Cityfest

One starts to have experience of the State later, perhaps when one becomes a parent, or starts work and starts paying taxes; it is then that one becomes fully aware of the other ‘we’.

By Ilaria Pedrin

Read more: Embracing my whole city 2

Human beings are social beings, and thus they need to have relationships with other human beings in order to grow and develop. These relationships are an essential part of human nature. On the biological level, each one of us exists because two persons – the parents – have met and mated. Then, from birth onwards, life enfolds as a continuous growth through interaction with the others and the world around us.

By Ilaria Pedrini

Read more: Embracing my whole city 1

Benedict XVI’s latest encyclical invites us to work more and to work better for the city. Sergio Chiamparino, Mayor of Turin, commenting on what the Pope has written, proposes a new citizenship pact to unite public authorities and those they serve in a common commitment.

By Paolo Balduzzi

Read more: Caritas in Veritate and the City Project

Juliet Schor is Professor of Sociology at Boston College (USA), and previously she taught at Harvard University for 17 years.
In the video that you can find here, Schor defines "good" the kind of social life, that in a city is born not from a fight in scarsity conditions, but in a context of abundance and plenitude, which has its novelty in sharing.

Read more: Juliet Schor: Plenitude

"I am a citizen, not of Athens or Greece, but of the world".

(Socrates, Greek philosopher)

"We are running the risk of making our cities places where business goes ahead, but where life, in the proper sense of the word, is lost".

(Hubert Horatio Humphrey)

"The city is the master of man".

(Simonide di Ceo, Greek philosopher)

"The city is not merely a mass of bricks. It is that strange thing that is relationships between people".

(Italo Calvino)

The second part of the interview to Daniela Mori.

By Paolo Balduzzi- Florence

Read more: Hearts that melt…/2

Paolo Balduzzi interviews Daniela Mori in Florence

Read more: Hearts that melt…/1

“There are people that in a single day, for every single smile complain too many times .... Try and contribute with a half-turn”.
This is one of the slogans, that can easily be seen in the streets of Trento, in Northern Italy, thanks to  “Vivopositivo lamiaCittà” (“I live my city with a positive attitude”).

This is the name of an association, whose centre is close to the Buonconsiglio Castle, the largest and most important monumental building of the region. The purpose of the association is “to improve the quality of social and interpersonal relations in the city of Trento”.

It was born thanks to about thirty organizations, which are socially active in the city, and it has at its disposal a sort of virtual window, where one can get to know all the ongoing social initiatives.
Among these initiatives, there is the birth of a network, that connects all the social subjects that work and promote the positive attitude in living in the city. Improving interpersonal relations and contacts with neighbors, looking for all the positive aspects present in everyday life, helps in freeing all personal creative energies, and generates the common good at a low cost. Indeed, as a famous poem by Father Faber says, “a smile costs nothing and produces a lot”.

To better know all the ongoing initiatives, check the association web site.