Education in the City from the Perspective of Social Spaces

Abstract

Recent educational discussion has started to adopt a perspective focusing on social spaces which also frames the city as a central point of reference and reflection. Cities have always been special places of education. Thanks to their central spatial function with regard to their surroundings, cities fulfil relevant functions in the field of formal education, and act as important places and opportunities for non-formal and informal education. At first sight, education and the city—or policy on education and the city—have the same interests and positions. This merely underlines the agenda in terms of shared objectives and interests relating to educational and urban policy. However, the relationship between education and the city should be viewed with a critical eye, placing issues resulting from conflicts of interest and social disparity on the urban policy agenda, as well as broken promises and as yet unresolved conflicts.