing the reasons for the change. Today, the vast majority of people respect these lanes," he exemplifies.

Citizen participation is another important issue for good public administration, recalls the professor. "There is no solution for anything including democracy if there is no participation of people. Citizen participation presupposes that citizens have access to management information. The term 'transparency' has been used as a word of effect and so we need to remember that transparency in public management means providing data and technical knowledge through a reliable system," he emphasizes.

Information systems are fundamental management tools. Many of them have been created and deployed, but fail because it is often not in the interest of the government to inform citizens, according to the professor. Likewise, indicators of sustainability and effective communication of public facts are ways of promoting citizenship, he recalls.

According to Philippi Jr., the book to be published will be sent to city managers with the intention of presenting innovations and successful experiments in public management. It may also serve as a basis for the training of professionals who want to work with the urban issue, as well as contribute to the submission of new research on the discussed topics.

Activities

Three seminars, a technical meeting, partnerships with new research groups and the publication of academic articles are activities included in the goals of the sabbatical project. Through the set of proposed experiments, discussions and reflections, the study will seek to contribute with ideas and solutions that respond to the daily needs of people in changing urban environment in view of the principles of sustainability and interdisciplinary articulation.

The meeting 'Urban Experiments, New Ideas and Sustainable Solutions for Cities', held in April, focused on the visions of various segments and brought the successful experiences of cities in fields such as energy, urban mobility, housing, urban agriculture and inclusive culture. "São Paulo, for example, has an information system, called PRODAM, which makes it possible to follow the most diverse demands of citizens. And managers can benefit from this database to improve management," exemplifies Philippi Jr.

In May, the 'Academic Meeting on Interdisciplinarity and Innovation in Universities of Excellence' brought researchers from the most prestigious universities and research institutions in Brazil to deal with knowledge frontier topics that require the interface between disciplines to solve complex problems.

"The practice of interdisciplinarity in teaching, research and extension requires innovative approaches. It is a form of knowledge production that implies theoretical and methodological exchanges that make the professional and the researcher leave their comfort zone. This type of approach is increasingly widespread in the world, and in Brazil there are excellent groups working on this issue. There are universities that have been entirely created from the presuppositions of interdisciplinarity, such as USP' School of Arts, Sciences and Humanities (EACH), the Federal University of Southern Bahia, the Federal University of the Southern Border and others," says the professor, who has already served as director of evaluation of the Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), and has been the coordinator of the Interdisciplinary and Environmental Sciences areas of the institution.

The business management dealt with during the 'National Business & Sustainability Colloquium', held in June, concerns entrepreneurship and innovation, not necessarily private companies. The venture may refer to companies or public management, explains Philippi Jr. The event brought together public, private and civil society organizations that showed management models focused on good practices based on sustainability.

According to the professor, the next step will be to seek interaction between the various research groups of the IEA that work on issues related to the urban issue. "The idea is to bring together the coordinators of these research groups to an initial meeting in order to identify common objectives and areas of action, as well as new research fields and new partnerships," he says. The prospect is to hold the technical meeting in August.

The professor will also participate in the 14th International Conference on Urban Health, which will take place from September 24 to 28 in Coimbra, Portugal, as an activity planned for his sabbatical year at the IEA. Philippi Jr. will participate on September 25, attending the pre-conference 'Shaping policies to promote urban health equity: a socio-technical approach. Evidence from the EURO-HEALTHY case studies', having been invited by the EURO-HEALTHY project coordinator.

Organized by the International Society for Urban Health Secretariat, a part of The New York Academy of Medicine, the international meeting will address 'Equity in Health: The New Urban Agenda and the Goals of Sustainable Development.' The International Society of Urban Health (ISUH) is a global organization created in 2002 that brings together academics, governments, NGOs and companies to improve the health of cities.

Photos: Allan White and Leonor Calasans

The construction of narratives on the symbology of environmental themes will be discussed on April 17

Joanne Garde-Hansen, director of the Center for Cultural and Media Policy Studies at the University of Warwick, UK, will be at the IEA on April 17, from 3.00 pm to 6.00 pm, to discuss the theme Water: Nostalgia and Trauma - Narratives, Rights and Policies in England. At the meeting, to take place in the former University Council Room, she will suggest a reflection on diversity related to issues that deserve more attention in scientific terminology and public policy.

Garde-Hansen has been working with Brazilian researchers in order to construct social narratives linked to water and public policies, and argues that seeking connections and convergences between terms such as "drought" (which assumes different meanings in Brazil and in Europe) may favor dialogue between nations and cultures. The event will be held in English and broadcast live on the IEA's website.

Moderation will be in charge of professors Pedro Jacobi, from USP's School of Education (FE), Danilo Rothberg, from the São Paulo State University (UNESP), Antonio Almeida, from USP's Luiz de Queiroz School of Agriculture (ESALQ), and Gilson Schwartz, from USP's School of Communications of Arts (ECA) and a participant of IEA's Sabbatical Year Program in 2017. Schwartz is also coordinating the event.

The fluid theme relating water, cultural sharing and memory invites for a dialogue on concepts between cultures, social narratives, rights and public policies. "The term 'drought', for example, assumes a meaning in Europe that does not coincide with the perception of the fact in Brazil or in other countries," says the researcher. "There is no universal definition of terms that only theoretically have the same value or meaning."

Organized by the IEA, the debate is supported by USP's Center for Research in Technology of Architecture and Urbanism (NUTAU), the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), UNESP and the University of Warwick.

The speaker

Joanne Garde-Hansen is a lecturer in the field of Culture, Media and Communication, responsible for the Master's course in Global Media and Communication, and director of the Center for Cultural and Media Policy Studies at the University of Warwick. She conducts researches on media, memory, archives and patrimony, and keeps multidisciplinary collaborations with scientists of the most diverse areas, among them geography, natural resources, computation, history, besides communication and culture.

In Crateús, in the dry region of the Brazilian State of Ceará, residents pay R$ 0.50 for 20 liters of non-potable water

Some of her latest books are Emotion Online: Theorizing Affect in the Internet (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), with Kristyn Gorton; Media and Memory (Edinburgh University Press, 2011), with Andrew Hoskins and Anna Reading, and Social Memory Technology: Theory, Practice, Action (Routledge 2016).

Since 2012, she has been working on projects funded by FAPESP, the British Council and the Warwick Brazil Partnership.

She is the co-investigator of the project Developing a Drought Narrative Resource in a Multi-Stakeholder Decision-Making Utility for Drought Risk Management, or DRY (Drought Risk and You), from 2014 to 2019.

Since 2016, she has been visiting the city of Bauru, in the countryside of the State of São Paulo, exploring the theme "Narratives on Water and Digital Hydrocity", a research carried out with Professor Danilo Rothberg, from UNESP, with funding from FAPESP and the University of Warwick.

Images: Fernanda Carvalho/Fotos Públicas; Fernando Frazão/Agência Brasil

Ricardo Ohtake, new holder of the Olavo Setubal Chair of Arts, Culture and Science.

To address the trajectory of art and culture in Brazil from the post-Second War period until the crisis of 2016, and to analyze the current situation of institutions and activities in the field with prospects for the future, are some of the goals of the new holder of the Olavo Setubal Chair of Arts, Culture and Science, created in 2015 and officially launched in February 2016 by the IEA in partnership with Itaú Cultural. Architect, graphic designer and cultural manager Ricardo Ohtake took office on March 17, in a ceremony in the University Council Room that was attended by authorities, sponsors of the Chair, artists and scientists.

"The discussion of the future is what matters most, mainly because of the new political, social, economic, administrative and institutional situation in Brazil, which we know has created a legal anomaly in the country, provoking insecurity for the population and certain insecurity in the cultural environment", said Ohtake.

While opening the ceremony, Martin Grossmann, academic coordinator of the Chair, professor at USP's School of Communications and Arts (ECA), and former director of the IEA, welcomed the new holder and thanked the work done by diplomat and essayist Sérgio Paulo Rouanet, former national secretary of Culture and author of the bill to encourage culture that bears his name. During the inaugural year of the Chair, Rouanet developed the approximation between the borders of knowledge in the personal, institutional and scientific scopes, as he recalled in his speech.

The new activities will include the debate on the actions and the thinking of cultural leaders, and the participation of institutions in the development of the artistic and cultural field, in a reflection that will go back to the cultural history of Brazil, Grossmann showed.

Ohtake recalled the evolution of Brazilian society and mentality - including its typical contradictions and complexities with which "a modern and medieval country" was built - and related this trajectory to the steps taken by the country in the cultural and artistic fields.

He mentioned the beginnings of the cosmopolitanization of Brazil, especially in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, with the emergence of icons such as the Vera Cruz Cinematographic Company, the TBC Brazilian Theater of Comedy, art institutions, the Biennale and museums, among them the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP), created by the coffee bourgeoisie.

To expose and develop his own trajectory as a cultural leader in the context of the city, the country and internationally will be one of Ohtake's pursued goals. He will also invite critics, cultural leaders, artists and historians to participate in debates and testimonials; approach the relationship between art and politics and the role of exhibitions in the art debate; and analyze the role of cultural leaders in the development of institutions and thinking.

The new holder intends to bring his experience of more than 50 years in this field. He has been Secretary of Culture of the State of São Paulo, Secretary of the Green and Environment of São Paulo, director of the São Paulo Cultural Center, and director of the Museum of Image and Sound and the Brazilian Cinematheque. He has lectured in several architecture, communications and plastic arts faculties and was curator of the Brazilian participation at the Architecture Biennale of Venice in 2010.

The Ohtake family is one of the most influential for the arts and architecture in Brazil. Ricardo Ohtake is son of artist Tomie Ohtake (1913-2015) and brother of architect Ruy Ohtake, who signs the project of the famous building that houses the Tomie Ohtake Institute. He has graduated from USP's Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism (FAU), and currently directs the Tomie Ohtake Institute.

"If, on the one hand, cultural activity is always provided by very limited resources, on the other hand it always requires a lot of imagination and daring for propositions to be solved. The leader does not have to be an intellectual, but he must know where the concepts, the variations of approaches, the artists, the history of art, and also the engineering of the activities take place. As the resource is never enough, knowing how to give priorities and alternatives is fundamental to make sense of everything that is done," he said.

While reviewing his own career, Ohtake recalled his childhood, when he invented things and plays on the street in the 'Mooca' neighborhood, in São Paulo. "I realized with surprise that I internalized what critic Mário Pedrosa said in the 1950s to my mother: 'The key is to be original.' I understood that I always had to be original, not only in artistic creation."

From the left: Eduardo Saron, Ricardo Ohtake, José Roberto Sadek, Vahan Agopyan, Sérgio Paulo Rouanet, Roberto Setúbal and Paulo Saldiva.

Tributes

The Olavo Setubal Chair of Arts, Culture and Science, created to foster interdisciplinary reflections on academic, artistic-cultural and social issues in the regional and global contexts, has been taking the form of an "experimental platform for freedom", according to Grossmann.

"If Rouanet practiced the permanent exercise of criticism by producers, and academic and cultural institutions during this period, Ricardo Ohtake intends to explore the experimental exercise of freedom, be it as a public figure, as a cultural manager, or through his wisdom and his constant thinking that produces an exemplary practice in the field of the arts and culture," said Grossmann.

In almost 12 months of activity as holder of the Chair, Rouanet has sought broad approximations and interactions in the epistemic, institutional or even personal fields, he showed. "The participation of so many colleagues in the effort to give prestige to other areas of knowledge, culture, arts, psychoanalysis, science and philosophy was an attempt to minimize the gap between the human sciences and other sciences," he said.

For Rouanet, the Chair has been a unique opportunity to deepen the effort to unify science a little more; an effort that was extended to the institutional field, with USP interacting with other institutions.

In the words of IEA's director Paulo Saldiva, the ceremony brings the symbolic sign of generosity and passion expressed in the "action of sponsors such as Itaú Cultural, or in the work of people like Ricardo Ohtake, who come to share their experience, teach and illuminate the spirit."

The Chair also celebrates the union between academia, artists, intellectuals and young people who could see the example of rare values such as leadership and enchantment, Saldiva said. "Values such as generosity, passion and enchantment for study are sorely lacking for our youth today. These are feelings that make things happen despite all the difficulties," he emphasized.

USP's Vice-President Vahan Agopyan has stressed the importance of interlocution between academia and external sectors provided by chairs and interdisciplinary instances as the IEA. "I often say that the IEA is the think tank of USP: a place for debates on cross-cutting themes and, as well as the chairs, capable of promoting interaction with society. Dialogue with society is a challenge of the 21st century for all universities, and with the support of Itaú Cultural we are managing to increase this interaction," said Agopyan.

Roberto Setúbal, executive president of Itaú bank, when speaking about the support for the Chair, preferred to recall his father's personality and his tradition of appreciation for culture, his career as an entrepreneur and an engineer graduated from USP's Polytechnic School (POLI). "Severe, firm and demanding, but always very open to dialogue and new ideas. A man of science and research - he has worked at the Institute of Technological Research (IPT). A mayor who created the São Paulo Secretariat of Culture, a gesture that made me very proud in my student days and that shows how he valued culture and was open to the new," he said.

Eduardo Saron, director of Itaú Cultural, recalled the important role of Ohtake in the democratization of culture and arts in Brazil. "The democratization of access to culture, so much discussed by managers in the country, is a theme that will remain for a long time. Art and culture are beyond the needs and rights of the citizen. If the artist thinks of art as a field of desires, managers and actors of cultural politics need to think about culture in this aspect. It is not a matter of democratizing access only. It is about autonomy and freedom of expression. Cultural democracy thinks and understands the individual as an actor of self; an autonomous citizen who has the right to freedom of expression; to see and experience all cultures," said Saron.

Professor Lilia Moritz Schwarcz, from USP's Faculty of Philosophy, Languages and Literature, and Human Sciences (FFLCH), was invited to give the reception address to the honoree. She recalled the work done with Ohtake and the projects undertaken at the Tomie Ohtake Institute.

Lilia Schwarcz, from USP's Faculty of Philosophy, Languages and Literature, and Human Sciences (FFLCH): "Ricardo Ohtake has distributed gifts in the fields of art and culture".

"A visionary of the arts, an intellectual of culture, an academic of the world of museums, of the arts in the broad sense, he knows that culture is what it does. In Ricardo Ohtake's words, among the various ways of assessing the success of different art forms, there is a unifying question, which is the transformation that the viewer of art undergoes before a work, and the emotion that provides a new knowledge, a new sensitivity, and / or a new experience," said Schwarcz.

For Schwarcz, Ohtake has "distributed gifts": he has toured the fields of architecture, graphic arts, decoration, urbanism, drawing, theater, education, cinema, publishing, dance, photography and the plastic arts; he has made exhibitions, documentaries, film festivals; sponsored concerts; created drawings for many books. "He has inspired generations, having passed through numerous institutions until landing at the Tomie Ohtake Institute, which opened for all kinds of experimentation."

"It is impossible to meet Ricardo without being deeply affected by his history, his smile, his generosity, his very noisy silence, and his transforming affection. I congratulate USP for realizing that Ricardo is a born scholar in the sublime function of being a cultural multiplier, and thus an immense distributor of gifts, an intellectual open to diversity, plurality and equality in this unfortunately unequal country," said the professor.

The State Secretary for Culture of São Paulo, José Roberto Sadek, highlighted the important link between the university and society promoted by the Chair, and the promotion of non-polarized dialogue, treated with the complexity and nuances that the theme requires.

In Brazil, half of the female university students has suffered harassment, and almost 30% of them have experienced sexual violence during the academic life. The alarming figures revealed by the 2015 survey by the Avon Institute / Data Popular show only one side of a cultural model that is reproduced in an environment that should be the place of difference and diversity. Instead of being a plural space, the university also reveals to be the place of the implied prejudice against women with regard to progression in the academic and scientific career, as demonstrated by the debate Women in University and Science: Challenges and Opportunities, held on September 15 at the IEA.

"Much of this discussion is associated with the power of women or with the conflict of power in relation to men and its social, cultural and political implications. In the private and public contexts, women are not willingly admitted in power domains. Even in large democracies of the 21st century, power relates to men," said the lecturer Leila Saadé, president of the RESUFF (Francophone Network of Women Responsible for Higher Education and Research).

The RESUFF's mission is to educate leaders and academics to question male-female inequality at universities, especially in access to positions of responsibility. It has been developing teaching modules on gender that offer training tools for professional and institutional strategies. The agency has also opened a call for proposals for a gender observatory at universities, which will work with a representative of the network in each participating university with the aim of consolidating data and indicators on women's participation in academic life.

As an expert in law and president of the Doctoral School of Law of the Middle East, Saadé addressed experiences in Lebanon and France on the issue of gender in academia and science. She also explored affirmative actions created by the Francophone University Association (AUF), which has been consolidating initiatives to promote women's access to positions of responsibility. The association, founded in Canada, funds university projects of teaching and research, and its headquarters is located in an office of São Paulo State University (UNESP), in São Paulo.

Vera Soares, from USP Mulheres (USP Women), and conferencist Leila Saadé

"We can not want a better world where half the population is in a hidden corner of the planet. If women are struggling to reach the summit of positions of responsibility we are offering a gift to democracy as we strive for the triumph of a set of values that have founded democracies, ie the principle of equal rights and opportunities," she said.

Physicist Caroline Carvalho dos Santos, a professor at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) and coordinator of the university extension program Girls in Science, participated as a panelist. Moderation was in charge of Vera Soares, from USP Mulheres (USP Women).

The meeting has been organized by the Consulate General of France in São Paulo, the Institut Français in Brazil, USP Women and the IEA.

Shear effect

According to Saadé, 20% of the presidents in French university positions were women in 2008 and recently this ratio has halved. Eight years ago there were 58% of women enrolled in master's and bachelor courses, as well as 48% in PhD courses. Only 23% reached the position of university professor, showing that the higher the career level, the greater the shear effect. "Unfortunately, academia is deeply discriminatory against women and cultivates women's discrimination," she said.

The European average is no exception: only 9% of research management positions are occupied by women and only 11% of them are high academic responsibility positions.

In Lebanon, women represent 37% of academic researchers, and 11% of them work in engineering and technology. "We have asked for a national observatory in Lebanon to define gender indicators and structure inclusion strategies," said Saadé.

The shear effect has deep roots in stereotypes in which unfortunately even women themselves believe and reproduce, she said. "The L'Oreal Foundation has conducted a survey on the view that Europeans have of women in science and revealed that 67% believe that women are not qualified to occupy high positions in science. The reasons given for having that thinking are the lack of perseverance, practical spirit, rigor and scientific spirit, as well as rational and analytical mind. Women have the same view, which is the worst part. It is a universal vision. The same survey has been conducted among the Chinese, who reproduced the same responses. We are forced to admit that cultural factors and stereotypes play an important role in this view of women", she showed.

The researcher believes that it is possible to change that, even if a long way to go is necessary. First, one must create a network that encourages and supports female scientists besides consolidating data and indicators. "There is a lack of indicators. The figures are uncertain and often false. We need surveys on the real situation of women in science and academia so we can create action strategies," she said.

Besides consolidating indicators, the network proposed by Saadé will need to act to "break the vicious circle in which research projects are created and evaluated only by men, and in which only men are accepted."

A survey in France has shown that women coursing the last year of graduation in science had better terms than men and this proves that they have scientific spirit, Saadé explained. "So we need to leave solitude and silence by valuing women, their skills and their ego; give them the opportunity to fall in love with the sphere of science," she said.

Segregation by area

Carolina Brito: "There is a lack of female models in scientific high positions"

Physicist Carolina Brito, a professor at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), said that women suffer both vertical and horizontal segregations throughout their academic careers. The first one relates to the shear effect, while the horizontal segregation concerns the areas in which women do often not seek for positions due to pre-existing prejudices in career choices.

Brito showed data of the 2006 School Census, in which women were the majority in high school both in enrollment (54%) and as graduates (58%). Women also represented most of the students in Brazilian universities according to the 2012 data of the Anísio Teixeira National Institute of Educational Studies (INEP). However, for each 100 graduate students, 15 graduated in engineering and mathematics, and only five women headed to the so-called hard sciences.

In the case of physics, segregation is even greater, showed Brito. If something like 30% of scientific initiation scholarships in physics go to women, only 15% of PhD scholarships and only 5% of A-level research scholarships remain with them.

Stereotypes, culture, and family and school influences play an important role so that women do not choose a scientific career, believes Brito, who also points to another important trend. "I insist on the lack of female models in scientific high positions. There are very few giving this example. Therefore, women do not see themselves in careers like that," she said.

Moreover, it is necessary to end scientific committees formed predominantly by men. The scientific committee of physics at the National Scientific and Technological Development Council (CNPq), for example, has only 10% of women in its composition. "The pharmacy case is even worse. Although the area has mostly women, the scientific committee at CNPq is 100% composed of men," she said.

The requirements for women are much higher. "In the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, the male presence on the chairs is very strong. But if we analyze the profile of the occupants by choosing the criterion members under 35 years studying PhD, for example, we notice that among men 15% do not have a Research Productivity scholarship (PQ), and only 1% of women do not have a PQ. This shows that the criteria are more restrictive for women," said Brito.

Professor Marcos Nogueira Martins, director of USP's Institute of Physics (IF), showed some figures from a foreign institution to confirm that gender segregation occurs worldwide.

"At the University of Chicago, men make up 87% of the academic body. This is a global phenomenon. But in my academic experience, I do not notice any difference in ability between men and women, and I agree that there is a loss of talent by leaving women out. But it is difficult for a person to get interested in what they do not know or do not understand. Unfortunately, you can not make miracles with the education we have in Brazil," said Martins.

Photos: Marcos Santos/Jornal da USP and Leonor Calasans/IEA

The USP Global Cities Program has the support from the rectory of the University and will seek support for public policies for the quality of life of São Paulo

Global cities influence the world. Regardless of their population size, they centralize global decisions. They are places where the best business deals are made and where the best art is located. One can also find the best orchestras, the best universities and the best food there. Their importance even transcends the countries where they are located. They not only attract more investment but also hold the top positions in quality of life. The criteria for a city to become a global city, which have been created by A.T. Kearney management consulting, give São Paulo the 34^th place in the overall ranking. But the USP Global Cities Program, launched on July 13 at the Oscar Freire Institute of USP's School of Medicine (FM-USP), intends to make São Paulo enter the group of the so-called elite cities, according to Marcos Buckeridge, a professor at USP's Institute of Biosciences (IB) and coordinator of the program.

2016 Ranking of the elite cities by A.T. Kerney management consulting

The event has brought together representatives of the civil society and non-governmental organizations, as well as researchers, politicians, and public and academic managers. Fernando Haddad, the mayor of São Paulo, has also attended the meeting in the company of his wife, Ana Estela Haddad, a professor at USP's School of Dentistry.

"The initiative is essential to the future of São Paulo. We will offer our databases, our intelligence and our public servants to contribute to the success of the program," said Haddad.

The project has been conceived by the director of the IEA, Paulo Saldiva, and meets a request from the rectory of USP, which plans to support the program "for years", said the vice-president of the University, Professor Vahan Agopyan.

According to Buckeridge, activities and research should be a base to public policies on quality of life in large cities, especially São Paulo. The idea is to systematize and deepen studies that are already carried out at the University, with a view to planning in areas such as mobility, pollution, waste, health, education, leisure, and land use and occupation. In short, the numerous aspects that involve life in large cities, he said.

"The IEA is already a crucial interlocutor, a sort of 'think tank' able to interact more freely with society with regard to academic rules. The program heads one of the priority themes of USP and I am sure that we will have benefits for the population in a few years," said Agopyan.

Vahan, Haddad and Saldiva: constructive partnerships with society and dialogue between various fields of knowledge for the success of the program

"We will seek to promote a dialogue between various fields of knowledge from constructive partnerships and common agendas. The University must learn to listen to society and the IEA will be a platform to make this happen. The idea is to link research networks and interested civil society groups to work in the light of scientific knowledge," said Saldiva.

Lawyer and environmentalist Fabio Feldmann has attended the opening session and gave a concrete example of how research at the University can become a base to public policy and bring effective results for the quality of life in cities. He recalled the traffic restriction program in São Paulo, which was introduced in 1995, when he was Secretary of State for the Environment. "We created the program based on the studies of Professor Saldiva. I often say that Saldiva designed the project and I carried the can," he joked.

He explained that the comment was made to remember the importance of involving politics and knowledge. "What we have seen in Brazil recently is a radical loss of contents in politics. As we associate politics to content we will have chance to rescue the country. The presence of Saldiva at the IEA is an incredible possibility of a realignment of various social actors. Anyone who has worked in public administration knows that the biggest challenge is how to make this joint," he said.

Professor Wilson Jacob Filho, from the FM-USP's Department of Pathology, has represented the unit's director and recalled the importance of the program to, among other goals, work in health and prevention of diseases of different population groups, particularly the elderly.

Buckeridge: "We have failed to produce databases and information that may support the diagnosis"

Population ageing, as well as physical and social inclusion of people with functional limitations, are issues that are increasingly becoming priorities in the context of large cities. "The USP Global Cities Program inteds to improve the quality of life of this population profile," said Professor Jacob Filho.

Urban planet

Urbanization is present on the worldwide agenda. If today 54% of the population live in urban areas, by 2050 this share will reach two-thirds. In Latin America the proportion will reach 89%, according to the UN report.

In the May issue of Science Magazine, 12 papers present diagnostics and revisions to the cities of the future. One of the studies shows that building knowledge-based societies is now a key strategy for the best use of innovative technologies. Knowledge societies will be better prepared to maximize the advances of science, technology and innovation (ST&I), according to the text.

"There is nothing more complex than a city. It is the only environment where man is wolf to man. We have been raised in a city concept where car ownership was an alienable right, such as the cigarette was a symbol of success or virility. Tinkering with values is not easy and so the cities are already being studied within the concept of complexity," said Saldiva.

"Unfortunately, none of the 12 articles of Science Magazine mentions the city of São Paulo, showing that we have failed to produce databases and information that may support the diagnosis," said Buckeridge.

Another paper, published in U.S.News, shows how the perception or image that people have of a given city can help or hinder their growth. This is because the way cities are seen can or not attract investment and skilled labor, which will influence the prosperity of the place.

Buckeridge showed some details of the ranking of global cities produced by A.T. Kearney. São Paulo ranks #34 in 2016. In 2008, the city held the 31^st position.

"To create the ranking, the consulting firm has used existing data produced by cities, what we are still unable to do. This shows that have we also failed to gather data. We need to also produce information and new knowledge to give subsidy to public policy. "

However, the improvement of the indicators in São Paulo is not only to meet the first world's criteria, but mainly to improve the life quality of its inhabitants, pointed out the professor.

"We will seek those international standards, but always with Carmen Miranda's hat on our head. We will not stop being Brazilian. We should not abandon Modern Art Week or Mário de Andrade. We must remember that we can always be innovative. We are able to get those rates while creating new things," said  Buckeridge.

An analysis produced in 2014 by A.T. Kearney created the indicator of global cities of the future, that is, those who would have a chance to approach the position held by the currently called elite cities. In this ranking, São Paulo holds the 4^th position and the biggest challenges for the city to actually reach this place in the future are related to education and innovation, showed Buckeridge. "Education and innovation are precisely the contribution that the University can give. Therefore I believe that the outlook is positive," said the professor.

Images: Andre Deak/Flicker and Leonor Calasans

Can someone be tortured to save the lives of hundreds of people in imminent danger? Would you accept that someone was tortured to save your children in danger? Can torture be justified for national security protection? Who has dignity? What does "human dignity” mean? Is it an absolute or a relative concept? Does religion favor or hinder human dignity? Is dignity a value or a right? Do all people have dignity?

These and other questions were discussed during the first phase of the second edition of the Intercontinental Academia on Human Dignity, held at the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies (IIAS) of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, from March 6 to 18.

18 young researchers gathered for two weeks of master classes, academic debates and other activities related to the central theme. In August, the Center for Interdisciplinary Research at Bielefeld University (ZiF) will be the host of the second phase while more classes, debates and discussions will be held in order to build a collective and interdisciplinary project on the subject. The program of the first phase is available at: http://www.as.huji.ac.il/ias/public/121/intercontinentalAca201586/program.pdf

The group is formed by young researchers from various countries (Israel, Germany, USA, Italy, Romania, South Africa / Nigeria, Canada, Finland, the Netherlands, Brazil) and backgrounds (law, philosophy, theology, political science, anthropology, spatial planning, history, linguistics).

Experience

Perhaps because of having worked in projects and programs with multi / interdisciplinary approach regarding the defense of human rights, the proposal of the Intercontinental Academia on Human Dignity to "promote an unprecedented interdisciplinary dialogue and start cooperation between participants with different scientific and cultural backgrounds" has inspired me to dream of building something with researchers from around the world.

2nd edition of the Intercontinental Academia: 18 young researchers have met in Jerusalem to address human dignity

To promote human dignity, to alleviate human suffering and to combat human right violations, besides strengthening a culture of human dignity in Brazil and worldwide. To meet different people and realities, to contribute for a collective and interdisciplinary project on human dignity, and perhaps for the promotion of human dignity in an intercontinental academia. With all this in mind, I went to Israel willing to learn and discuss the topic.

But the path towards an intercontinental academia and a culture of human dignity is long and complex, and certainly does not depend on academic debates and conferences only. Theory and practice need to interact and dialogue with consistency.

One of the first activities was a round of presentations and a brief discussion on the understanding of each participant on the concept of human dignity. Is human dignity an open concept that would comprehend every and any value or ideal to be protected? Is it a tool for social transformation? Is there an "essential core" of human dignity? Does human dignity enshrine an individual or collective conception? Does human dignity include a sense of autonomy? What is the meaning of human dignity? Who has dignity?

Human dignity as a research theme has brought young scholars with different scientific, cultural and social backgrounds together. But the common theme of research does not mean a shared understanding of dignity by itself. This has been evidenced during the first discussion. Human dignity seemed to have different shapes, colors and forms for each participant.

A sum of different opinions and views does not necessarily reflect a consensus on the term and a collective construction - which requires time, dedication and joint efforts. But we were still getting to know each other, and a common concept of human dignity and an interdisciplinary collective project would be developed in the course of two weeks in Jerusalem or in the second phase in Bielefeld.

The lack of a common concept on human dignity was even more evident in the second week, with discussions of human dignity at the end of life (which brings up dignity throughout life), and on human dignity and the defense of national security based on the Israeli experience in jurisprudence and relative social (and sometimes institutional) acceptance of torture as a research method in "time bomb" situations or scenarios.

In Israel, torture is used as a method of investigation in certain cases of defense "necessity" in "time bomb" scenarios with relative approval of state institutions, including the Supreme Court. Is the protection of national security above human dignity?

For some, the practice of torture could be justified to "save lives" in a "time bomb" scenario. Thus, one would not question the violation of human dignity if torture was practiced to save "other lives". Is "life" the most supreme good of human dignity? Is one human life more worth than another? Is torture acceptable in a "time bomb" scenario? May torture be acceptable?

It seemed increasingly essential to have greater clarity on what the group meant by human dignity in order to develop an interdisciplinary collective project and a final product of this journey. How to build a common, collective and interdisciplinary project on human dignity if we do not even have a minimum common sense on the subject? How to discuss human dignity if some may have more dignity than others?

But perhaps human dignity will only prevail in theory and practice, without borders or possibilities for torture under any circumstances when each person starts being able to imagine themself in other roles and filling the shoes of the "enemies" under torture or their families.

If an interdisciplinary approach invites each discipline to have doubts and questions for a collective construction, it becomes evident that to deliver a joint project on human dignity we must have a solid, well-defined and interdisciplinarily built foundation of concepts. But before that it seems even more necessary to go through some personal reflections, show humility, openness and maturity to questions and dialogue, to enable a common and collective understanding of human dignity, so we can move towards a collective and interdisciplinary construction. Debating human dignity in an intercontinental academia seems to require that each participant makes a constant exercise of otherness and questioning, and not only discuss academic concepts of each discipline or the daily practices of institutions and societies. It is necessary that the other is seen and considered with equality of human dignity.

In the logic of war, the other is seen as an enemy. In an authoritarian past, the other should be watched and punished, if not "deleted". A slave story: the other as an object. In everyday life, is it worth questioning whether the other is worthy of dignity? Who decides who can (or should) live or die? Who has human dignity? Is this intrinsic or conquered? Is dignity absolute or can it be relativized? How to foster a culture of human dignity? What is the role of academia?

But even these questions also seem to have been carefully prepared by the organization and the coordination. In addition to master classes and lectures with experts and important figures of the Israeli scenario (see material: http://www.as.huji.ac.il/HM-brochure), visits and social activities have allowed an acquaintance with the social, cultural and religious identity of Israel, and has promoted greater interaction among the participants. In conversations during meals and tours we could know each other, discuss situations and issues that contributed to a sense of mutual trust and community that favor a joint project and a collective construction.

Even with the differences, the dialogue, reflection and discussion have prevailed among the participants. Opinions have been respectfully heard and debated. The limits of performance and arguments began to be outlined and reflected.

Participants of the 2nd Intercontinental Academia

Social activities have allowed us an overview of Israel from the Holocaust memory at Yad Vashem to the promise of rebirth, reconstruction and return of the Jews to the promised land, represented by the works of the Israel Museum. We have got to know the role of the Supreme Court and the proposal of the current government for social integration, the narratives of the institutional practice of national security, and the representation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through documentaries. Bombings and terror news, fear and insecurity reactions, relative ease of everyday life: "just another day..."

The individual questioning may probably also take part of an interdisciplinary collective construction on human dignity: it requires from us to exit the comfort zone provided by the training and academic discipline to discuss possibilities of common and collective projects. Although we have not returned from Jerusalem with a clear idea of the contours of this collective and interdisciplinary project, our discussions and conversations have led to a proposal for a third phase, still to be defined: a publication, a workshop, or some other format to contribute with the debate on human dignity, and perhaps for its implementation and execution.

But it may still be necessary for each participant to return to their daily activities so that the intense reflections and discussions decant a bit and we can boost a collective and interdisciplinary project on human dignity, with a solid common base grounded in interdisciplinary dialogues. It might take place in Bielefeld, or on a third stage, wherever it is.

Takehiro Ohya talks about the architecture implications for the jurisdictional field.

In cases of severe or fatal accidents, the victim's family would often like to turn back time to prevent the happening. But what if instead of going back in time societies and their institutions could count on environments able to avoid mistakes?

This proposal already exists on the so-callied choice architecture, a concept presented by Professor Takehiro Ohya, from the Keio University, during the Humanities / Social Sciences Workshop of the second phase of the Intercontinental Academia (ICA), on March 10.

Ohya, who is a professor of jurisdictional law and an expert on philosophy of law, gave the lecture Time institutionalized and its transformation, showing some concepts of social control applied to the built environment. This is a kind of architecture theorized by Lawrence Lessig, a professor of law at Harvard University and creator of the creative commons licenses on the internet.

The choice architecture comes to how decisions are influenced by the way choices (things) are presented. This architecture can have a paternalistic bias or a libertarian paternalistic one, according to Ohya.

Bars that force people to walk in a particular place or direction, barriers in the subway or seats that do not allow people to lay down at airports are examples of the paternalistic bias because they give no choice to a person, cited Ohya.

On the other hand, he said, a diner could make healthy food more accessible and more visible at the expense of industrialized products. In this case, although the environment has an intervention by "positively influencing citizens in order to help them to take action for their own benefit," individuals are not prevented from eating whatever they want. The arrangement of food choices has the effect of reducing the consumption of "junk food" and increasing the consumption of healthy food.

According to the professor, there are four major forces that exert control in big societies: law, social conventions or traditions and religions, market and (most recently) architecture.

The physical environment influences decisions because the arrangement of things or the built structures can cause reactions in the use of a certain place, Oyha explained.

The choice architecture is based on the fact that we act intuitively or heuristically and not always behave as rational agents, Ohya said. In economic theory, the rational agent can be an individual or a firm that makes decisions with a view to their preferences and the efficient use of information. The aim is to rationalize their decisions to maximize costs, production, materials or other actions.

Social control through laws and rules is a further action and there may be those who are not able to be controlled by laws and rules (mentally or physically disabled ones, for instance), Ohya said. "On the other hand, one could argue that architecture could even control dogs and cats. But it can also not be effective in very specific cases," said the professor.

In social control through architecture there is no asymmetry before or after the action. It works regardless of age since social conditions remain the same. In the case of serious injury or loss of human life, the legislation of most countries assesses the value of life according to age and the ability to produce wealth that the person would still have. Therefore, in this case, the law is limited and asymmetric.

"The younger and the more you earn, the more you are worth. Does this mean that the life of a housewife or a worker, an elderly or a disabled one has no value? In this new social control model the asymmetry of time can disappear," Ohya said.

Photo: IAR/Nagoya

Experts will analyze the penetration and effectiveness of democratic concepts in institutions such as the press, the Judiciary, laws, public policy and social movements. “We intend to discuss in comparative perspective the responsiveness and accountability of democratic institutions, especially in relation to the workings of the Judiciary and of public security,” according to José Álvaro Moisés, organizer of the event.

In the opening panel, Moisés will examine the 25 years of democratic opening in Brazil, making a critical assessment of public policies, institutions, civil society and political culture.

The seminar will offer an interdisciplinary overview through the contributions of researchers from the political sciences, social sciences and law. The speakers include Robert Moog, from the School of Public and International Affairs at North Carolina State University, who will discuss the democratization of the judicial system in India; Carlos Huneeus Madge, lawyer and professor at the Estudios Internacionales Institute at the University of Chile, who will discuss Chilean democracy from the perspective of the press and of the Judiciary; and professor Sérgio Adorno, from USP’s School of Philosophy, Literature and Human Sciences (FFLCH), who will talk about democratic construction in Brazil in recent years and the implications on corruption, organized crime, violence and the Rule of Law.

The consequences of the Middle East conflicts put the impact of the astonishing figures of war and hunger refugees in evidence in the international agenda, with no similar situation in history.

The theme leads to the discussion of the principle of hospitality, defined by philosopher Jacques Derrida as the ability to receive the other as different, but essentially the same. It also raises a comparative analysis of the European and Brazilian reaction to the issue. The Challenge of Hospitality: Migrants and Refugees is the title of the debate to be held by the IEA on October 22, at 2.30 pm, in the Institute's Events Room.

This will be the second meeting of the Laboratory of Global Megatrends and Challenges to Democracy. The conference will have the coordination of Portuguese political scientist Álvaro de Vasconcelos, an assistant professor at the USP's Institute of International Relations (IRI), and the participation of Geraldo Adriano Godoy de Campos, a professor at the ESPM's course of international relations, and Sylvia Dantas, coordinator of the IEA's Intercultural Dialogues research group. The laboratory was started in June this year with the debate The Challenge of Identity-Based Nationalism.

"We have watched the drama of those who hoped to find refuge and hospitality and ended up finding walls, barbed wire, violence and mistrust in many countries that have 'fear of the other', especially Muslims and those who come from the Middle East," says Vasconcelos.

The war in Syria has forced four million people to leave the country and eight million to move internally. In addition to them there are war refugees from Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia. Thus, the number of refugees in the world in 2014 reached 59.5 million according to estimates by the UN Refugee Agency.

The event will be broadcast live over the web.

Studies in this area, especially in the UK, Australia, the United States and sub-Saharan Africa, show that there is a diversity of social policies evolving to support these unpaid young care providers. However, it remains a hidden world which lacks global visibility and more knowledge on the theme.

Professor Saul Becker, Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the University of Birmingham and a specialist in this line of research, will address the theme at the conference Children Who Care – Global Perspectives on Children’s Hidden Care-Giving Roles within their Families, that will take place on October 21, in the IEA's Events Room, from 9.30 am to 12 pm. Ana Lydia Sawaya, coordinator of the IEA's Nutrition and Poverty Research Group and a professor at UNIFESP, will participate as a debater.

Becker's work has influenced the academic debate and the implementation of public policies and practices that are designed to meet the needs of young carers. In his speech, he will explore the hidden worlds of children who provide assistance and care to adults, showing how and why some countries have identified and legislated this role as that of a specific group that requires support and intervention. In most countries, these children and young people remain hidden, invisible and isolated, with negative consequences for their lives, families and society as a whole.

Studies in the area suggest that the informal care provided by the young in developed and developing nations can be located along a continuous flow of care. They also show that these young people have much in common, regardless of where they live or how the social security systems of their countries are developed. Thus, there is a global need for these young people to get recognized, identified, analyzed and assisted as a distinct group of "vulnerable children".

Through its Institute of Advanced Studies, the University of Birmingham is linked to the University-Based Institute of Advanced Studies (UBIAS), a network that brings together 34 institutes for advanced studies of the whole world. Created in 2010, it aims to promote the scientific exchange between generations, disciplines and cultures.