A Chain of Words as an Introduction: Human Dignity, Language, Identity, Citizenship, Values, Human Capital and Urban Spaces

Abstract

To analyze the issue of cities-migrants interactions, as well as social-monetary values interactions, it is necessary to place it in a “higher” context, in order not to risk losing the necessary connection with universal ethical principles, and in a “broader” one, in which understanding complexity on a global scale interprets local conditions. The study of migration flows and urban dynamics, as well as housing markets, through theoretical paradigms and scientific tools from different disciplines provides an opportunity to learn and compare, dialogue and interface with new keys to understanding the problem, or with alternative interpretations and unprecedented perspectives in the path of multiculturalism, which has become an inescapable premise for the formation of an inclusive society. Despite different scientific and cultural backgrounds, many concepts emerge as cross-cutting, weaving a network of connections that transcends supposed disciplinary “boundaries” and, at the same time, highlights the possibility of expressing different visions and interpretations. This plurality of disciplinary expertise and cultural sensitivities, intellectual passion and willingness to confrontation can be represented by a chain of words—such as global, local, glocal, cities, territories, values, language, human dignity, human capital, citizenship, identity, cohabitation, public space, urban space—and constitutes the connotative trait of this volume in which the science of Appraisal and Valuation “measures” and compares itself with other social sciences.