Building resilient cities and societies for future generations

Today, many cities and their communities around the world face all kinds of social, cultural, environmental and economic challenges that call for urban transformations and resiliency. In vital cities, residents can achieve their life goals through high-quality education, meaningful work, and participation in public life. However, there are persistent inequalities in these life opportunities among residents with various cultural, economic and social backgrounds. That is why not everyone can show the same kind and level of resiliency to face these challenges.

Honorary Doctorates to scientists who contribute to vital cities and citizens

How to develop resilient residents and inclusive cultures and build identity among residents? How can we ensure that new generations can grow up to meet their full potential and are better equipped to live and thrive in our future cities? How can we boost the resilience of future residents and the urban areas they inhabit so they can cope with the great social, environmental and economic challenges that lay ahead?

These are questions that will be discussed in two parallel masterclasses provided by this year's Honorary Doctorates of Erasmus University. Every year, Erasmus University awards one or two honorary doctorates to leading scientists from outside our university to honour their contributions to a specific field or to society in general. The awards will go to Prof. Ien Ang and Prof. Ann Masten during this year's festive event.

Co-designing Socio-Cultural Infrastructures for Inclusive Cities

Prof. Ien Ang will pay attention to the development of more inclusive socio-cultural infrastructures. Her work addresses patterns of cultural flow and exchange in a globalised world, dealing with issues like the politics of identity, migration, ethnicity, multiculturalism and issues of representation in contemporary cultural institutions. She will pay special attention to her current research on The Collaborative Museum project in Sydney.

Resilience of Youth

Prof. Ann Masten will devote her masterclass to resilience of youth, who face all kinds of adversaries in life. She will especially talk about her multisystemic approach to resilience which underscores that not only the individual but also the group (family, neighbourhood) and the system (of professionals and government agencies) should be included to optimise mental health and well-being.

There is plenty of room to get into debate with the two honorary doctorates in the panel discussions which are part of the masterclasses.