MISSION

The PAGUS – Program Alternative Governance Urban Settlements INITIATIVE aims to underline the relevance that human settlements have on climate change and the negative impacts produced by the actual uncontrolled urbanization toward metropolises and megacities and highlight the need of a renewed balance between human settlements and environment, restoring a permanent presidium spread on territories. Wild urbanization, without any respect of the existing natural peculiarities is determining permanent damages for the environment, being one of the main climate change responsible

WHO WE ARE

This initiative is  supported by an international  network of qualified scholars and experts in diverse fields that regard urban and territorial development, who share the need of a new vision and holistic approach necessary for a sustainable and resilient settlement model, aimed to the mitigation of existing urban/rural inequalities. We ask to all other actors as academics, experts, stakeholders and citizens to join the inititative sharing these concerns and indications.

HISTORY

The current assessments and reflections on the complex topic of territorial rebalancing and the search for alternative urban/rural development derive from studies and programs developed jointly for over twenty years by several of the members of the PAGUS network within the EU cooperation Programs. Then were carried forward individually, in various platforms and working groups with other scholars and international experts. In the last years a close collaboration has been developed with the IASQ International Association of Social Quality sharing the main evaluations, principles, guidelines of the SQA Social Quality Approach, that represent an innovative theorical/empirical instrument for achieving the necessary shift of current paradigms in a new holistic vision.