The “Urban Policy and Citizenship” UNESCO Chair examines, from a political perspective, the way in which city dwellers relate to large cities and to the institutions in charge of making and implementing urban policies. It explores and analyzes the social, spatial, economic and political mechanisms affecting integration, cohesion or solidarity. Citizenship is looked at through the multi-disciplinary approach that defines urban studies, as much from the perspective of political science as from that of sociology, geography or urban planning.

The Chair and its partners explore six fields of research:

• Urban citizenship
• Marginal populations and practices in the city
• Living together and social diversity
• Security and citizenship
• Environmental inequalities...
• ...and the effects of global competition between cities.

Founded in 2007 at the initiative of Bernard Jouve, the Chair is hosted by the ENTPE and run by researchers from the laboratory for Interdisciplinary Research into Cities, Spaces and Society (Recherches interdisciplinaires ville espace société, RIVES, a member of the CNRS Espace, Ville, Société joint research unit). It is part of the network of UNESCO France Chairs and of the network of UNESCO Chairs dedicated to urban areas.