Universal Forum of Cultures

The Universal Forum of Cultures was created as an initiative of the city of Barcelona that in 1996, together with Unesco, conceived a new great event to set the city at the centre of the international cultural scenario.
The event was created with the intention to offer - thanks to dialogue among different peoples - answers to the problems raised by the acceleration of globalization processes, focusing on inequalities, new poverties, and great migratory movements that produce strong political, social, economic and religious impact. Aiming at the "value of coexistence" initiatives for the promotion of respect for difference and value of cultural diversity have been proposed - with activities aimed at improving access to information and knowledge, in order to promote new opportunities of development.

The first edition of the Forum (9th March - 26th September 2004, Barcelona) was organized around three main topics - cultural diversity, sustainable development, and conditions for peace. Those became the hub of meaningful actions promoting an active social participation, and a greater economic and urban regeneration of the city, inserting it at the same time in an international context. The Forum also allowed the upgrading of some areas of the Catalan city and particularly the upgrading of the area of 500.000 m2 where the event was held. The initiative was so successful that a foundation was created for the promotion of the event and there is now an international competition among the cities aspiring to host it.

Close-up on the face of a boy painted as planet earth

The second edition of the Forum was held in Monterrey, Mexico (20th September - 8th December 2007) and focused on the three main topics of the Forum of Barcelona - Cultural Diversity, Sustainable Development, and Conditions for Peace - and on a fourth topic: Knowledge.

The capital of Nuevo Leon, that defeated important competitors such as the cities of Fukuoka (Japan) and Durban (South Africa), was selected to promote - in a continent different from Europe - the encounter between Anglo-Saxon and Latin American culture, but above all because it resulted a real centre of excellence in the field of education. It has in fact the highest percentage of schools, institutes and centres of secondary education per capita. Finally, it was chosen for its strategic position, not distant from the USA border, strategic basin of potential visitors.

"The City of Naples participated in the Universal Forum of Cultures at Monterrey - declared Nicola Oddati, Alderman for Culture of Naples Municipality - considering it a great strategic opportunity to play a role in the general debate on cultural and social topics that constitute its most ancient and deep roots. The city brought to Monterrey its excellences and its complexities, with the purpose of sharing excellences and looking for new solutions to face complexities, trusting in the possibility to learn new solution strategies for its problems through the interchange of different experiences from all over the world."

Oddati, who coordinated the activities connected to the Mexican event, underlined that the main topics of the Universal Forum of Cultures face important and meaningful issues that have been for a long time at the centre of the international political agenda. For these reasons the city of Naples run to host the Universal Forum of Cultures in 2013. Naples is a city naturally open to the Mediterranean sea, strategic area and hub for cultures and exchanges.
Naples is a city at the centre of flows waving between conflict and harmony. To build Peace, it will be necessary to establish dialogue among the cultures of Europe, Africa, Asia and America, among all the religious faiths and the secular thought, among the manifold visions related to living and inhabiting.