The Educating City as a politicalpedagogical agent: perspectives for preventing individual fragilities and collective vulnerabilities

Abstract

Tragic events occurring in highdensity public settings demonstrate that crowd disasters cannot be interpreted solely through technical and structural approaches to safety. These phenomena also require a pedagogical reading of the cultural and social conditions that shape collective behaviour (Helbing et al., 2000; Still, 2014), distinguishing individual fragilities from collective vulnerabilities. The former result from the dynamic interaction between neuropsychological development and contextual configurations (Card, 2023; Engel, 1977), whereas the latter emerge from social norms, shared identities, and the conditions of public life (Bauman, 2000; Furia, 2021; Reicher, 2001). Within this framework, the paper proposes a theoretical reinterpretation of the Educating City paradigm as a politicalpedagogical agent capable of influencing the educational configurations of urban contexts. Its theoretical foundation lies in the tradition of lifelong education outlined in the UNESCO report Learning to Be (Faure et al., 1972) and subsequently developed through the urban policies promoted by the International Association of Educating Cities. Drawing on an analysis of the Charter of Educating Cities (IAEC, 2020) and of the experiences collected in the International Bank of Educating Cities Documents, the study highlights the potential of this model as a politicalpedagogical agent oriented toward the prevention of individual fragilities and collective vulnerabilities. The paper also discusses the conditions that the literature identifies as necessary for translating this potential into tangible outcomes (ValdésCotera et al., 2018; Diniz & Brandli, 2025). Finally, several directions for future research are outlined, whose further development could strengthen the preventive capacity of the Educating City within contemporary urban communities.